WWW.Taxidermy4cash.com. Look ar Potters page on this site.
Arguably one of the founding fathers of English Taxidermy, Walter Potter was born on July 2nd 1835 in the village of Bramber near Steyning in West Sussex.
Very little remains of this museum today and the actual site is now a house. Only a very small plaque commemorates this man's achievements in this art form. Unlike Edward Booth of Brighton, Potter was a working class man of limited means and his taxidermy work reflects this. The taxidermy styles however of both men tend to be very different. Please see the "Booth Taxidermy Collection page on this website and judge for yourself
I must confess I am not a particular fan of the taxidermy work, produced by Walter Potter. I tend to find it a little macabre. No doubt his work was inspired by the work of Ploucquet This is only a personal opinion. I prefer cased birds that show the subject matter as close to how the subject would have existed and to that end I prefer the work of Edward Booth. You are more than welcome to disagree on this. Given the significant influence of Charles Darwin during this period and the publications of "Origin of Species, we find it strange that Potter and others went down the "Humanisation" of such creatures like Kittens, Rats and the Tableau Cock Robin. They are however interesting pieces that must be judged in the context of the era in which they were created. That however is a completely different debate.
Interestingly enough Beatrix Potter was born on 28 July 1866 in South Kensington, London. She lived a lonely life at home, being educated by a governess and having little contact with other people. She had many animals which she kept as pets, studying them and making drawings to publish in her books. It could however be argued that she may have been inspired by the work produced by Walter Potter of Bramber as he characters bear more than a slight resemblance to the taxidermy work produced in Bramber, West Sussex.
A unique Victorian Museum, established 1861, containing some 10,000 taxidermy curiosities from around the world. including the renowned animal tableaux of Victorian taxidermy collector, Walter Potter. It is understood that most items following the move from Bramber were taken to Jamacia Inn on Bodmin Moor. Walter Potter is possibly most famous for the "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin". (23rd September 03 The Victorian Taxidermy Company ltd successfully purchased this most important taxidermy case following the dismemberment of the Jamaica Inn collection). The tableau endeavours to follow the poem / rhyme of the same name. The tableau is illustrated further down this page
The Victorian "Cock Robin Tableau" attracted much public attention that encouraged Walter to pursue his taxidermy hobby and produce further tableaux depicting groups of animals behaving as though they were tiny humans. Potter quickly became the leading exponent of this kind of taxidermy and his collection expanded sufficiently to require a special building that was constructed across the road from the Inn, now a public car park.
He began with his own pet canary when it died which was still displayed in the Museum, prior to its recent sale, and he progressed from there. It appears that many of the animals were donated to Potter for taxidermy preservation. This unique Victorian Museum, was originally opened in 1861, by its founder Walter Potter, in the village of Bramber in West Sussex. Walter Potter was also not a well travelled man. It has been reported that he lived and conducted his life, mainly around the Villages of Bramber Steyning and Henfield. He also did not travel outside the County of Sussex. He was clearly a man of routine, preferring to share a pint of ale daily at the White Lion Inn with close friends, before walking around the corner to the taxidermy exhibition in the hall almost adjacent. To give you an idea of the history in this area, this is an extract of history relating to St Mary's, a house, which is still present in the village today.
The origins of St. Mary's go back to the days of the Knights Templar when five acres of land in the downland village of Bramber were given to them by the widow of Philip de Braose, following his death in 1125. The present building was constructed in about 1470 by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and founder of Magdalen College, Oxford, as an inn for pilgrims on their way to the tomb of St. Thomas of Canterbury
His sister Jane provided Walter's with the inspiration to copy her nursery rhyme book, which included "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin". The illustrations in the book (Now owned by Kenny Everett) gave him the idea of how to use the many taxidermy specimens he already had collected and he started the task of mounting them in a large tableau depicting the burial scene. It is understood that it took Walter Potter 7 years to complete the montage . The tableau was shown in its entirety in the summerhouse in the garden of the White Lion, now known as the Bramber Castle Inn. Both buildings are depicted within this page. From research into old postcards, it would appear that very little has changed to the exterior of both buildings
The taxidermy collection expanded and included further examples of taxidermy. Walter lived until 1918 (he suffered a stroke, from which he never recovered) when the ownership passed to his daughter and subsequently to his grandson who kept the taxidermy museum open in Bramber where it was a famous tourist attraction for many years. It is understood to have been referred to "House of Pipes". Not sure what is meant by this reference.
The collection was moved to Brighton where it opened for its 112th season and then it was relocated again to the Old Post Office in Arundel where it remained for some 15 years, prior to its final museum resting place at Jamaica Inn, on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.
This collection is one of the only existing examples of a complete Victorian Museum, prior to its recent sale. The curiosities include preserved specimens of animal 'freaks' such as Siamese pigs, archaic musical instruments and opium smoking paraphernalia, which might explain "The House of Pipes" connection.
The most famous exhibits in Potter s taxidermy Museum are the animal tableaux, made up of preserved taxidermy animals posed in glass cases as if taking part in human activities. A list of some of the tableaux gives the flavour of the subject matter: The Happy Family, A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed, Athletic Toads, The House that Jack Built, The Guinea Pigs' Cricket Match, The Sporting Party (now owned by Alexis Turner) and The Kittens' Wedding, which is undrstood to now be in America.
The Kitten's Tea and Croquet Party has 37 little kittens having tea, or playing croquet, with onlookers and waitresses. Walter Potter shows great attention to detail, two kittens appear to be reading a time-table, another is brushing its hair. A social gathering of some importance seems to be taking place, a courteous young kitten is offering a plate of 'mouse tarts' to his neighbour
'The Kitten Wedding' . Compossed of some nineteen taxidermy kittens are fully dressed and posed as a wedding party. It is understood that this particular tableau is no longer in the UK. We are lead to beleive that most if not all of the tableaus went abroad. It is extreamely unlikely that the taxidermy collection will ever be re-assembled. An opportunity lost as it should have been regarded as an important Victorian taxidermy collection. It has been reported that all the Taxidermied kittens came from a farm at Henfield, which is loacted some 6 miles away by modern roads, and were not killed especially for this Tableau. It is understood that no animals were ever killed especially for the museum as Potter did not agree with such undertakings. It is also understood that the two headed lamb came from Beeding Court Farm, which died soon after birth. We beleive that the lamb also now resides in the USA.
Not sentiment shared with his close collection neighbour being Edward Booth of Brighton during the same period. Both men shared a passion for the subject of taxidermy and yet approached the matter in differing ways.
Potter to earn a living from taxidermy and Booth just to indulge in a "moneyed" self serving passion. Both taxidermy collections were uniquely different and yet created in the same period of time. Potter did most of the taxidermy himself and Booth on the other hand did carry our some taxidermy as he was taught by "Kent" of St Leonards, he did however employ several well know Victorian Taxidermists of their time.
It is understood from the curator of Steyning Museum that decendants of Walter Potter still live in Shoreham and that there is a large number of artifacts attributed to Potter held locally. The museum has a large amount of material that was not part of the auction at the Jamacia Inn. Taxidermy cases by Walter Potter still turn up in Sussex and why shouldn't they
For more information on this fascinating subject then go to
www.victorian-taxidermy.com
