George P. Sanderson

George P. Sanderson
Sanderson and Prince Albert Victor in Mysore, 1890
Sanderson and Prince Albert Victor in Mysore (1890) on a cart drawn by Amrit Mahal bullocks
Born1848 (1848)
India
Died1892 (1892) (Aged 43–44)
Chennai, India
Occupations
  • British naturalist
  • Author
Notable work
    • Sanderson, G. P. (George P.). (1879). Thirteen years among the wild beasts of India: their haunts and habits from personal observations; with an account of the modes and capturing and taming elephants. 2d ed. London: W. H. Allen.

George Peress Sanderson (1848– 5 May 1892, Madras[1]) was a British naturalist who worked in the public works department in the princely state of Mysore. He began a system for capturing wild elephants that were destructive to agriculture so as to use them in captivity. He was known in the popular press as the "Elephant King" and wrote a book on his life in the forests of India. Rudyard Kipling is believed to have modelled the character "Petersen Sahib" in his Toomai of the elephants after him.

  1. ^ "Death of Mr G.P. Sanderson". The Bombay Gazette. 26 May 1892. p. 5.