The History of Lion Taming: Discipline with an Iron Rod Was One of the Greatest “Artists’” Tools

In 2018, Thomas Chipperfield, Britain’s last lion tamer, was denied permission to continue performing with his two lions and one tiger. This decision clearly marked the end of a long tradition of lion taming in Great Britain. It reflects a gradual shift in public perception regarding circuses, with an increasing sentiment that forcing wild animals into unnatural stunts is both dangerous and cruel.

While it took nearly 200 years for these views to result in an official ban, the emotions behind them have been present for much longer. Lion taming emerged in the early 19th century and has evoked both awe and horror throughout history.

Excessive Risk Backfired in Lion Taming

The first lion tamer to achieve great success in the UK was Isaac van Amburgh. He was born in Fishkill, New York, and toured Europe between 1838 and 1845. His shocking acts included leading a lamb into the lions’ cage and placing his head in the mouth of the largest lion. To illustrate his fame, Queen Victoria, a great admirer, commissioned a portrait of him by the artist Edwin Landseer.

While many were impressed by van Amburgh’s daring, his performances also attracted criticism. When he proposed lifting his largest lion into the air using a hot air balloon, authorities immediately banned the act, convinced that any loss of life, “even the shadow of a scientific pretext, it will certainly entail responsibility of a heavy kind upon all the parties concerned in so absurd an exhibition” (Morning Chronicle, September 24, 1838).

Meanwhile, an Examiner journalist criticized a lion tamer’s performance in 1838. Objecting to “the thrusting of his head within the lion’s jaws,” which was “at once a piece of gratuitous impertinence towards the animal, a very disagreeable exhibition for the spectators, and above all a highly hazardous proceeding for the exhibitor.” A certain level of danger was acceptable, adding excitement to lion taming, but excessive risk provoked public outrage.

Sir Edwin Landseer: Isaac van Amburgh and his Animals

The End of Lion Queens Was Brought by Tragedy

The practice couldn’t be stopped at this point. Soon, a new trend swept through the world of zoos: the emergence of female lion tamers. Zoo owners seeking to heighten the tension of their shows found the idea of a “lion queen” appealing. The first lion queen, Miss Hilton, entered a lion’s den at a Stepney fair in 1839, and others soon followed. By the late 1840s, employing a female tamer had become almost mandatory for any self-respecting zoo owner. However, this trend cooled by 1850, partly due to a tragic incident. Ellen Bright, a 17-year-old tamer, was killed by a tiger in Kent during her final performance of the evening.

According to witnesses, the tragedy occurred when Bright, attempting a trick with a lion, pushed the tiger aside “striking slightly with a small whip that she carried in her hand.” The animal “growled, as if in anger,” knocked her over with its paw, and “seizing her furiously by the neck, inserting the teeth of the upper jaw in her chin, and in closing its mouth, inflicting frightful injury in the throat.”

This shocking incident ignited passionate protests against lion queens. A Morning Chronicle article condemned lion taming as a futile and brutalizing spectacle that “degrades both the exhibitor and the spectator and hardens the nature while steeling it to fear and to pity.”

Results with an Iron Rod

Another common criticism of lion taming, even in the 19th century, was the cruelty inflicted on animals. Van Amburgh was known for using violence to make his big cats obey. Sources reported that he beat them with an iron rod. And rumors suggested he had their claws removed and teeth filed. In 1881, the RSPCA described all lion-taming performances as “an exhibition of successful cruelty,” where “big animals are punished into sulky obedience or are made to howl with anger.”

A particularly shocking case of animal cruelty occurred in Leeds in 1874. An animal keeper Frederick Hewitt forced a group of hyenas to jump through a “saturated with naptha and then lighted.” Many of the animals suffered severe burns, and others were left with raw, bleeding wounds. Though the RSPCA charged Hewitt with animal cruelty and called for such performances to end, the case was dismissed on legal technicalities. However, the incident paved the way for other successful legal actions advocating for circus animals’ protection.

Exploitation Extended Beyond Animals

Circus performers were not only accused of exploiting animals. Women, people of color, minors, and individuals with disabilities were also employed as tamers, drawing criticism from contemporaries. In 1866, Nottingham magistrates condemned performances by a five-year-old boy, Daniel Day, who entered the lions’ den at his father’s zoo. In 1870, concerns were raised about “a dwarf named Tommy Dodd” performing with lions in Aberdeen. Then in 1872, widespread outrage followed the death of Thomas McCarty. He was a lion tamer without arms, who was killed by lions at a menagerie in Bolton.

While performing with lions offered a liberating and financially rewarding experience for socially disadvantaged tamers, many saw the practice as exploitative and called for its abolition. Despite waves of anger after serious accidents and deaths, lion taming persisted until the mid-20th century, continuing to draw large audiences. Its popularity only faded in recent decades, largely due to the rise of animal rights activism.