{"id":556,"date":"2013-04-12T14:02:38","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T14:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/towardsdolly.wordpress.com\/?p=556"},"modified":"2013-04-12T14:02:38","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T14:02:38","slug":"letters-in-the-limelight-rowland-ward-taxidermist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/2013\/04\/12\/letters-in-the-limelight-rowland-ward-taxidermist\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters in the Limelight: Rowland Ward, taxidermist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Coll14.9.10.71<\/a>Cataloguing the correspondence of zoologist\/animal breeder James Cossar Ewart (1851-1933), I have been intrigued by the various \u2018life stories\u2019 which emerge from the letters. Periodically I will be including some highlights in a series of posts entitled \u2018letters in the limelight\u2019 .<\/em><\/p>\n

For anyone seriously interested in studying the various physical and biological characteristics of animals in James Cossar Ewart\u2019s time, taxidermy played an important role. Ewart\u2019s correspondence reveal that he travelled extensively around the world observing or seeking out various breeds of animals (for instance in 1905 he went to Mexico to study mustangs). He was also able to acquire various breeds or hybrids at his home in Penicuik (most usually sheep, ponies and his famous zebra\/horse hybrids). We also know that his correspondents sent him photographs or glass slides <\/a>depicting various interesting specimens. However, sometimes travel or photography was not possible, or a particular animal Ewart wished to inspect died before he could visit, or he wanted to preserve one of his own animals for future research use, such as examining colouration or markings. This is where taxidermy came into its own. The picture shows a bill from the renowned taxidermist Rowland Ward. Dated 4 July 1904, it summarises the services Ewart had received since 1902, including \u2018skinning Przewalski\u2019s horse [a species of wild horse], preserving and dressing skin, making artificial skull\u2019, \u2018preserving and macerating skeleton\u2019 and \u2018skinning zebra hybrid.\u2019 During the course of his research, Ewart amassed quite a collection of zebra and horse skins, skulls and bones, which allowed him to compare variations in markings, bone structure and other characteristics.<\/p>\n

Born in London in 1847, Rowland Ward left school at 14 to begin work at his father Henry Ward\u2019s taxidermy studio. His gift for taxidermy and sculpture soon became clear, and his hard work and entrepreneurship soon made him established. His final premises, The Jungle, was situated in London\u2019s fashionable Piccadilly district and largely catered for wealthy sportsmen and game hunters, as well as naturalists like Ewart. He became widely known for his hugely detailed dioramas, often used at large exhibitions, depicting, for example, scenes of jungle life, as well as fashionable \u2018animal furniture\u2019. However, he also pioneered techniques in taxidermy which are still employed today, and his books on taxidermy and extensive compilation of horn measurements are still consulted. The business continued to flourish after Ward\u2019s death in 1912, its subsidiary company finally closing in 1983.<\/p>\n

You can see examples of Rowland Ward\u2019s work here:\u00a0http:\/\/taxidermyemporium.co.uk\/15.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cataloguing the correspondence of zoologist\/animal breeder James Cossar Ewart (1851-1933), I have been intrigued by the various \u2018life stories\u2019 which emerge from the letters. Periodically I will be including some highlights in a series of posts entitled \u2018letters in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,67,99,114],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p40Aqf-8Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/towardsdolly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}