Tributes paid after passing of a true man of nature
ERIC WILL LIVE ON THROUGH TAXIDERMY PIECES
TRIBUTES were paid yesterday at the funeral of well-known North East naturalist Eric Morton.
Eric, wearing his trademark waistcoat, spent many years working as a taxidermist at what is now the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
His first taxidermy task at the then Hancock Museum was stuffing a hedgehog, while his most notable was stuffing a tiger that had escaped from Belfast Zoo.
When he was told about the deceased tiger, he replied: “Yeah, I’ll have it.” The tiger is now on display in Sunderland Museum.
Eric was also heavily involved in the preparation of animal exhibits before the revamped Hancock Museum reopened as the Great North Museum in a £26m project.
That involved buying in supplies of sausage skins from a Newcastle butcher to repair the skins of stuffed creatures which had cracked with age.
Conservation work was carried out on more than 2,000 objects, many dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Eric, who was also Tyne Wear Museums assistant keeper of biology, had to stage a rearguard operation to prepare a baboon for display.
Time had left the baboon’s backside a wrinkled wreck, with Eric required to smooth away the passing of the years.
Eric said at the time: “A lot of the exhibits are showing their age. Many are being displayed from different angles and people will be looking up at the baboon.”
It was found that some creatures have been stuffed with grass and in one case, an 1890s newspaper was part of the fill.
Eric also used fibreglass to make a replacement ear for a bush baby, and picked up a spare tail from another museum to repair a lemur.
When he retired, Eric set about transforming 16 acres of land near his home in Burnopfield in County Durham into a nature haven. Eric, who worked on the project with his wife Lyn, said at the time : “I felt that having got my living from wildlife I should put something back. It’s a thank you.”
His first attempt at taxidermy was at the age of 13, when he tried and failed to stuff his expired pet canary Dickie.
After 14 years working as a miner in Watergate, Kibblesworth and Marley Hill collieries, Eric applied for a job in 1975 at the Hancock Museum.
He looked after the upkeep of the museum’s collection, some stuffed by one of the building’s founders, master taxidermist John Hancock.
Eric was also an expert on 18th century clocks and gave lectures.
His funeral was held at Mountsett Crematorium. Donations to the Woodland Trust in his memory were welcomed.