THE CIRCUS AND RESPECTABLE SOCIETY IN VICTORLAN BRITAIN

A THESIS SUBMIïTED IN CONFORMITY WTH 'CHE

REQUlREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF

PHILOSOPHY, GRADUATE DEPARTMENT O F HISTORY IN

THE UNrVERSIïY OF TORONTO

 National Library Bibliothèque nationale
du Canada
Acquisitions and Acquisitions et
Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques
395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington
OüawaON K 1 A W Ottawa ON K I A O N 4
Canarla Canada

The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé me licence non

exclusive licence allowing the
National Library of Canada to
reproduce, loan, distniute or sell
copies of this thesis in microform,
paper or electronic formats.
exclusive permettant à la
Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de
reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou
vendre des copies de cette thèse sous
la forme de microfiche/nlm, de
reproduction sur papier ou sur format
électronique.

The author retains ownershîp of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du

copyright in this thesis. Neither the
thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it
may be printed or otherwise
reproduced without the author's
permission.
droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse.
Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels
de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés
ou autrement reproduits sans son
autorisation.
Brenda Assael

Department of Wisc~ry,University ofTomnto

Ph-D. Mar& 1998

Thesis &tract=

"The Circus and Respectable Socieg in ViGtorian Bntain"

The circus is a subject that has received no ngorous historicai treatment in rhe period

when its growth, as a trade, occurred. Having its origins in the fairground world, the circus

emerged in the Viaonan era as a stmcmred and organized m d e , as chapters one through

three of this thesis demonstrate. This development was intricately tied to a widespread

demand for circus acts by a broad range of classes in this society and so, this work also

considers, in chapters four through six, the Victoriaru' interest in the circus as an artistic f o m

within the contes of a vibrant (and sometimes not so respectable) consumer market. In doing

so, it provides a new view on popular culture which has, until now, largely k e n seen as the

preserve of the working classes. It considers the complex problem of taste, in cmjunaion

with ciass, as one way of approaching the problem, "what drew the Victorians to the ring?"

The consuming public's desire to see the kinds of displays which refonners wished to

reylate put the arcus establishment in a diffinilt position. Wishing to crearc a respectable

repuration for itself while also a profitable business, the urcus Company was engaged in a

suuggle that required the appeasement of both camps - that of the regulator and the

consumer - which were, more often than not, in conflict. These confiicts inform us not only

of the complicated role that the circus played in Viaorian sociery but also of the fractures and

dislocations that were present within the respectable world whose vibrant consumer market

sometimes suayed from its path. Many within the circus establishment vied to paper over

these cracks but, in the process, drew attention to them.

ii.
 CONTENlS

ABST R A C T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , ~ . ~ . . . ~ . . . . . . . ~ . ~ . . . . . . , . . ii

CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**. .

TABLE ..,.,.,.........................-,,........,......,.....,..,,.iv

ILLUSTRATIONS ....................................................... v

ACICNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v i

INTRODUCTION ...................................................... 1

CHAPTER ONE: THE GROWTH OF THE CIRCUS IN VICTORlAN BRITALN 1.

PERFORMANCE ........-....................................... 12

CHAPTER W O : THE GROWTH OF T E CIRCUS IN VlCTORIAN B R I T . II,

ORGANIZATION AND COMMüNI'IY ................................. 63

CHAPTER THREE: THE CIRCUS AM) THE PRACTICES O F MID-TO-LATE NINETEENTH

CENTüRYHELP ................................................ 96

CHAPTER FOUR: WOMEN ON TOP: ACROBA?S, THE VICTORlANS AND DANGEROUS

PERFORMANCES,1863-1897 ...................................... 142

CHtlPTER FIVE: THE CHILDREN OF THE RING, 1879-1897 .................... 196

CHAPTER SIX: DISPLAYING COMPASSION: ClRCUS ANIMALS, TAMERS AND THE D E A OF

KINDNESS, 185û-1900 .......................................... 245

CONCLUSION ...................................................... 293

APPENDIX ......................................................... 296

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................... 314

BlOGRAPHY ........................................................ 3%
 TABLE

TABLE PAGE

1.1 : BAIANCE BETWEEN THEATRICAL AND TRADITIONAL PROGRAMS. 1847-1897 22

2.1 : TENTING COMPANIES DURING THE SUMMER SEASON. 1847-1897 ......... 65

2.2: TENTING AND RESLDENT COMPANIES DURING THE SUMMER SEASON. 1847-

1897 ........................................................ 68
2-3: COMPANIES TfIAT ONLY RESIDED IN AMPHITHEATERS. 1847-1897 ........ 68

