MM/2026/009
20 August 2026
The Committee has received three accounts concerning an elephant said to have resided at Extraordinary House during the late 1920s.
Agreement between the accounts extends no further than the existence of the elephant.
One places the animal in the rear courtyard for eleven days following the settlement of a wager. Another maintains that it belonged to a visiting member and was accommodated only during luncheon. The third describes the elephant as a permanent officer of the House, although it does not explain what office the animal held.
Its name is variously recorded as Edith, Colonel and Tuesday.
No photograph has yet been identified. Evidence presently consists of an unexplained reinforcement to the former courtyard gate, several unusually large orders for fruit and a complaint that the umbrella stand had been emptied into the street.
The Committee has found no record of the elephant being proposed, seconded or elected to membership. Assertions that it was permitted to vote are therefore premature.
The House would be grateful to receive any surviving bills, photographs, correspondence or family recollections capable of clarifying the matter. Particular caution should be exercised where a recollection originated with someone who claimed to have ridden the elephant home.
Until further evidence is admitted to the Archive, the existence, ownership, name and constitutional position of the animal remain disputed.
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