Belle Vue Zoological Gardens started in June 1836 when John Jennison first took a lease for land known as Belle Vue on the Hyde Road, Manchester, England. Over the next few decades, the pleasure gardens grew and grew becoming a great attraction. The gardens remained in the control of the Jennison family until 1925.

In the early 1900s, there were published two similar sets of postcards which featured scenes from the gardens. There were twelve cards published by Horrocks & Co. of Ashton under Lyne, and a set of six cards published by G. D. & D. (originally Gottschalk, Dreyfus & Davis) of London. The G. D. & D. cards were signed by the postcard artist H. Fleury junior who was my great uncle, Hermann Conrad Fleury. I do not know which cards came out first, nor whether the Horrocks cards were published as a set of twelve or as two sets of six cards, which was the usual number in a set.