Remembering when Cowcaddens was home to a zoo, a circus and Glasgow's 'greatest showman'

EH Bostock’s Scottish Zoo and Hippodrome – the first zoo in the country – was a tantalising centre of exotic animals, a circus big top, a theatre and a roller-skating rink.

In later years, it became the Zoo Electric Theatre, then the Joytown Grand Electric Theatre, and later still, Reardon’s snooker hall and a Chinese shopping mall.

Heather Bostock Payne (Image: Heather Bostock Payne)

But in its heyday, it was a buzzing, bustling place which attracted visitors from all over the city and beyond. Star attractions included the lions’ cage (where one daredevil couple even got married) and Sir Roger the elephant – who has since been stuffed and now lives in Kelvingrove Museum.

EH Bostock and his second wife, Jean. (Image: Newsquest)

Our recent story about Edward Henry Bostock and his brother Frank prompted one reader to get in touch with a fascinating story of her own.

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“I am EH Bostock’s last surviving granddaughter, and I read your story with great interest,” explains Heather Bostock Payne, now 85, who grew up in Glasgow’s west end and Newton Mearns.

An illuminated address to the Bostocks. Picture courtesy of Heather Bostock Payne (Image: Heather Bostock Payne)

“I was only three and a half when my grandfather died, but I do remember that he was something of a celebrity – and whenever he came to visit us, the silver would be polished and the house all spick and span….”

Edward’s mother Emma Wombwell was part of an ancient family of showmen and women and when he was a young boy, he joined her touring menagerie.

“When he was old enough, he started his own, and he took on his mother’s when she retired, touring all over the globe to the likes of India and Japan,” says Heather. “At the age of 18, he toured South Africa – quite something, for a young man.”

At the age of 38, however, Edward was tired of travelling and decided to retire to Norwich.

“After six months, his itchy feet got the better of him and he moved to Glasgow, where a business opportunity he had heard about, seemed to good to miss,” says Heather. “He and his wife moved to Burnbank Terrace, and the Scottish Zoo opened in 1897.

“My mother, Frances, was born in 1900, the youngest of his three daughters. Her big sisters were Hilda and Lucy, and EH had a son, Gus.”

So well-regarded were the Bostocks, that just a few months after the Glasgow grand opening, Edward was invited to exhibit at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebration in the Crystal Palace in London.

“He really was something of a celebrity, in today’s terms,” smiles Heather. “I remember whenever we went to the Kelvin Hall carnival, we’d be entitled to sit in the box. It was very fancy.

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“He also became the MP for Cowcaddens and was liked and respected across Glasgow.”

Edward was presented with an ‘illuminated address’, a beautiful framed certificate, from the people of the city, and those who worked in his establishments.

Heather adds: “It talks of his ‘kind and gentle disposition’ and ‘sterling and upright character’ and it reads: ‘It is …given as a token of the great respect with which they are held by all and with the most sincere worries that health and prosperity may attend all their family’.”

Interestingly, explains Heather, Edward and his son, Gus, had plans to open up a zoological garden at Rouken Glen, but the start of WW1 put paid to the idea. 

EH Bostock died in 1940, aged 82 and he is buried in Old Kilpatrick Cemetery.

Heather and her husband Gavin now live in England, where they have been researching the Bostock family history and have created a ‘mini-museum’ of papers, photos, books and artefacts in their home.

“I have everything my mother left me, and we have managed to find other items online,” she says. “In around 2016, Gavin spotted someone in Antwerp – goodness knows how this ended up there – selling a model version of the Bostock and Wombwell Menagerie.

“We managed to track it down and buy it and it was huge – 15 boxes of model wagons, accurate depictions of the original wagons which would tour the menagerie around the world.”

After six months of painstaking restoration, the model took pride of place in Heather’s collection.

“It is incredible – the attention to detail is amazing,” she says. “In one of the wagons, there is even a portrait of Frank Bostock on the wall. It is also remarkable, because it is really the only full-colour ‘picture’ of the menagerie – all the other sketches and drawings are in black and white.”

Heather adds: “I am continually researching the Bostock family and found my grandfather's autobiography, Menageries, Circuses and Theatres, to be such a mine of information.

“We feel we have a lot to be proud of, being part of this fascinating family.”