William Alford Lloyd. The first Aquarist

W. A. Lloyd 1826-1880.

Image by permission of the trustees of the Natural History Museum (London). Owen collection Vol.17:446

Part One. Learning the trade.

Having a valuable day off work to mark the funeral of the Duke of Wellington on Thursday the 18th of November 1852, William Alford Lloyd of 56, St Johns Square, Clerkenwell, a married, 26 year old journeyman bookbinder, decided not to stand with the gloomy crowds watching the procession, instead, he visited his favourite haunt, the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens.
Looking at the exhibits, his path eventually took him towards the entrance on the south side of the gardens where he discovered a new large glass conservatory-like structure built upon a low wall. Peering through the locked door and seeing nobody inside, he sought the attention of a passing attendant and enquired upon the buildings purpose. From him he learned it was to be the Fish House, which was due to open in time for the next London Season. The attendant also told Lloyd, all manner of fish, including sea fish and lobsters, would be on display in large glass-tanks. Excited by his discovery he returned to the building to inspect it further. Walking around to the back, he gazed through the window and saw to his great astonishment, “a glass tank containing perfectly clear water, with some aquatic plants growing in it, and, wonder of wonders, a living pike!”.
The new fish house opened on Saturday, May 28th, 1853, but Lloyd, working twelve hours a day, six days a week at Brown's bookshop, was, to his frustration, unable to visit the new fish house after it opened to the public. In desperation, on June 6th 1854 , he wrote to the eminent Professor Richard Owen requesting a complimentary Sunday ticket, explaining that this was the only day he had off work and that on his meagre salary he could not afford to pay the extra Sunday premium. Much to his delight the ticket arrived and he was at last able to satisfy his burning curiosity and visit the new exhibition; he discovered later, much to his surprise, Professor Owen had also informed the gardens Secretary, Mr D. W. Mitchell of his intention and interest. Such was his enthusiasm after viewing the aquarium exhibition, and with little knowledge of the principles involved other than what he had gleaned from Mr Mitchell, upon returning home he determined to set up his own aquariums.
Disregarding the cost, in August of the same year, Lloyd purchased a new fish globe and began his own freshwater aquarium experiments. Using about three gallons of freshwater, he filled the globe to its maximum capacity, and, with a sprig of Valisneria spiralis set into a shingle bottom, waited for the water to clear. Some three days later, after purchasing six small minnows from a nearby fishing tackle shop, he tentatively introduced them into the new aquarium. Placing the aquarium in the second floor window, the fish seemed happy enough for a few hours but then began to swim up to the surface to gulp for air, discovering their plight, he immediately changed the water, but this was not enough to save their lives. Thinking the problem must have been in the fish, he purchased six more, only to repeat his failure. Although somewhat perplexed, a few days later, throwing caution to the wind, he purchased another similar globe. After settling the gravel he half filled it with water poured from the first globe and introduced more minnows, but this time, because of the reduced water level, placed only three minnows in each globe. Putting the new globe alongside the other on the second floor windowsill the fish survived happily enough. Observing them over the next few days, he then discovered those in the globe that received the most direct sunlight did not seem as sprightly as those that spent most of their time in the shade, which made him realise his own immediate need; to better understand the affect of light and temperature upon the globes and their occupants (1).

Reading Gosse's new book, The Aquarium , published in 1854, Lloyd was unable to resist the urge to keep marine specimens, which immediately presented a number of obstacles, none more than his city-bound lifestyle. His first marine experiments were with sea anemones, setting them up in wide-mouthed glass bottles filled with artificial seawater; made up from salts acquired from a Holborn chemist in exchange for his formula gained from Gosse's book. Unable to visit the seashore to collect specimens, he instead collected them from the cast aside shells of the Smithfield and St John's Street oyster stalls. These stalls, unlike the sophisticated City Luncheon Bars, did not stock the smooth shelled “native” variety, but specialised in selling the rough shelled “commoners” to the lower-classes. Keenly inspecting the upper shell, he sought out the tiny anemones that might still be found adhered between the rough foliations and, taking his prizes home, set them in the glass bottles; feeding them scraps of oyster scraped from the same cast-aside shell that had delivered them.
In a great earthenware foot-pan set on the stone floor in a dark corner, he kept the surplus of mixed seawater, and, whenever the water in a glass bottle showed any sign of turbidity, he poured it back into the foot-pan and immediately re-dipped it from the same source. As the number of bottles increased, he soon learned the bulk of seawater in the foot-pan needed to increase by a greater amount, allowing time for the detritus to settle and for the oxygen to be replenished.
As the aquarium craze gathered pace Lloyd worked tirelessly towards the goal of starting his own business, which involved setting up a supporting network of marine collectors; eventually the business opened on the 14th July 1855 , which he proudly advertised in Notes & Queries as “selling everything relating to aquaria”. Operating out of his home address at 164 St John Street Road, Clerkenwell he was unable to give up the financial security provided by working in Brown's bookshop, so his able wife Amelia served behind the counter of their new venture. As the business became established, wishing recognition as the premium London aquarium supplier, Lloyd again wrote to the benevolent Professor Owen, this time asking if he would endorse the business to his naturalist friends. With Owen's endorsement, such was the success of the small shop, Lloyd soon began to seek premises more suited to displaying his every increasing stock; with the intention of leaving Brown's employ to work full time managing the business (2).

