On Friday,
March 5, we had the chance to tour Knowsley Hall and Knowsley Safari park.
Knowsley hall has been the home of the Earls of Derby since 1385. The name
Derby is well known for its connection to the Derby horse races which are
named after their founder, the twelfth Earl of Derby. As we toured Knowsley
we discovered many other influential roles the Derbys have played in the
shaping of British
history
through political, cultural and community works. The earl's of Derby have
been eminent natural historians, loyal royalists, and patrons of the arts
just to name a few. The diverse talents and interests of the past eighteen
Earls is reflected in each room of the house. One of the rooms is a capsule
of all the Earls' stories. this room is the State Dining Room which was
originally designed for entertaining King George IV and today holds portraits
of each Earl and his wife. Our tour guide, Amanda Straw, told us the stories
behind the portraits and pointed out significant contributions of each
Earl. Since our class recently finished reading and seeing Shakespeare's
Richard III, it was exciting to learn about the first earl of derby,
Lord Stanley. Stanley was the stepfather of Henry VII and was made Earl
for assisting Henry in defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
Another interesting Earl was the fourteenth, Edward Geoffrey. Geoffrey
became Prime Minister three times and was instrumental in abolishing slavery.
Geoffrey was also an accomplished scholar who translated the Iliad
from Latin to English. We also heard a story about a nineteenth-century
Earl who was offered the kingship of Bulgaria, but turned it down saying,
"Don't they know I am the Earl of Derby?" Scattered among the remnants
of past Earls were family photos of the current Earl and Lady Derby. My
favorite picture was of the Earl, Edward Richard William and his wife,
Caroline Emma, in their derby box where he proposed marriage. This picture
made the front of every tabloid the next day. Another photo captured the
couple with their little girl, Henrietta, and her Godfather, Prince Andrew.
After touring Knowlsey estate we drove through the Knowlsey Safari park.
This park of exotic animals was established by the eighteenth Earl in 1971.
The highlight of our drive through the park was when one of the monkeys
decided to surprise us by leaping on top of the bus. Besides the monkeys
lions roamed across the road and lion cubs stalked the bus restlessly.
We saw emus, wallabies, tigers, elephants, buffalo, gazelle and more. We
must have been some of the first visitors of the season, which typically
includes around 500,000 visitors.