Sir Edward Elgar, the famous English composer, loved dogs and had a spaniel named Marco before getting married. It would be a long time before he would own another.
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| Edward Elgar with his dogs Marco, Mina and Meg |
In 1889, at the age of 31, Sir Edward Elgar married Caroline Alice Roberts. Unlike Elgar, Alice could not stand dogs and forbade them in the household. Although he could not have a dog of his own, he did enjoy spending time with a bulldog named Dan who belonged to his friend George Sinclair. In fact, Dan is portrayed in his Variation XI of the Enigma Variations. The variation portrays the dog falling into the River Wye, his paddling upstream and his triumphant bark when reaching land.
When Alice passed away, after 30 years of marriage, Elgar (who was devastated by his wife's death) was finally able to own a dog. Actually, he got three - another spaniel named Marco and two terriers named Meg and Mina.
The dogs were almost always at his side, and when they couldn't be, Elgar would often keep in contact with them. When celebrating his 70th birthday, he wished a good night to his dog(s) during a live radio broadcast. On another occasion, when dining at a fancy Club, he received an urgent phone call. When he took the call, fellow diners could hear loud barking from the background and Elgar firmly telling someone to stop biting the cushions.
According to The animal writer Rowland Jones c. 1930, "At tea-time the three dogs [Marco, Mina and Meg] line up in front of Sir Edward, who sits on the arm of a couch and gives them sweet biscuits and cake. At a word they simultaneously rise up like soldiers and stand at attention. A friend of Sir Edward's calls them The Three Musketeers because of this trick."
I am not sure how long each dog lived, but it is said Sir Edward Elgar lived the last 14 years of his life with dogs.