"Electrophants" at Goldhanger
In the 1960s mechanical elephants was
developed and marketed from Follyfaunts House
in Goldhanger...
|
extracts from a USA magazine “Road &
Track” |
|
The main people involved in this
enterprise appear to have been:
Lord Hillingdon - Director of Electrophants company,
probably
Charles Hedworth Mills 4th baron 1922-1978.
There
is no evidence indicating that Lord Hillingdon ever lived in Follyfaunts House.
An
inscription in St. Martin's Cemetery, Feering, reads...
Charles
Hedworth Mills, 4th Baron Hillingdon, 1978"
Frank Stuart -
the original designer from Thaxted
Maurice Radburn -
employee of Frank Stuart, he later lived and worked at St Osyth, Essex.
Fred Berry -
of Aldham, Nr Colchester
Karl Nelles -
employee of Frank Stuart and driver who was an ex German P.O.W.
Colin Chapman - possibly the same person who founded of
Lotus Cars.
There’s been several earlier versions of
mechanical elephants however, developed in the UK by:
Frank & Eric Smith - Morcombe 1947 - 1950
Macades Entertainment & Luneside
Engineering - Halton, near Lancaster 1950
Frank Stuart - Thaxted 1948 to the 1952
Fred Berry -
Aldham, Nr Colchester
Maurice Radburn - St Osyth, Clacton, Essex. late 1940s
In this video Eric Smith relates the
history of the Morecambe mechanical elephants...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxhrg5FsTUQ
Over a twenty five year period many
different versions on the mechanical elephants were developed. There were full
and half size models with both petrol and electric versions. The petrol
versions suffered from the drawback of the exhaust fumes, emitted from the
elephant’s trunk, caused the children to choke. The electrical version had the
advantage that it could be operated indoors and photographs available show it
being used for children's rides in a departmental store.
The machines were sold and shipped around
the world and the very large and extensive website at...
cyberneticzoo (scroll down past the large header)
This site is maintained by Reuben Hoggett
in Australia and has many examples of destinations in Australia, USA, Canada,
and Sweden. There is much more information about the many variants of
mechanical elephants and Electrophants on the various pages of the website. The
most relevant being at...
cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1947-55-baby-mechanical-elephants-frank-stuart-british
and...
cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1961-electrophant...
and...
cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1951-mechanical-elephants-by-frank-stuart-in-america/
and...
cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1950-nellie-the-mechanical-elephant-in-australia/
and...
cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1949-50-mechanical-elephant-frank-stuart-scottish-g-b/
(scroll down past all the large
headers)
Today many have found homes in museums
and, as some of the more recent videos (identified below) indicate they even
occasionally take to the roads for special events. It is difficult to track
particular models as most seem to be named either Nellie or Jessie and most
have been completely re-built as they would have needed constant maintenance.
There have been many newspaper articles
about the them in the UK over the years, a search within this website for:
“mechanical elephants” between 1948 and
1980...
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
produces well over 100 relevant articles
from resorts around the country
The version marketed from Follyfaunts was
electrically driven using conventional 12volt lead-acid car batteries. Only a
few models of this version seem to have produced before the company closed
down, probably resulting of an incident in the USA when the elephant fell over
while carrying children. It was most likely that it toppled due to the weight
of the batteries held within the body combined with the weight of the children
being carried. Here is a newpaper cutting from the 1950s...
This was probably inevitable because with
the batteries and the children they were ‘top heavy’ with a centre of gravity
far too high. The driver would have to have been very careful to stay on level
ground and avoid pit holes and bumps.
Several locals remember seeing a mechanical elephant on the Prom
at Maldon. One person recalls riding on it in 1950 and another recalls seeing
it in 1954. One person remembers seeing it in the Maldon carnival. One person
recalls seeing an Electrophant going along the Goldhanger Road from the village
towards Heybridge. Here are photos from Maldon and the Purleigh Queen Inn...
|
a large version on the Prom at Maldon remembered by many locals |
at the Purleigh
Queen Inn Purleigh, Essex |
||||
|
at
Margate |
at Thaxsted |
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|
Frank
Stuart’s drawing |
A 1967 advert in
the USA |
||||
|
inside
a London store |
Children
at Dr Banardos Home in Essex |
the internals of
the electric version |
|||
|
at the Bentley show in 1975 |
at Cromer |
||||
There are many videos from
the past that show mechanical
elephants moving around the world...
