Maharajah and a dispute over fees at a tollgate

IN 1872 THE BELLE-VUE zoo in Manchester purchased an elephant from a travelling zoo in Scotland. The elephant was called Maharaja. It was decided to transport the creature by train from Edinburgh. Maharaja was not keen on that plan, and tore the roof off the railway wagon in which he was to travel.

It was decided to travel by road. Maharaja and his human companions walked from Scotland to Manchester. Many tales have been told about this journey. One of them relates that when the party reached a certain tollgate, there was a dispute about the amount that needed to be paid to allow an elephant through the gate. It is said that while the keepers were discussing the matter with the man at the tollgate, Maharaja solved the problem by using his trunk to open the gate.

This tale, which might or might not be true, has been illustrated in a painting that hangs in the Manchester Museum. Entitled “The Disputed Toll”, it was painted in 1875 by Heywood Hardy.

Maharaja lived at Belle-vue zoo for 10 years before succumbing to a fatal illness. He was then about 18 years old. This is a young age – many elephants live for more than 40 years. Maharajah’s skeleton now stands alongside Hardy’s painting in the entrance hall of the museum.