TRUNK AND DISORDERLY!
How an unruly elephant lived in a flat in 1705
THE sound of stomping feet from upstairs neighbours has long been a pet hate of flat owners.
But spare a thought for one resident of 18th century Edinburgh who was driven to distraction by his neighbour – who kept an elephant in his flat.
In a letter written in 1705, a baker who owned a shop near Fishmarket Close in the city complained that his shop was being damaged by dung and water.
The letter from Adam Kerr to the Edinburgh Dean of Guild Court was recently found in the Edinburgh City Archives.
Mr Kerr, who described himself as a ‘baxter’, petitioned the Guild Court to visit upstairs tenant Abraham Sever, a Dutchman who was keeping the elephant.
He complained his shop and oven were being ruined and exposed to dung and water coming down into his space.
Mr Kerr was insistent members of the Guild Court go along to visit Mr Sever and get rid of the animal.
In his letter, the baker complained that dung and water ‘comes doun in great quantities upon the vault and spoyle and abuses the goods’.
A month earlier, Mr Sever had petitioned the town council for permission to show his elephant to the people of Edinburgh, which was granted. It is believed the elephant died in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, the following year.
The female Indian elephant had spent 20 years being paraded around Europe by owner Bartel Verhagen, who died in 1703. His will stipulated it should be passed to assistant Jan Janszoon, who in turn rented it to Mr Sever.
Archivist Vikki Kerr, who examined the letter, said: ‘Maybe the elephant was at ground level and the bakery vault might have been underneath street level.’