Alfred the Gorilla
Alfred died on 10 March 1948. The press at the time speculated that ‘his pet hate got him in the end’, linking Alfred's dislike of aeroplanes with the passage of one over the zoo shortly before his death. The actual cause of his demise was tuberculosis which he contracted a year before and despite his keepers best efforts, he had been unable to recover. His death was mourned by many of the regular visitors to the zoo, some of whom were even inspired to compose poems in his honour.
Alfred Anderson (veteran)
Alfred Anderson was born on 25 June 1896 at 20 Kirloch Street, Dundee. He was the son of Andrew Anderson, a joiner, and Christina Thomas Emmerson. His parents married on 5 September 1888 in Chicago, Illinois, where they had two sons before returning to Scotland. The Andersons went on to have four more children, including Alfred. Andrew Anderson died on 31 July 1943, aged eighty-one, of bronchial asthmafrom which he had suffered for over twenty-five yearsand bronchopneumonia. Christina Anderson died of cardiovascular degeneration on 9 January 1953, aged eighty-four. Alfred registered both of his parents' deaths.