Old Billy

Billy's taxidermied head on display in Bedford Museum

Old Billy (also called Billy or Ol' Billy) was the longest-living horse on record. Old Billy was verified to be 62 at his death.[1] Born in Woolston, Cheshire, England in 1760,[2] Billy adventured and became a barge horse that pulled barges up and down canals. Old Billy was said to look like a big cob/shire horse, and was brown with a white blaze.[3] Billy died on 27 November 1822 at the estate of William Earle, a director of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company, in Everton, Liverpool.[4][5]

Billy's skull now resides in the Manchester Museum.[6] A lithograph was published, showing Old Billy with Squire Henry Harrison, who had "known the animal for fifty-nine years", and a portrait of him is held at the Warrington Museum & Art Gallery.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ensminger Horses and Horsemanship. pp. 46–50.
  2. ^ Meier, Allison (2013-03-04). "Morbid Monday: The Split Head of Old Billy, the World's Oldest Horse". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  3. ^ "The Mane Facts About Horse Health". HorseFacts.org. Archived from the original on November 27, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  4. ^ "Old Billy The Barge Horse". Historic UK. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  5. ^ Goldsmith, Liz (2021-01-19). "Old Billy, the World's Oldest Horse". EQUINE Ink. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  6. ^ "Amazing Facts From The Manchester Museum" (PDF). Manchester Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
  7. ^ Meier, Allison (4 March 2013). "Morbid Monday: The Split Head of Old Billy". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
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