Old Billy (also called Billy or Ol' Billy) was the longest-living horse on record, verified to have lived 62 years.1 He was born in Woolston, Cheshire, England, in 1760.2 Billy became a barge horse, pulling barges along canals. He was described as resembling a large cob/shire horse, brown in color 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.45
Billy's skull now resides in the Manchester Museum.6 A lithograph shows 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 Billy's taxidermied head was returned to Warrington from Bedford Art Gallery & Museum in July 2024, after a team of local artists established a 'Bring Back Old Billy Committee!'.8
References
References
- Ensminger Horses and Horsemanship. pp. 46–50.
- Meier, Allison (2013-03-04). "Morbid Monday: The Split Head of Old Billy, the World's Oldest Horse". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- "The Mane Facts About Horse Health". HorseFacts.org. Archived from the original on 2008-11-27. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- "Old Billy The Barge Horse". Historic UK. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- Goldsmith, Liz (2021-01-19). "Old Billy, the World's Oldest Horse". EQUINE Ink. Archived from the original on 2023-01-20. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- "Amazing Facts From The Manchester Museum" (PDF). Manchester Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
- Meier, Allison (2013-03-04). "Morbid Monday: The Split Head of Old Billy". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
- Marketing (2024-07-12). "World's oldest horse comes home". Culture Warrington. Retrieved 2025-07-22.