1932 www.britishpathe.com/video/mechanical-el a stroll in a park – a very early record
1949 www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Z4YApl06Y small 2-stroke petrol versions at
Humberside
1950 www.britishpathe.com/thaxted-news Frank Stewart at Thaxted
1950 www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSdZCmm6Vgk as above on YouTube
1950s www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQjYS6-3dmk Royal Adelaide Show (only the 1st 15secs
of a 15min video)
1967 https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=2289 Jessica with Lord Hillingdon
at Stratford St Mary, Suffolk
1975 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKyY34D-O98 from BBC Blue Peter, large electric
version (poor quality video)
1980 www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlDq6nIl9Ag Jessica (Nellie?) - comments
about the poor centre of gravity
1980s https://youtu.be/darAUkgyd8s Nellie in Exmouth,
Sandy Bay Country Museum
2008 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4HMzpbTS68 BBC Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson with a large
petrol version
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLAmeCblFTk Nellie in Christmas Pageant, Adelaide
Australia - petrol version
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdV1oNlBoL8 Jumbo at Michigan, USA with a large
electric version
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hFrchgE_k Larry Gavette and Eric go for a ride
down in the USA
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSapsltKS0o Jumbo 1st walks after rebuild
2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbtK1AD614Q Off
Bros USA, large electric version
2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0ER1Y4E1xE Mechanical Elephant USA – no location or
details given
2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xreGGsDiVM8 'Rajah' returns to Lancashire in 2010, ITV
News
2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqWwxI_qpCI Wendall in Auburn, Indiana, USA with a
large electric version
2015 www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-XPIzBkCYQ in the USA – maybe the same machine and
event as Off Bros
2015 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEnXc3UI0UU Richland Michigan 4th of July Parade
with the same machine
This Garden Trust blog dated 2014 has news reports and photos...
https://thegardenstrust.blog/2014/07/10/mechanical-elephants/
These news reports, all
dated 2016, have impressive pictures of a restored 1951 model which was
auctioned for $275,000...
news.justcollecting.com/wendell-the-mechanical-elephant-marches-to-275-000-at-auctions-america/
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/30/mechanical-elephant-on-auction-block-at-annual-car/
uk.motor1.com/news/97230/mechanical-elephant-auction/
uk.motor1.com/photos/479269/mechanical-elephant-auction/#1485857_mechanical-elephant-auction
This Essex Records Office
Facebook page dated 2019 is called Happy Save The Elephant Day!...
https://www.facebook.com/EssexRecordOffice/posts/2080905392019573/
This Southend Echo article
(very long with many adverts) is dated July 2022 but
looks back to much early days and has a short section about Frank Stuart’s
Electrophants...
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/nostalgia/20249889.times-essex-saw-elephants-past-amid-herd-city/
here
are the words:
"Scottish artist and
inventor Frank Stuart, who lived in Thaxted, spent two years and £1,000
creating the motorised 8ft 6inch tall elephant to give joy rides to
children. Less expensive than the real
thing, but far more complex, was an extraordinary mechanical elephant built in
1950 by an Essex-based inventor.
The battery-powered creation
–which he dubbed an ‘electrophant’- was made from a steel skeleton and covered
with toughened paper and was capable of travelling at 27mph. It was capable of
seating eight adults or 16 children on its howdah.
Stuart, who had specialised
in creating stage scenery and masks for the annual Venice festival, was aiming
to sell the elephant. He set up his own electrophant business in Colchester but
unfortunately he was beset by production costs.
In the summer of 1971 an
elephant named Bella became a familiar sight around Southend. Bella had been
all over Southend for carnival day and was the star attraction of the parade.
She later shared the stage of the Cliffs Pavilion with guest host Dickie
Henderson".
Here is one of the other most recent UK
newspaper articles seen which was dated 1999...
unfortunately some of the links to the videos
and articles above may become out of date in time
( see... those
magnificent links )
we would like to acknowledge the contributions
made to this webpage by Mr Andrew S Hatton
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