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Harry Colebourn was a Canadian veterinarian who, on his train journey from Winnipeg to Valcartier to join the Canadian troops heading Europe at the beginning of WWI, purchased a bear cub in White River. This cub was the mascot for Colebourn's regiment and was eventually donated to the London Zoo when the regiment deployed to France. While at the London Zoo, Winnie, named after Winnipeg where Colebourn lived, became popular with the public in general and with Christopher Robin Milne in particular. Christopher Robin called his teddy bear after Winnie, giving it the name Winnie-the-Pooh. This bear was the genesis of the Winnie-the-Pooh story books written by Christopher Robin's father, A.A. Milne.

Colebourn was born in Birmingham, England in 1887 and emigrated to Canada in 1905. He settled in Toronto where he attended the Ontario Veterinary College, graduating in 1911 as a veterinary surgeon. He accepted a position with Manitoba's Department of Agriculture and moved to Winnipeg that same year. Later that year Colebourn joined the Mounted Rifles as a militia officer, later becoming an officer with the 34th regiment of cavalry, Fort Garry Horse.

When war broke out in 1914, Colebourn enlisted and prepared to ship out to Europe. Throughout the war, Colebourn served as a veterinarian caring for the military animals, primarily horses, working directly behind the lines of many of the major battles on the Western Front.

After the war Colebourn pursued postgraduate studies at the Royal Veterinary College of Surgeons in London. Colebourn had originally planned to bring Winnie back to Canada with him, but she had become a popular attraction at the zoo. In December he donated Winnie to the London Zoo.

Upon returning to Canada, Colebourn settled back in Winnipeg where he established veterinary practice for small animals and horses. Colebourn married Christina McLeod in 1923 and had a son, Fred, who was born in 1925. Colebourn continued working in his veterninary practice until he died in 1947.

A more detailed biography of Harry Colebourn by his son, Fred, is available as part of this collection.

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Harry Colebourn was a Canadian veterinarian who, on his train journey from Winnipeg to Valcartier to join the Canadian troops heading Europe at the beginning of WWI, purchased a bear cub in White River. This cub was the mascot for Colebourn's regiment and was eventually donated to the London Zoo when the regiment deployed to France.

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With bells ringing and brakes squealing, a trainload of men in crisp military uniforms pulled into the small lumber town of White River, Ontario, on August 24, 1914. In need of fresh air and a stretch of his legs after a long day on the rails, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn descended the steps of his railcar onto the station platform when an unusual sight caught his eye-a black bear cub no more than seven months old at the end of a leash held by a trapper seeking to attract the attention of a willing buyer.

In the 27-year-old Canadian soldier, the trapper found the perfect customer. Born in Birmingham, England, Colebourn had always loved animals. At the age of 18, he emigrated to Canada to study veterinary surgery. After graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1911, Colebourn settled in the prairie boomtown of Winnipeg to take a job with the Department of Agriculture. Days after the launch of World War I, the young veterinary officer with the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment was among the first to enlist and depart Winnipeg for the military training camp at Valcartier, Quebec.

During the brief stopover in White River, Colebourn scooped the little bear into his arms as the trapper explained that he had killed her mother but couldn't do the same to the orphaned cub. The captured bear quickly captured the soldier's heart. The cavalry veterinarian purchased the cuddly cub for $20 and returned to the train with his new pet, which he named "Winnipeg" in tribute to his hometown.

During the weeks Colebourn spent training with other members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Valcartier, the bear he nicknamed "Winnie" proved a trusty companion. Harry trained Winnie with rewards of apples and a mixture of condensed milk and corn syrup. The cub slept under his cot and followed him around like a puppy. When not climbing tent poles or playing with her owner, the gentle bear posed for photographs with soldiers and became the regiment's mascot.

In early October, Colebourn boarded the military transport S.S. Manitou with Winnie in tow as he sailed to England for additional instruction. After seven weeks of training on the Salisbury Plain, the veterinary officer received the call to the Western Front. The trenches of France were hardly a place for a man-let alone a bear-so on December 9, 1914, Colebourn brought Winnie to her new home at the London Zoo, which had just opened a new bear habitat that resembled a mountain landscape. Before parting, the soldier promised to bring Winnie back to Canada once the war was over, which he hoped would be a matter of months.