Acquiring run down premises at 19 and 20, Portland Road , Regent's Park, occupied by both an Irish Policeman and his family and a starving woman and her children, Lloyd used his remaining capital to refurbish the premises and convert the lower floor into a two-roomed shop. As the first room became ready, moving his stock over from St John Street Road, he advertised the relocation of his business in Notes & Queries on the 31 May 1856 . With the premises finished, in the winter of 1856, he proudly named his new shop “The Aquarium Warehouse”.
Giving credence to his new venture was his most esteemed customer and supporter, Philip Henry Gosse, who was proud to include his books on Lloyd's well-stocked shelves. After a rocky start, such was the intimacy which developed between the two, Lloyd often presented the famous naturalist with the rarer marine specimens that his collectors sent; which were either new to him or to science. Their enduring friendship was sealed when, upon receiving a specimen from Lloyd, Gosse replied on Nov 24th 1858 “Our Cerianthus is not the Mediterranean one; it has some very important specific differences. Will you allow me to call it Cerianthus Lloydii ? We owe the species to your enterprise, and it will give me an opportunity of saying a word of your commercial undertakings.” Lloyd graciously accepted the honour his friend proposed to bestow upon him. By this time, born out of his practical ability, but mostly fired by necessity, Lloyd's experience of keeping both his animal and algæ stock alive and well was now being recognised; knowledge that Gosse readily accepted, once seeking Lloyd's advice on the affect light and temperature had upon the parlour aquarium.
Within weeks of opening his new Aquarium Warehouse, Lloyd received an enquiry from Margaret Gatty, a well known friend of seaweed specialist, Dr Harvey, who wished to purchase a book. Grasping the opportunity, he entered into a lengthy correspondence with her about the growth of confervoid algæ within the marine parlour aquarium; at one time asking her if, she might discuss the topic with the esteemed Dr. Harvey.
With the Aquarium Warehouse fully stocked Lloyd began to assemble a catalogue of his wares, A List with descriptions and prices, of whatever is related to Aquaria . Amongst its 125 illustrated pages was the latest advice on keeping a parlour aquarium, including Warington's “slope-back tank", which Gosse had used and criticised in his most popular book, The Aquarium Handbook. Lloyd felt obliged to discuss the topic with him and Gosse conceded in a letter dated 10 Aug 1858, “my opinion of tanks does not affect zoological authority”; allowing Lloyd to enter a footnote onto page 48 stating that Gosse's comments had been made some years earlier and before the design of the tank had been perfected. Lloyd was referring to the improvements Mr Edwards had made to Warington's slope back tank. Warington had designed the slope back tank to be placed in front of a parlour window, with the shallow end towards the window, thus ensuring the light only entered the aquarium through the waters surface; it also had the merit of enabling the animals to adjust themselves from the shallowest to the deepest parts according to their habits. Edwards developed this further by installing a false sloping bottom into a standard tank, which, being narrower, allowed the water access through the sides of the chamber its construction had created; thus allowing the water to circulate, albeit slowly, between the two. Realising the potential of this design, Lloyd immediately set about getting it patented, which also covered the facilitation of a pump being used to improve the water circulation between the aquarium and the dark chamber. The List, or catalogue of wares, after much re-assembling and editing was published in the autumn of 1858, to be sold for one shilling.
The early success of Lloyd's sea anemone experiments using a surplus reservoir of water had convinced him that marine aquarium water was in itself, never dirty, but contaminating particles were held in suspension within its mass, and if properly removed, the water could be re-used. His method of dealing with turbid water had by now improved; removing it from the aquarium he sealed it in jars which he set in a dark cupboard and then, after a period of time, carefully drained off the clear water leaving the settled detritus behind; a process which would happen naturally in his dark chamber tank (3).

