Bostock gravestone, New Kilpatrick Cemetery

Image: © Richard Sutcliffe Taken: 6 Sep 2020

IN SACRED MEMORY OF ELIZABETH DEARLY BELOVED WIFE OF E.H. BOSTOCK WHO DIED 12TH DECR 1927 IN HER 69TH YEAR "LOVING ALL; BY ALL BELOVED" ALSO THE ABOVE EDWARD HENRY BOSTOCK J.P. WHO DIED 17TH SEPT 1940 IN HIS 82ND YEAR THEIR ELDEST SON EDWARD HENRY AUGUSTUS BOSTOCK WHO DIED 5TH AUGUST 1943 IN HIS 62ND YEAR DEARLY BELOVED HUSBAND OF ELIZABETH LITTLE SOMMERVILLE ALSO THE ABOVE ELIZABETH LITTLE SOMMERVILLE WHO DIED 14TH DECEMBER 1964 IN HER 74TH YEAR Edward Henry Bostock was born into a family of circus and menagerie owners. They toured the country putting on performances of Bostock and Wombwell's Menagerie in towns and cities on their route. In 1897 Bostock finally settled in Glasgow, where he set up the Scottish Zoo and Variety Circus, and Glasgow Hippodrome. In due course he was elected a member of Glasgow Council and became a Justice of the Peace. His 1928 autobiography 'Menageries, Circuses and Theatres' is worth a read if you can get hold of a copy. There is also a lot of information at http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Glasgow/ScottishZooAndHippodrome.htm. Many of the animals at the zoo were presented to the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow when they died. The best known of these is Sir Roger, the Asian elephant http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=326700;type=102.

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