There would be no quick end to World War I, however, and Colebourn witnessed the horrible carnage firsthand. On one occasion, he narrowly avoided being hit by a shell that exploded just yards away. At a time when horses were still critical military assets, Colebourn and the other members of the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps provided a vital service by protecting them from disease and helping them heal from bullet and shrapnel wounds.

Whenever he received a coveted leave from the front, Colebourn visited Winnie in her new home. Although she had grown from cub into bear, Winnie remained as gentle as ever. Zookeeper Ernest Sceales told a London newspaper in 1933 that Winnie was "quite the tamest and best behaved bear we have ever had at the zoo." Children were even allowed to enter the bear pit to ride on Winnie's back or feed her out of their hands.

Weeks after the guns finally fell silent in November 1918, Colebourn reunited with Winnie. In spite of his promise at the start of the war, however, the soldier could not take the black bear back to Canada. He knew that his pet no longer belonged to him, but to the people of London. After saying his final good-bye to Winnie, Colebourn returned to Winnipeg, where he continued to work for the Department of Agriculture and opened a small animal hospital in the rear of his house.

Among the children of London who continued to be smitten by Winnie in the coming years was a young boy named Christopher Robin Milne who repeatedly begged his father, author A.A. Milne, to take him to the zoo where he fed spoonfuls of condensed milk to the friendly black bear in between big, furry hugs. Christopher Robin grew so fond of the London Zoo's star attraction that he changed his teddy bear's name from "Edward" to "Winnie the Pooh," an amalgamation of the black bear's name and a moniker he had bestowed upon a swan he used to feed in the morning.

Winnie the Pooh and other stuffed animals in Christopher Robin's nursery-including Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Tigger-served as inspiration for his father's most enduring writings. A.A. Milne had been a prolific playwright, screenwriter, detective novelist and contributor to the humor magazine Punch when he first brought the character Winnie-the-Pooh to life in his 1924 book of children's poetry, "When We Were Very Young." That was followed by the publication of a full volume of stories, "Winnie-the-Pooh," in 1926. A sequel, "The House at Pooh Corner," was released two years later. Like Colebourn, Milne had served in World War I, and the idyllic setting of the 100-Acre Wood was a welcome sanctuary from the horrors of the Western Front that remained fresh in his mind and those of many readers in the 1920s.

The success of Milne's books made Winnie more famous than ever. When she passed away in 1934 at the age of 20, her death made news around the world. Winnie was so notable that her skull was sent to the Royal College of Surgeons, where it was placed on display last year for the first time. Statues at both the London Zoo and Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park Zoo of Colebourn holding the hands of Winnie as she stands on her hind legs also offer reminders of the bond between a Canadian soldier and a black bear cub that led to the creation of a literary classic.

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The True Story of the Real-Life Winnie-the-Pooh

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With bells ringing and brakes squealing, a trainload of men in crisp military uniforms pulled into the small lumber town of White River, Ontario, on August 24, 1914.

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Britain's best-loved bear meets Her Majesty The Queen for the first time in an enchanting new illustrated adventure, narrated by Jim Broadbent Download assets, including photos, illustrations, animated GIFs and video here
Download A-roll, B-roll and interviewshere (password: pooh) "Bear," announced Christopher Robin solemnly. "That hum is fit for a Queen. That hum shall be The Queen's present. Owl shall write it out and you and I and Eeyore shall deliver it to Buckingham Palace. And Piglet must come too because London is a very big place indeed and even small animals, if they are very good friends, can make everything alright."
To celebrate 90 years of two much-loved British icons, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Royal Birthday is released today as a brand new illustrated and audio adventure, narrated by Oscar winning actor Jim Broadbent and available for free at Disney.co.uk/WinnieRoyalBirthday. In the U.S., the illustrated book can be downloaded for free at WinnieThePooh.Disney.com and the audio/visual version can be viewed at http://di.sn/RoyalBirthday.

This brand new story has been specially written to celebrate the upcoming official 90th birthday celebrations of Her Majesty The Queen, and also Winnie-the-Pooh's 90th anniversary, with October 2016 marking 90 years since his first publication and arrival in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Featuring Pooh's first ever meeting of the Royal Family, the tale beautifully presents the loveable bear and his friends embarking on an unforgettable journey from the Hundred Acre Wood to London with the wish of delivering their own thoughtful 90th birthday presents to The Queen. Illustrations drawn in the classic E.H. Shepard style by Mark Burgess see the nation's favourite bear and friends travelling through London on an open-top bus, taking in the sights including Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace guards, before a chance meeting with The Queen, which allows Pooh to present their birthday gifts.

