Salt and Sauce
Encyclopedia
Salt and Sauce (circ.1900-1960) were once two of Britain
's most famous and notorious performing elephant
s (various sources including "The English Circus and Fair Ground" by Sir Garrard Tywhitt-Drake).
, George William Lockhart
, Herbet "Captain Joe" Taylor, John "Broncho Bill" Swallow, Dudley Zoo
, Tom Fossett, Dennis Fossett, Harry Coady and Billy Butlin
. Their presenters included Ivor Rosaire and Emily Paulo. Formerly members and believed to be the longest suriviving members of George William Lockhart
's "Cruet", they were featured in various books, newspapers and magazines in their day, and are the focus of a new book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". The elephants were famed for their vast array of tricks, but also feared for their temperamental moods. Sauce (known as "Saucy" most of the time) killed George William Lockhart (her owner and trainer) in an accident at Walthamstow Station and Salt killed William Aslett (an elephant groom) when she attacked him in 1957 on Rosaire's Circus
.
and died after a week. According to the local press over a hundred wreaths were left for her at the circus. It was predicted that her lifelong companion, Sauce, would die soon afterwards (source: Salt and Sauce were Separated by John D. Swallow), but she lived until 1960, dying from "natural causes".
, Great Yarmouth Hippodrome and World's Fair
Islington. Circuses included Tom Sylvester's, Bertram Mills
' Circus, Billy Smart's Circus, Broncho Bill's Circus, Rosaire's Cirucs, Paulo's Circus, Ringland's Circus and Cody's Circus (Sauce only) among many others.
According to an article written in the "World's Fair" newspaper, the two elephants were also featured in the film Elephant Boy
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's most famous and notorious performing elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s (various sources including "The English Circus and Fair Ground" by Sir Garrard Tywhitt-Drake).
Career
Salt and Sauce were owned and presented by some of the most famous show business people of their era. Their owners included Carl HagenbeckCarl Hagenbeck
Carl Hagenbeck was a merchant of wild animals who supplied many European zoos, as well as P.T. Barnum. He is often considered the father of the modern zoo because he introduced "natural" animal enclosures that included recreations of animals' native habitats without bars...
, George William Lockhart
George William Lockhart
George William Lockhart was a famous Victorian elephant trainer. His original group of three elephants, Boney , Molly and Waddy, toured Great Britain's music hall scene, as well as Europe, and is reported to have appeared "500 times" at Proctor's Pleasure Palace in New York in 1895...
, Herbet "Captain Joe" Taylor, John "Broncho Bill" Swallow, Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoological Gardens is a zoo located within the grounds of Dudley Castle in the town of Dudley, in the Black Country region of the West Midlands, England...
, Tom Fossett, Dennis Fossett, Harry Coady and Billy Butlin
Billy Butlin
Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin, , was a British, South Africa-born entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.American Heritage Dictionary 2004, p. 135.Scott 2001, p. 5...
. Their presenters included Ivor Rosaire and Emily Paulo. Formerly members and believed to be the longest suriviving members of George William Lockhart
George William Lockhart
George William Lockhart was a famous Victorian elephant trainer. His original group of three elephants, Boney , Molly and Waddy, toured Great Britain's music hall scene, as well as Europe, and is reported to have appeared "500 times" at Proctor's Pleasure Palace in New York in 1895...
's "Cruet", they were featured in various books, newspapers and magazines in their day, and are the focus of a new book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". The elephants were famed for their vast array of tricks, but also feared for their temperamental moods. Sauce (known as "Saucy" most of the time) killed George William Lockhart (her owner and trainer) in an accident at Walthamstow Station and Salt killed William Aslett (an elephant groom) when she attacked him in 1957 on Rosaire's Circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
.
Deaths
Despite both Salt suffering dropsy symptoms that had already killed two other members of "The Cruet" she went on to live for five decades. Her death was well documented in the Cambridge local press (source: The Legend of Salt and Sauce) when she accidentally got stuck in Vauxhall lake whilst touring with Ringland's Circus in 1952. After seven hours and with the aid of a crane she was freed from the lake, but suffered from pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and died after a week. According to the local press over a hundred wreaths were left for her at the circus. It was predicted that her lifelong companion, Sauce, would die soon afterwards (source: Salt and Sauce were Separated by John D. Swallow), but she lived until 1960, dying from "natural causes".
Media featuring Salt and Sauce
Salt and Sauce were booked on numerous famous British circuses (source: "World's Fair", "King Pole" magazine, various programmes, "The Victorian Arena" by John Turner and "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" by Jamie Clubb). Confirmed buildings they worked in included The Lyceum, Norwich Hippodrome, Blackpool TowerBlackpool Tower
Blackpool Tower Eye is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire in England which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. . Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it rises to 518 feet & 9 inches . The tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers...
, Great Yarmouth Hippodrome and World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
Islington. Circuses included Tom Sylvester's, Bertram Mills
Bertram Mills
Bertram Wagstaff Mills was a British circus owner who ran the Bertram Mills Circus. Originally from Paddington, London, his circus became famous in the UK for its Christmas shows at Olympia in West London...
' Circus, Billy Smart's Circus, Broncho Bill's Circus, Rosaire's Cirucs, Paulo's Circus, Ringland's Circus and Cody's Circus (Sauce only) among many others.
According to an article written in the "World's Fair" newspaper, the two elephants were also featured in the film Elephant Boy
Elephant Boy
Elephant Boy may refer to:*Elephant Boy , a 1937 film based on a story from Kipling's Jungle Book* "Elephant Boy", the nickname of Fred Schreiber, of The Howard Stern Shows The Wack Pack...
.
Books featuring Salt and Sauce
- Grey Titan: The Book of Elephants, W. Bosworth and G. Lockhart, 1938
- The English Circus and Fair Ground, Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, 1946
- The English Circus, Ruth Manning-SandersRuth Manning-SandersRuth Manning-Sanders was a prolific British poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants...
, 1952 - The Circus Has No Home, Rupert Croft-CookeRupert Croft-CookeRupert Croft-Cooke was an English biographer and author of fiction and non-fiction.He also published detective stories under the pseudonym of Leo Bruce.-Life:...
- Fairs and Circuses in the Black Country, Ned Williams
- The Victorian Arena: The Performers Volumes 1 and 2, John Turner, 1995 and 2000 respectively
- The Legend of Salt and Sauce, Jamie Clubb