With his reputation established, in the autumn of 1860 Lloyd was invited by the publishers Bell & Waldy to write his own aquarium book, but with his time being stretched to supervise the installation of aquariums in towns outside of London and across the Channel in The Gardens of the Society of Acclimatation in Paris, he declined the offer. Initially Mitchell had been invited to set up the Bois d Boulogne Aquarium in Paris , and had ordered only a few patent dark chamber tanks from Lloyd. As these were being installed Mitchell sadly died and Lloyd was invited to finish the installation, leading him to install 14 tanks in all; four marine and ten freshwater, all of the same dimensions, 1.8m long by 1m broad, holding 200 gallons of water. He also improved upon Mitchell's design by installing underground water chambers and, on a much larger scale, the newly invented mechanical contrivance for aerating aquaria invented by G. Hurwood of Ipswich, which using waterworks water, forced compressed air to circulate the water through the dark chamber in each aquarium. Although having initial problems with the French workmen, after the contract was completed, Lloyd did advise that such a large installation would benefit from a full time paid curator.
Living seaweed, an indispensable part of Warington's Balancing Theory, eventually proved to be a major problem, with Lloyd soon discovering that collecting it was the easy part, keeping it alive and thriving in an aquarium was not. He had also discovered, much to his amazement, if a marine aquarium was set up and left standing in the light before adding any creatures, there would be a spontaneous growth of fine green confervoid algæ, which would rapidly flourish. Although not being as pleasing to the eye as the collected seaweed, it nevertheless satisfied the scientific reasons for its inclusion. Although often preferring to use the more reliable spontaneously growing seaweed in his marine tanks, Lloyd still had a desire to grow the more delicate attractive red seaweeds for himself. Such was his interest and enthusiasm, in the November of 1860 he undertook experiments growing them in a small aquarium 36 inches long, 11½ broad and 10 high set up in his bedroom, away from his customers prying eyes and fingers. Wanting specifically to study the stimulating effect water motion might have upon the growth of the red algæ; he contrived to set a paddle wheel on the side of the tank driven by a clockwork motor. By adjusting the depth of the paddle in the water, he was able to attain from a single daily winding, a paddle speed of 25 rpm.
Success and failure marked the pinnacle of Lloyd's business enterprise in 1862. In the spring, at the International Exhibition, he proudly won a gold medal by exhibiting his most ambitious parlour aquarium. Using a patent dark chamber tank set up much the same as those he had installed in Paris . He built the display to look like a parlour wall with a single window adorned with long curtains and valance, behind the curtains, but placed outside the room, was the aquarium, with the front viewing glass forming the window. This provided the wall a colourful marine vista, illuminated by its own gaslights under a sloping top; to circulate the water through the dark chamber he reverted to Hurwood's original small design contrivance. As grand and successful as his stand was at the exhibition, the aquarium craze was now all but over and, in July, his business was bankrupt. For Lloyd, the bankruptcy of his business must have been particularly painful and embarrassing, having by then attained the knowledgeable reputation he had earlier so desperately sought; also being mentioned in a number of popular aquarium books by authors of such repute as Gosse, Hibberd, Lankester, Sowerby and Kingsley.
He later admitted in correspondence to Margaret Gatty, throughout the expansion of his business, his interest in displaying and developing the parlour aquarium had always overridden his desire to achieve financial stability or success; which proved to be his downfall. Undaunted by financial failure and using the experience and knowledge he had gained from his enterprise, Lloyd immediately sought employment in the public aquarium sector, which although still in its infancy, showed all the signs of providing a more secure future for himself and his family (11).

Bob Alexander. November 2005.

1. “The Gardens and not the crowded streets were decided upon, and that decision eventually turned the current of all my remaining life ”. Cassell's Popular Recreator No: 4, 1873. Vol. 1. p60.
“So after looking longingly at the Sixpenny Guide Books on sale in the same room, and wishing I could afford to buy one, I went back to the Fish House”. Ibid.
All letters cited from Lloyd too Owen are from - Coll. Sherborn. Ex. Litt. Ricardi Owen held at the Natural History Museum, (N.H.M.) London . “I take the liberty of writing to you, the greatest physiologist of our country, to ask whether your interest could procure me this privilege on the only day I can call my own – Sunday”. Ref; 418, June 6, 1853 .
“That single ticket has been most important to me in its results, for shortly afterwards you kindly mentioned me to Mr. D. Mitchell”. Ref; 420, May 16, 1855 .
“I purposely chose the globe of a tall form and narrow towards the mouth, because St. John's Square was a terribly smoky hole, and none of Warington's thin muslin would prevent the London blacks from getting through it, and into the water, so I resolved to cover the mouth with a disc of glass (kept a little space from the globe to admit air) and of course the smaller the mouth the less expensive the glass disc and the smaller the chances of blacks entering. I did not know that though Warington used a vessel of about the same proportions as mine, he only half filled it”. Cassell's Popular Recreator. Vol. 1 p190.
“I thought the fault lay with the fish, so I took them, and, to save their lives, dropped them into the New River , opposite the theatre”. Ibid.

