George William Lockhart

George William Lockhart (real name Locker, 1849 - 24 January 1904) was a Victorian era elephant trainer. His original group of three elephants, Boney (pronounced Bonnie), Molly and Waddy, toured Great Britain's music hall scene, as well as Europe, and is reported to have appeared "500 times" at Proctor's Pleasure Palace in New York in 1895. He is also known for his death in an elephant stampede that made two of his new elephants, Salt and Sauce, infamous until their deaths in 1952 and 1960, respectively.

He was the brother of the elephant trainer, Sam Lockhart, and the father of George Claude Lockhart, who was the first ringmaster to wear the "pink" tails and top hat in circus.

He was born George William Locker in 1849. He was the eldest of three brothers and one sister. His parents were Sam Locker, Sr., a stilt-walking clown, and Hannah Pinder, sister of the pioneers of the French circus Pinder. Lockhart and his brother Sam worked together on their parents' circus, and then toured Europe as bareback riders, clowns and acrobats. An accident in 1875 brought George's acrobatic career to an end and the two brothers went separate ways to pursue individual careers.

Lockhart bought his first elephant in Burma. The elephant had originally come from Borneo and was given this name, which was later bastardized to Boney. After bringing up Boney, the Lockharts bought two more elephants they called Molly and Waddy, and formed an act. This act included various tricks that were popular at the time, including getting Boney to ride a tricycle, act as if they were playing in a band, and act out a comedy routine in a restaurant.

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