The ancients sometimes showed praiseworthy zeal to honour their deceased favourite dogs. With their habitual fondness for preserving the bodies of their dead, the old Egyptians did not restrict this practice to human beings. When his favourite dog died in 2180 BC, the grieving Pharaoh ordered a fine sarcophagus made for it, detailing that much fine cloth, incense and scented oils should be used in the mummification process. Another ancient dog-lover, Alexander the Great, owned a large mastiff-like dog named Peritas. When she died, Alexander led the funeral procession to the grave. He had a fine stone monument erected on the site and ordered the locals to extol the dog’s memory in annual ceremonies.
NOBLE DOGS
Since at least the eighteenth century, royal and noble personages have had cemeteries for their beloved pets. The dog-loving Duchess of York, who kept a large number of pampered dogs at Oatlands Park, founded an elaborate dog cemetery within the grounds. The names of the dogs, and the dates of their deaths, were given on the headstones, which numbered 63 in all. Some of the headstones have verses, like that of Julia, who might have been a Great Dane:
Here Julia rests, and here each dayHer mistress strews her grave with flowers,Mourning her loss whose frolic play,Enlivened oft the lonesome hours.From Denmark did her race descend,Beauteous her form, and mild her spiritCompanion gay, and faithful friend,May ye who read this have half her merit.
In 1871, Queen Victoria visited Oatlands and expressed a wish that the dogs’ tombstones should be restored, something that was duly carried out. Although Oatlands Park is today a fashionable hotel, the old dog cemetery still exists within its grounds.
Queen Victoria had her own pet cemetery at Windsor Castle. Several horses and many dogswith elaborate tombs and bronze statues. There was also a small dog cemetery at Sandringham for the pets of Edward, Prince of Wales and his family. Among them were Jung, a Tibet dog given to the Prince in Nepal, and the equally exotic Beattie, a Siberian dog, for 10 years the companion of HRH. There was another small dog cemetery at Marlborough House, where Edward VII’s dog Cæsar was buried in 1914.
