Walrus in Dover

• Guest 700

  • Registered: 11 Jun 2010
  • Posts: 2,868
  15 September 2010     20:0270982
  #1       report
  There was a walrus in Dover in 1911, given to Dover Museum. I wonder what happened to it?
  

  
  ---------------------------------------------------
  Lincolnshire Born and Bred
• Sid Perkins

  • Location: Dover
  15 September 2010     20:0470984
  #2       report
  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       report
  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       report
  Oooooh, if you find it can I have it?!
  www.facebook.com/jeaneheadstonehunter
• Guest 690

  • Registered: 10 Oct 2009
  • Posts: 4,150
  15 September 2010     20:4970998
  #5       report
  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       report
  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: 13,892
  15 September 2010     21:4971024
  #7       report
  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.
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
• howard mcsweeney1

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 62,352
  15 September 2010     21:5771030
  #8       report
  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       report
  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
  28 December 2020     08:15367338
  #10       report
  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
  28 December 2020     11:00367340
  #11       report
  He is inside
• Guest 3857

  • Registered: 27 Oct 2020
  • Posts: 30
  28 December 2020     23:04367349
  #12       report
  Who is inside? The Polar Bear, or my grandad?
• Reginald Barrington

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 17 Dec 2014
  • Posts: 3,259
  28 December 2020     23:09367350
  #13       report
  Both if it ate your Grandad
  Arte et Marte
• Guest 649

  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 14,118
  29 December 2020     04:17367352
  #14       report
  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: 359
  29 December 2020     09:09367353
  #15       report
  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
  29 December 2020     09:34367354
  #16       report
  Some times it was put in the road
• TheThinWhiteDuke

  • Registered: 7 Jul 2016
  • Posts: 359
  29 December 2020     09:39367356
  #17       report
  Yes, it was. Thanks for the memory.
• Guest 649

  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 14,118
  29 December 2020     10:58367358
  #18       report
  Al good fun in days you could have fun
• Guest 3857

  • Registered: 27 Oct 2020
  • Posts: 30
  29 December 2020     16:47367367
  #19       report
  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 1 more like this
  Brian Dixon, Judith Roberts, Jan Higgins and Reginald Barrington like this