2. “The sea I had never seen, and was not so presumptuous as even to hope to see it, and I knew of no one living by the sea who could send me marine animals. But that daunted me not, for I used to sally forth at dead of night to where heaps of oyster-shells were thrown by day from street oyster-stalls in Smithfield and St. John's Street , and bring them home”. Cassell's Popular Recreator. Vol. 1. p128.
“The foot-pan was so very large in comparison with my small bottles, that the emptying of them periodically into the pan did not interfere with the purity of the water in the latter, so that from it I immediately re-filled the bottles one at a time, on successive days. The water in the foot-pan on the floor below thus effectually counteracted all tendency at going wrong in the bottles on the window-sill above”. Ibid.
“My object therefore, in now writing to you is to ask you whether you can assist me in the undertaking I have explained, either by having such an arrangement for yourself, or by mentioning me to your scientific friends”. Letter Lloyd to Owen, 16 May 1855.

3."Just five weeks ago (May 9), during my removal from St. John-Street Road to my present place of business." Zoologist, 16 June 1856- Note on a Sea-cucumber in Confinement.
Lloyd regularly placed advertisements in the weekly Notes & Queries; St. John-Street is covered from 14 July 1855 until 24 May 1856 . During the later period he advertises his business as being relocated to Portland Road . The first advertisement for his list of everything related to aquaria occurs on 20 Nov. 1858 . His last advertisement appears on 26 July 1862.
“I hope to be in London myself on that day, and will endeavour to call about 1 or 2 o'clock , as I want to ask some questions about light and temperature”. Letter, Gosse-Lloyd, 28 February 1857.
All letters cited from Gosse too Lloyd, are held at Edinburgh University Library (E.U.L.), Gosse Letters, ref: La. II. 425/22.
“I shall be very happy to give the fullest possible reply to your letter just received (undated) presuming that in so doing I am addressing the celebrated “Margaret Gatty”, of whom I and everyone else taking an interest in Marine Zoology and Botany, have heard so much”. S.A. Ref: M.D. 2138-1. 17 Dec. 1856.
For details of Warington's slope back tank read Seawater Memorandum 3 in the Annals & Magazine of Natural History. Volume 14. Number LXXI. (No. 81 September 1854. Pages 366-373.) Observations made in a small Aquaria By R. Warington. Although Lloyd never admits to it, the patent for the enhanced slope-back tank with dark chamber bears his name as well as Mr. Edwards; Lloyd entering his occupation as a Tank Manufacturer. Patent A.D. 1858, 17th July. Nº. 1618. Improvements in Aquaria and similar Receptacles for Aquatic Animals and Plants.
“As to filtering it through charcoal, using syringes, drip-glasses, etc: all such clumsy experiments have been long since thrown overboard.” S.A. Ref; M.D.2138-4. 7 September 1858 .
All letters cited from Lloyd to Gatty are held at the Sheffield Archives (S.A.)
“It is a fact that seawater will become clear in a corked up and darkened (opaque) bottle if left to itself”. S.A. Ref; M.D. 2138-13. 5 October 1860 . Also at S.A. a collection of letters from Margaret Gatty to Amelia Lloyd and her daughter Eleanor.
“… want me to write aquarium book, but I do not have time.” S.A. Ref; M.D. 2138-12. 18 Sept 1860.

4. “It (the shell of the building) was then finished, and finding that Mitchell had left no instructions for completing the entire work, and no one knowing what best to do, the Society engaged me to finish it.” Journal of the Society of Arts. March 24, 1876 , p431.
“I am trying to get the French people to have a regular curator, a man at about £150 a year”. S.A. Ref; 2138-13. 5 Oct 1860,
Lloyd describes Hurwood's contrivance in his International Exhibition Article of 1862.
Details of the Bois d'Boulogne Aquarium, Paris - tank size “A walker's guide to the Zoological Garden of Acclimatization”, December 1862.
Zoological Garden of Acclimatization tank capacity – The Aquarium; its inhabitants, structure & management. Taylor , 1876. P17.
Lloyd's Warehouse List contains a list of over 90 books and papers regarding natural history and zoology.
“So I am thinking of setting up (in my bedroom which is a cool aspect and I have no other) a tank exclusively for Rhodosperms”. Ref: M.D. 2138-13. 5 Oct. 1860 “Rhodosperm tank being built.” 24 Nov 1860 , “At a loss how to provide motion: could use cistern: have had a clockwork paddle made.” Ref: M.D. 2138-14. 7 Nov 1860. W.A. Lloyd, A List; page 120. Notices of the Press.
“My only consolation now is that I have done all this in an unselfish spirit, for the love of the thing, and single handed. My whole life has been a struggle. I began to pursue knowledge under difficulties when I was four years old and I am still at it, and no amount of discouragement makes me any less a student”. S.A. Ref; 2138-17. 8 Aug. 1862.