2.4. LTNKNOWNCIRCUSES. 1847-1897 .................................. 70

2 DISSOLVED CIRCUSES. 1847-1897 .................................. 70

2.6. CASUALTIES FROM HENGLER'S QRCUS ACCIDENT. OCTOBER 1872 ........ 87

3.1 : SALARY LIST OF CLOWNS c.1870s-80s .............................. 100

3.2: LEADERS OF THE DRAMATIC. EQUESTRIAN & MUSICAL ASSOCIATION

BELONGING TO THE CIRCUS .................................... 119

4.1: INDMDUALJFAMILY ACROBATS. 1867-1878 .......................... 147

5.1 : DMSION LIST: RE: WCENSING FOR CHILDREN. 1894 .................. 211

5.2. DMSION LIST: RE: INSPECTION OF CHILD TRAINING. 1894 ............ 212

5.3: NSPCC INVESTIGATIONS OF DANGEROUS PERFORMANCES ............. 235

A.1 : AVERAGE OF ALL CIRCUSES PLAYING IN THE COUNTIES. 1847-1897 ...... 296

A.2. A m A L NUMBER OF CIRCUSES TO LANCASHIRE. 1847-1897 ............ 297

k3: PERIOD OF TIME CIRCUSES SPENT IN SELECT AREAS O F LANCASHIRE. 1847-

1897 ........................................................ 297

 ILLUSTRATIONS

Cookes' Bmefit Performance Poster. 1861 ................................. 141

Photopph of Zaeo. the Acrobat ........................................ 1%

Photograph of Chiid &bat ................... ,

,... .,................. 244
 1 am o h asked how 1 came to write a PhD. cm the cirrus. Much t
a the reüef of

my parents, 1 never hadmred a desire as a chiid to nrn away h m home and join the

circus. My inspiration to write on tbïs topic has corne to me in a varïety of ways, some

consciously and some subconsaous~.Perfmps, most impol~antly,it ha9 mme h m m y

own early experiences as an apprentice in the theater and h m my desire a> learn more

about its history. The circus, 1 believe, fits within this history, although pahaps slightiy

oddly because of its itinerant status. Another source of inspiration ha9 been through the

Victorian novel and s@cally, Hard Times.

While 1 owe Charles Dickens much, I owe my supervisor, Richard J. Helmsoldter,

even more for his constant encouragement and ca& supervision of this project. Paul

Bouissac, Trevor O. Lloyd and b r i Ineb a b deserve credit Cor pmviding the& checks and

balances in the final stages of this work. 1 would also k to thank Peter Bailey, Anna

Davin, Martin Hewitt, Chris Hosgood, Peter Mandler, Roland Quinault and P.ML

Thompson for providing m e with usefiil r e h c e s and comments at various stages of m y

writing. Special thanks go to Matthew Cragoe and Rohan McWilliam Cor th& ~ifefbi

reading of parts of this thesis and for their d u d e and important suggestions. For any

errors that remain, however, 1 accept fidi responsibility.

Of course,any historiml work rests on the sources w&ichunderpin it. 1 &&re

wish to thank the Librarians and staff at Colindale Newspaper Library, the British Libxary,

the New York Public Libmry, the Bodleian Library, TNiity CoUege Librarg, Cambridge, the

Manders and Mitchenson Collection, the Minet Library in Lambeth, the Public Records

Office,the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cmelty to Animais, the Iancashire Record

Office, Birmingham Central Library, Tyne and Weu Adives, NewGaSde, Grrater London
Record Office, Dickens' House, Cheltenham Lib~ary,Southwark Local Studies Library, and

Westminster R e b c e Libmry. A h , 1 wish to express m y gratitude to Nichoh Maiton of

the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chiîdren, Vicfor Bqnnt of Eari's

Court Exhibition Centre,John Fisher and Jeremy Smith of Grtilâhaii Library, John Tumer

and Malcolm Clay of the Circus Friends Asociation, Liverpool, Steve Gossad of the

Milner Library, Illinois State University, and Clarr Hudson and Cathy W of the Theatre!

Museum, London lor providing me with expert help with theh coiiections. 1 am a h

grateful to the Society fbr Theatre Research, the MictweSt Victorian Studies Association, the

Theodora Bosanquet Trust and the University of Toronto for helping to fund this p r o j a

Even with al1 this supervision, guidance and financiai support, 1 doubt that 1muid

have surviveci in the company of so many dead clowns and acrobats were it not br m y

friends who include Sarneer Akbar, Rhiannon Ash, Patrick Bali, Maria Benzoni, Kelty Boyd,

Tom Baytinck, Diana Burton, Matthew Cragoe, Natalie Fingerhut, Anne Goldgar, JSm Hill,

Ljubinka Jeftic, Isaac land, Rohan McWillIam, Gabriel Milland, JeE Mmburg, Chris Munn,

Elizabeth Ransom, Heather Shore,Adam Sutdiffe, and Gabrieiie Ward-Smith. Finally, my

parents, Henry and ALyce Assael, and my brother, Shaun, deserve s p m a l thanks for theh

love, support and earnest belief in the ment of this project.

 INTRODUCTION

1.

