The inquest into his death was held the next evening. Believing in its qualities as a medicine he went most mornings to lean over the tank to take a drink, and it was assumed that on this morning he had fallen in. Without boots, hat or coat he had gone to the filter beds upon waking, in order to take a drink of the salt water. A verdict of accidental death was the conclusion.Īlmost ten years later, another mysterious tragedy unfolded on the morning of 17th June 1915 when Jim Walmsley’s body was discovered in the filter beds below the aquarium tanks in the basement of Blackpool Tower. It was never satisfactorily explained why Livesey, who had been drinking in The Dunes pub but was apparently ‘far from drunk’, came to enter the lioness enclosure and meet his end there. Mr Walmsley stated that Livesey, although employed as a carter by The Tower Company ‘had absolutely no right in the lions’ den’ and added that the lionesses were ‘rather quiet beasts, but one can never tell when these animals will turn upon you’. On August 14th 1905 Jim Walmsley was called to give evidence at the inquest into the death of one William Livesey who was found mauled and partially eaten by Tower bred lionesses. It was here in 1905 that a strange tragedy occurred. Newspaper advertising at the time described The Tower Aquarium, Aviary and Menagerie as ‘The Finest Show of Animals in the United Kingdom’, a claim probably not far from the truth and undoubtedly due in no small part to Jim Walmsley’s dedication.Īiling animals were quickly ‘detected by Jim’s practised eye’ and sent to the hospital zoo in Lytham Road where the sick or ‘spare’ animals were also kept for the Tower Circus and where it was said he brought about some wonderful cures. There were many later trips to Hamburg made by Jim in pursuit of lions, tigers, leopards and other exotic animals on behalf of The Tower Company. John Hamlyn of Hamlyn’s Zoological Trading of London knew Jim Walmsley some thirty years and accompanied him and the Tower Company directors, amongst them Dr Cocker, on the first expedition to Antwerp to buy new stock. He was described in The Blackpool Gazette as ‘never so happy as when he had a litter of lion cubs in his kitchen’ and became renowned for the breeding of lions and tigers in captivity.Īccording to an account of Jim Walmsley’s life in the July 1915 edition of ‘Hamlyn’s Menagerie Magazine’, during his tenure ‘at no other menagerie in the country have more lion cubs been born and successfully reared than at The Tower’. His greatest skills, however, were with the animals in his care. In fact so adept was he at dealing with gas engines, electric lighting plants and hydraulic machinery that he was often described as an ‘Engineer’, as well as a ‘Superintendent of Wild Beasts’, as in the 1901 census.
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In addition to being a plumber, coming from a family of plumbers and decorators, he was an energetic, resourceful man able to turn his hand to almost anything. Being available day and night, Jim was known as a devoted keeper with ‘a wide knowledge of wild beasts and various kinds of fish’. Within Blackpool Tower the Walmsley rooms were adjacent to the menagerie and monkey house on the first floor. They would continue to live there as the tower was constructed around them. By 1891 he was the manager and had been living on site in Hygiene Terrace for at least 10 years with his wife Hannah and their daughters. He assisted Dr Cocker in building up the enterprise, eventually becoming a permanent employee. He had been born in Blackpool in 1849 in a cottage close to The Athenaeum Club.Īlthough he was apprenticed to his father, a plumber, Jim was also associated with the aquarium from his youth. James Walmsley, known to all as Jim, was the manager of The Aquarium, Aviary and Menagerie which had been created by Dr W H Cocker in 1874. Amongst the many esteemed invited guests, which included 27 mayors and their ladies, was ‘The Manager of The Aquarium and Lady’, Mr and Mrs J Walmsley Processions and speeches were followed by ‘a sumptuous banquet’ for about 150 people, with the whole town en féte. The laying of the foundation stone of Blackpool Tower (or Blackpool Eiffel Tower as it was initially referred to) on Friday 25th September 1891, was a most lavish affair.