❁ Here we have a gorgeous Copy of a Staffordshire collectible figurine,related Victorian circa 1850-1860

❁ Measurements: 20.5 *14 * 5.5 Cm

❁ Weight: 457 g

❁ This piece represents either Ellen Eliza Blight (Bright) or Nellie Chapman , ‘The Lion Queen’.

 Ellen Bright was the daughter of John Bright, Niece of George Wombwell, the menagerist,

performing in Chatham with a lion and tiger a bugle player in the George Wombwell’s Menagerie band. At the age of sixteen she became known as ‘The Lion Queen’. During a performance in January 1850, in a cage with a lion and a tiger (decorated as leopard), she whipped the tiger which was not obeying her commands. The tiger then seized her by the throat and killed her. Following an inquest into her death, the practice of ‘Lion Queens’ was banned, and only men were allowed into the cages.

 Nellie Chapman performed as  Mme. Pauline de Vere, the Lady of the Lions, daughter of Harry Chapman, a peep-show owner, and was brought up by the Manders family who owned a menagerie. She was the second female lion trainer in England, the first being Polly Hilton, a girl who appeared with lions in her uncle's fairground menagerie in the 1840s. When the menagerie owner George Wombwell realised what a draw she was, he employed Nellie Chapman to perform with a range of exotic animals including lions and tigers, leopards and even boa constrictors. Queen Victoria went to Wombwell's and praised 'The Lion Queen', and observers noted her beauty, nerve, self-possession and daring.

In 1847 Nellie performed before Queen Victoria at Windsor and, after putting her head in the lion's mouth and spending nearly half an hour in the cage, Nellie Chapman received a pat on the back from the Prince Consort and a gold watch and chain from the Queen. In 1848 when she was performing with Wombwell's lions at Stepney Fair, she met the circus proprietor and showman 'Lord' George Sanger whom she married in 1850. They had two daughters. Nellie died in 1899, aged 67.

❁ Very well hand painted and glazed earthenware

No chips , no cracks no issues

❁ Please study all the  pictures carefully as I`ve tried to show every detail on each angle