Jim Broadbent, who narrated the audiobook of the new short adventure, says: "I have been a fan of Winnie-the-Pooh since I was a boy, in fact I named my very first and much loved teddy 'Pooh' and that can only have been after the A. A. Milne character. I've loved being part of this story to celebrate The Queen's 90th birthday and Winnie-the-Pooh's 90th anniversary; it's been an honour to narrate such an iconic story and I want to wish both Her Majesty The Queen and Winnie-the-Pooh a very Happy 90th!"

Winnie-the-Pooh has had previous links with Her Majesty The Queen, with The Duke and The Duchess of York being presented with a Christopher Robin china nursery set with hand-coloured pictures of Christopher Robin, Pooh and friends, as a gift for a young Princess Elizabeth, who is believed to have loved the Winnie-the-Pooh stories as a child. The 1926 A. A. Milne book, Teddy Bear and the Other Songs from When We Were Very Young, was also dedicated to Princess Elizabeth upon her birth when it was published - though the new adventure is the first time the much-loved bear has 'met' Her Majesty in one of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Nicole Pearson, Creative Director at Egmont Publishing, comments, " We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate The Queen's birthday in the same year that marks Pooh's 90th year in Hundred Acre Wood but with this lovely royal adventure. This is a celebration of two very British icons that have been part of our British heritage for 90 years."

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Royal Birthday:
Narrated by Jim Broadbent
Written by Jane Riordan, Egmont Publishing
Illustrated by Mark Burgess, after the style of E. H. Shepherd

Download the illustrated ebook and watch the animated story for free at
Disney.co.uk/WinnieRoyalBirthday.
www.WinnieThePooh.Disney.com.
http://di.sn/RoyalBirthday.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Kat Day (Taylor Herring PR) -
KD@taylorherring.com / 0208 206 5151

Notes to Editors:
About Winnie The-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh is the world's most famous bear, and has been beloved by children around the world for almost 90 years. He appears in two storybooks - Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner - and two poetry collections - When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six - written by A. A. Milne and definitively illustrated by E. H. Shepard. With a rich storytelling heritage, the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood represent friendship, simple joys and the curious and gentle nature of a child's imagination. For more information go to: http://www.disney.co.uk/disney-baby/winnie-the-pooh/.

Readers can look forward to The Best Bear in All the World, an anthology of four stories, which will be published in October 2016 to mark the 90th anniversary of the first publication of Winnie-the-Pooh. Mark Burgess will illustrate the text in the style of original illustrator E H Shepard and four authors - Paul Bright, Jeanne Willis, Kate Saunders and Brian Sibley - will write the stories. For more information about the Winnie-the-Pooh books visit: egmont.co.uk/pooh.

About Egmont Publishing
In the UK, Egmont is the leading specialist children's publisher for babies to teens, inspiring children to read through more than 30 million award-winning books, magazines, ebooks and apps each year. We're proud to be home to many of the world's favourite stories and best-loved authors, illustrators and characters such as Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), Andy Stanton (Mr Gum), Enid Blyton, Julia Donaldson, Lemony Snicket, Michael Grant (Gone series and BZRK), Winnie-the-Pooh, Tintin, Mr. Men, Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, Angry Birds, Minecraft and Star Wars. Egmont Publishing is part of the Egmont Group which was founded in 1878 and owned by the Egmont Foundation, a charitable trust dedicated to supporting children and young people. It is Scandinavia's leading media group and Europe's largest children's publisher telling stories through books, magazines, film, TV, music, games and mobile in 30 countries throughout the world. www.egmont.co.uk .

About Mark Burgess
Illustrator Mark Burgess has illustrated countless classic children's characters including Paddington Bear and Winnie-the-Pooh. Mark provided illustrations in the style of E. H. Shepard for the first authorised sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh, Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, with stories by David Benedictus, published in October 2009. Additionally, Burgess has coloured and adapted the newer editions of various classic children's books that were drawn by the late E. H. Shepard and Peggy Fortnum. Mark also works as a computer programmer, designs greetings cards, web sites, animations and special warm places for his cat to sleep.

