Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
15 September 2010
20:0270982#1
There was a walrus in Dover in 1911, given to Dover Museum. I wonder what happened to it?
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
15 September 2010
20:0470984#2
From the Rothschild family no less. What connection did they have with Dover?
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
15 September 2010
20:1070988#3
If I remeber rightly we also had a Polar Bear, that went west also.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
15 September 2010
20:2170989#4
Oooooh, if you find it can I have it?!
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
15 September 2010
20:4970998#5
It could have been decapitated, as in the classic 1960 film of Tony Hancock, `Rebel`, in which the concrete statue he`d made, got it`s head knocked off on a train down to Dover at the mouth of a tunnel, if anyone remember`s it. Some great colour shots of Dover on that film.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
15 September 2010
21:0971002#6
I believe that they disposed of some stuff a very long time ago, including stuff not considered politically correct such as the Shrunken Head of a Maori Chief.......
Been nice knowing you :)
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
15 September 2010
21:4971024#7
I hope the head went back to New Zealand. My daughter nearly always mentions the polar bear when the museum is a topic of conversation.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
15 September 2010
21:5771030#8
i could have sworn i saw the polar bear on a staircase of the museum very recently.
i seem to remember it was the star attraction in a doctors surgery prior to gracing the museum.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
15 September 2010
22:0971040#9
Rather amazing reading the Quadruped section of the Dover Museum guide of 1928
Guar
Walrus
Giraffe
Zebra
Boar
Baboon
Marmoset
Gazelle
Sea Lion
Sloath
The late reverend Turberville Evans of Buckland Dover presented to the Museum the MUMMY ofa Priest of Isis named Flor of the 20th Dynasty about 1200 years before the Christian era
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 3857- Registered: 27 Oct 2020
- Posts: 30
#10
Arctic weather today, on my birthday, took me back to the Dover of my childhood and views of our cats ploughing up the back garden through snowdrifts - must have been the winter of '63. Whatever became of the Polar bear which once guarded the entrance to Dover Museum? These conditions would suit him fine. Family legend has it he ate my grandad!
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#11
He is inside
Guest 3857- Registered: 27 Oct 2020
- Posts: 30
#12
Who is inside? The Polar Bear, or my grandad?
Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,261
#13
Both if it ate your Grandad
Arte et Marte
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#14
HA very good the bear is inside the museum, I have not been in there for sometime now so do not know if it is still
on show
TheThinWhiteDuke- Registered: 7 Jul 2016
- Posts: 365
#15
I really hope it's still there (the polar bear). Loved that thing. When it used to guard the door to the old museum in Ladywell. Immediate shock to anyone unaware who opened the door. I can still remember my reaction as a toddler.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#16
Some times it was put in the road
TheThinWhiteDuke- Registered: 7 Jul 2016
- Posts: 365
#17
Yes, it was. Thanks for the memory.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#18
Al good fun in days you could have fun
Guest 3857- Registered: 27 Oct 2020
- Posts: 30
#19
Thank-you for answering my question about the Polar bear. I will definitely make a point of visiting the museum if I'm ever back in Dover, perhaps sometime next year once the worst of the current situation is (hopefully) over. It would be a good way to mark my sister's 60th birthday next June as she was born in your lovely town, as was a cousin of ours. Photos from my recent visit have been much enjoyed by relatives whom I haven't been able to see all year. They used to come to Dover for the summer when we lived down there. I enjoy reading your Forum, keep up the good work.
Brian Dixon, Judith Roberts, Jan Higgins and
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