This is the Zoological Gardens that never happened ... The Society was started in 1899 and the Chairman was a Mr Arnold Harris Mathew ... Whilst I cannot say it for sure it would appear that Mr Mathew may of set this up under false pretences as he appeared to have made many untruths during his lifetime ... He claimed to be the 4th Earl of Llandaff of Thomastown ,Tipperary Ireland .... He went under self styled titles of Bishop of Chelsea he also assumed a title Of Count Arnoldo Girolamo Povoleri Mathew ... he also founded and set up The Old Catholic Church in the UK but upon his death in 1919 there was only one other "Bishop" left . The Society was well supported and many people had joined and paid large sums of money to buy shares one member was Sir Edmund Loder who had his own private Zoo at Leonardslee ... Another was his own brother Major William Mathew who invested £2500 of his Aunts money and who himself was declared Bankrupt when his Aunt Matilda Jane Mathew pursued her lent money in the courts ... The Zoological Gardens were supposed to go into Queens Park in Brighton and Arnold Mathew had written letters to newspapers from an address in Brighton with the full title of the Zoological Society on headed notepaper ..... Nobody will ever know of the true intention of Mr Arnold Mathew but he had so many identities it would appear he had set out to deceive for financial gain... 1st Image Arnold Mathew and 2nd Image Queens Park Brighton
