The Gorilla Who Was Brought up as a Boy in an English Village

How did John Daniel end up in an English village?

The gorilla was bought from a London department store called Derry & Toms by a wealthy British major called Rupert Penny in 1917. Shops were very different a century ago. The ape cost £300, about £25,000 in today’s money (or about $34,000USD).

Its parents had been shot by French soldiers in what is now Gabon and the infant gorilla had been captured and taken to England. Major Penny named it John Daniel.

Like many people buying animals on a whim, the major realized he couldn’t look after it. So, in 1918, he sent the infant ape to his sister, Alyce Cunningham, who lived in a small village called Uley, in Gloucester.

Understandably, neither Alyce nor the other village residents had any idea how to look after a baby gorilla. So they decided to just treat John Daniel as a particularly hairy child.