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Celebrating 90 years of two much-loved British icons...In a brand new short adventure: Winnie-the-Pooh and the Royal Birthday |

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Britain's best-loved bear meets Her Majesty The Queen for the first time in an enchanting new illustrated adventure, narrated by Jim Broadbent Download assets, including photos, illustrations, animated GIFs and video here Download A-roll, B-roll and interviewshere (password: pooh) "Bear," announced Christopher Robin solemnly. "That hum is fit for a Queen.

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Did you know there's a Canadian connection to the honey-loving character brought to life by A. A. Milne? Winnie-the-Pooh was based on a real-life bear who lived in the London Zoo, and he got there thanks to a Canadian soldier and veterinarian named Harry Colebourn.

When Harry met Winnie

It all started in White River, Ontario. Harry was at a train station where he bought a little bear cub for $20, which would be about $429 in today's dollars. He named the cub "Winnipeg Bear" after the town he grew up in - that's where the name "Winnie" comes from, it's actually a nickname! Since Harry was on his way to Quebec, to join fellow soldiers heading overseas for World War I, the bear went with him. When Harry and his troop left for England, Winnie was right there with him on the ship.

Winnie the bear with Harry Colebourn. (Lindsay Mattick via AP/Canadian Press)

Winnie takes a trip

In England, Winnie became the mascot for Harry's troop, which was called the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. Winnie was a popular member of the team, and the brigade played with her whenever they had downtime. (That's right, Winnie was a "her"!) When the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade received word they were going to France, it came with the order that Harry could not bring Winnie. But the silver lining was that Winnie would be loaned to the London Zoo - a move that would later become permanent once Harry realized how loved she was by all the zoo-goers.

The 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade with Winnie in the front row. (Lindsay Mattick via AP/Canadian Press)

The London Zoo and Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie wasn't just beloved, but one of the most popular animals in the London Zoo at the time. Thanks to Harry and the other soldiers, Winnie was very tame, so children who visited her at the zoo could ride on her back! Zoo-goers could also feed Winnie, but it wasn't a pot of honey - this bear's preferred sweet treat was a mix of corn syrup and condensed milk. Can you guess who two of Winnie's most frequent visitors were? None other than Christopher Robin and his father, A. A. Milne. Christopher Robin named his teddy bear after Winnie, combined with the name of a friend's pet swan, "Pooh," to create Winnie-the-Pooh.

The real-life Christopher Robin with Winnie; if you look closely you can see it's signed with the location, "The Zoo." (ZSL London Zoo via AP/Canadian Press)

Winnie-the-Pooh and friends

Inspired by his son's teddy bear, A. A. Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh on October 14, 1926. The very first book about the silly old bear also included Piglet, Eeyore and Kanga - all toys in the book as they were based on other real-life toys of Christopher Robin's - and Owl and Rabbit. It wasn't until the second book, The House at Pooh Corner, that Tigger was introduced, and he was also based on one of Christopher Robin's stuffed animals.

Christopher Robin's real-life stuffed animals that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga and Eeyore. ( Photo by Rach licensed CC BY 2.0)

Once Winnie-the-Pooh became a published character, the rest is history. Everyone fell in love with the stuffed bear from the books, just as they did with Winnie in the London Zoo, only this little bear could reach all parts of the world! In fact, Winnie-the-Pooh was even translated into Latin and became the very first foreign-language book to make the New York Times Best Sellers list.

The statue of Winnie the bear in the London Zoo. ( Photo by José María Mateos licensed CC BY 2.0)

Today, the bear that started it all is commemorated at the London Zoo with a statue, and the story of Harry and Winnie lives on through a plaque donated by White River, Ontario - the town that brought a soldier and a bear cub together.

The plaque at the London Zoo from White River, Ontario that tells the story of Harry Colebourn and Winnie. (Photo by José María Mateos licensed CC BY 2.0)

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The real-life Canadian story of Winnie-the-Pooh | CBC Kids

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Did you know there's a Canadian connection to the honey-loving character brought to life by A. A. Milne? Winnie-the-Pooh was based on a real-life bear who lived in the London Zoo, and he got there thanks to a Canadian soldier and veterinarian named Harry Colebourn. It all started in White River, Ontario.

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