Polito’s late 18th Century Menagerie

Polito’s Menagerie and The Exeter Exchange.

Polito’s was one of the earliest travelling menageries of wild and exotic animals. Stephen Polito was born in Italy in about 1763, was a travelling menagerie owner and toured throughout England in the late 18th century.

The Exeter Exchange

The menagerie named The Exeter Exchange occupied the upper floors of a building at the arcade in the Strand in London from 1773.

For more than fifty years, the rooms were let out to a series of impresarios who operated the menagerie in competition with the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London.

By 1810 Polito was managing the Exeter Change at the Strand and renamed it the Royal Menagerie.

Originally owned by the Pidcock family who operated a travelling menagerie circus, the menagerie at Exeter Exchange was very popular during Polito’s short period of ownership. It was visited by William Wordsworth and Lord Byron, and animals in his collection were painted by Edwin Landseer and Jacques-Laurent Agasse. It housed the menagerie lions, tigers, hyenas, zebras, kangaroos, and many other exotic animals, and the elephant Chunee (or Thunee), which was horrendously shot to death in 1826 by soldiers from Somerset House.

His collection was acquired by his brother, John, after his death in 1814, and then by a former employee, Edward Cross (also John’s father in law) picture: right.

Edward Cross continued to tour under the name “Polito’s Menagerie” and then renamed the Exeter Exchange “The Royal Grand National Menagerie” which eventually closed in 1829 when the animals were sent to the London Zoo at Regent’s Park.