There were said to be 100 donkeys daily on the heath in 1836. Soon their popularity inspired cartoonists and attracted Charles Dickens and even, in the early 1850s, Karl Marx, who rode with more fervour than skill.
The Metropolitan Board of Works sought sites for donkey stands when it took over in 1872; 45 were built near the Vale of Health and 60 at the foot of Downshire Hill. Residents soon petitioned against Sunday rides, in 1873 the drivers' noisy plying for trade led to their being licensed, and in 1876 their alleged unkindness contributed to the establishment of a Hampstead branch of the RSPCA.