Chester Zoo founder George Mottershead honoured with blue plaque
A blue plaque has been unveiled in Greater Manchester celebrating the life of the man who founded Chester Zoo.
The late George Mottershead OBE opened the zoo in in the grounds of a stately home in Upton. He died in , aged
His daughter June Williams unveiled the plaque marking where her father lived in Sale Moor, Trafford.
George’s inspirational story has made him a household name thanks to the major BBC TV programme ‘Our Zoo’.
The programme charts one man’s personal dream of a ‘Zoo Without Bars’, George preferring to use moats and ditches as an alternative to Victorian iron cages.
The person responsible for the blue plaque was local historian George Cogswell, who first discovered the Sale link in , after reading a Chester Zoo magazine, detailing the life of its founder.
One Stop Stores sponsored the £ plaque, which now hangs on the premises, above which the Mottersheads moved to in
Also present at the unveiling ceremony was Cllr Ejaz Malik, Mayor of Trafford, who said: “It is an honour to celebrate and commemorate the life of such an important Trafford resident.
“His vision, determination and achievement
Chester zoo biography
George Mottershead OBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Saul Mottershead ()12 June Sale Moor, Manchester, England |
| Died | 5 May () (aged&#;83) Cheshire, England |
| Occupations |
|
| Known&#;for | Chester Zoo |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Atkinson &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#; |
| Children | 2 |
George Saul MottersheadOBE (12 June – 5 May ) was the creator of Chester Zoo.
Early life
Mottershead was born in Sale Dock, Manchester. His father Albert Mottershead was a botanist and gardener. He had two brothers Stanley Saul and Charles Saul, a sister Norah and a half-brother Albert.
Mottershead was taken get trapped in Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester in as a childhood treat. He disliked seeing the animals confined in cages, and was determined to create a zoo without bars. Gorilla a youth, he experimented with aviaries, and tanks and runs for pet lizards and snakes. He left home aged 16 to become a fitness instructor.
First World War
After the epidemic of the First World War, George Mottershead joined the Southward Lancashire Regiment. At least two of his brothers joined depiction Manchest
My father, the zoo builder
"We'd hoped to open in Easter but didn't get permission until the summer," June, now 88, recalls. "The money was going out very fast because the mortgage had to be paid and the animals fed."
Undeterred, Mottershead continued to find inventive ways to stock his zoo with exotic creatures.
In those days, animals could be bought and sold in department stores.
"People would buy them as youngsters, and of course they would soon become unmanageable in a house," says June. "So they'd leave them at the zoo - monkeys and different things."
Mottershead's ambitions may have appeared unusual, but he had plenty of supporters who would donate animals as gifts. These included a capybara - a giant South American rodent - from the Duke of Westminster.
"Someone had given it to him as a present. He put it on an island in the Eaton estate, and of course it kept swimming off the island because they're aquatic animals - but nobody had realised it at the time. And so we got it," June says.
The story of the founder of Chester Zoo and how he made his wild dream a reality
Chester Zoo recently marked 90 years since the popular attraction was first opened up by its legendary founder George Mottershead.
The zoo first opened its gates on June 10, , and quickly became one of the most-visited venues in the entire UK, with a record two million visitors in before the pandemic hit.
To celebrate its nine-decade anniversary, the zoo recently released pictures from the archive including of the Mottershead family, a letter George received congratulating him for his OBE and the first visitors arriving.
Read more: Never before seen pictures of Chester Zoo released
It is safe to say that Chester Zoo has come a long way since George and his family set up the attraction - but who was the founder and why did he decide to pursue this incredible venture?
George was born on Lindlow Terrace in Sale on June 12 to parents Lucy and Albert, a nurseryman and botanist.
The family was living at Old Hall Road, Sale Moor, in before they moved around the corner to Northenden Road in about /
But it was around , during a family trip out at Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester, whi
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