The history of the circus bas bem mauily studied by admirers who have Litde

interest in the historical c o n t a oftheir subjecr. Their work thedote has an antiquvian

quality, nostalgie and uncomplicated by the sorts of issues that lie at the center of

schoiariy history. Thomas Frost's ci tac^ Life a d Cimus CeCebrfUes (1875) serves as an

illustration of this tradition and has inauenceci popular writing on the drw untii the

present &y.' For Frost and the more recent circus scholars, the origins of the drcus

began with Philip Astley in 1768 when he srarred a riding schml in [ambeth where he

demonstrateci ai& riding. The venue was convetzed into a permanent building, called

"Astley's," and was d br cimuses and other theatrical pductiom und the late-

nineteenth cenmry. For these circus hismrians, Asdey was the fathm of the modem drcus

and helped to shape what the circus was to becorne in the nineteenth century, nameiy, an

equestrian entertainment. One side-e&ct of this focus on Astiey's has been that the

pichire of the arcus which ernerges is Londoncented. Another by-product is that this

focus has produced a star-centeredview of the circus: the famiiiar iist of m i s s - Andrew
Ducrow, Adah M d e n and Cook - who appeared at Astley's reappears ad
wuseam in the works of circus scholars. Additions or substitutions may be ofArrd but

the overall impression they give is of an aitertainment that was part of a by-e world of

'sec, for example, AH. Saxon,Enter F w t and Wmse:A Afstory of HIppodramu in

England and France (Nmv Havai, 1968);George Speaight, A Ristory of Zbe Chrur
(London, 1980) and AH. Coxe, A Sèat at tbe Ci- (London,1951).
fun and frivolity? More recentiy, the Muence of these works has afkcted the way

regional circus history has k e n written, particukwly with respect to Heng,ier's in

Liverpool, which also belongs to this n d g i c canon? These works, though in

themselves weli-riesearcheci, do not stmy beyond the amfines of the institution ioelf and

thus obscure the usenilness of the circus as a subject for exploring probiems,

discontinuities and stniggies in Victorian Society.

This study is also criticai of a strand of thinking ophich has been influmtIaf in the

writing of popular culture in modem Britain, notabiy by AP. Donajgrodski, Robert Storch

and others who have advocated the " s a k i control"thesis-' Their work evoived out of a

larger interest in what hss corne a, be hown as "historyfiam b e i d aJsodated with the

work of E.P. Thompson.' Cmdely put, they haire seen popuiar eventsYsuch as the

cban'vari, as &rs toterated - or sometimes sanctioned - by the dite in its &rt to

coatrol the erstwhiie unmly public. Their stuclies have k e n motivateci by an interest in

the impact of industrial change on popular culture, an interest common among historians

in the 1970s who wished to understand the transition h m "traditionai"to industriai

society. They assume that antagonism existeci between the elites and working ciasses in

2Scholars of the music hall have the sarne problem; see Peter Bailey, "MakingSeme of
Music Hall,"in Music Hall: rbe Business of PGeaswe,ed. Peter Bailey (Milton Keynes,
1986): 1-32.

'see kP Donajgrodski, ed. S o c i d Contmf in Ntrwteentb Csntury Btitafn @,ondon,

1977); Robert D. Storch, PopuCar Culture and CMÎtom fnNfneteentb Gmîury B n g b d
(London,1982). Other work steeped in this t - d o nis RW.Malcolmson, P o w r
Remution in Englisb Socieîy, 170048'0 (Cambridge, 1973). For an ezuiy-modem
European perspective, see Peter Burke, Popuhr Cu&um in M 'E m p e (London,
1978).

'sec E.P. Thompson, "Rough Music: Le Cbarivati Anghfs,,' in Custonts in Gmlll~tt

(London,1972,repr. 1991).
the nineteenth cenniry, a view which -tes the hise vision that the former kept aloof

popular entertainments. The drcus o b but one exampie which challenges tbis

pervasive interpretation of ViaorMn pop& culture: the drcus was, at mot, a cultural

form that was consurneci (if not always enjopd) by a vafiety of ciasses wihin Victorian

society h m the worlcing ciasses to elites.

A second and dated dticism of the "social control"thesis is that it ascribes t w

much power of the goveming or social &te over the public. The point which is k i n g

made with respect to the cûms is that the elite's support of the circus in communities

stemmeci h m their belief that this h m of popular enteminmat was a useful pan of the

comrnunity and otkred a valuable alternative to other brms of sodal intermurse, notably

drink;6a distinction is thus implied between elite conml over such popular cultural

brms,such as rhe ciras, and the elïte's acceptance of them as a usefd part of the

community. The cornparison between respectability in the forin of the circus versus

u~especeabiiityin the brm of the public house was a cornparison that was Eimiliar to

many contemporaries.

in a dif6e-t way, Gareth S t e d m m Jones has oasr doubt on the problematizing of

the question of "social conaol,"emphasizing instead the notion of "dass expression,"as

did Peter Baiiey and later, Patrick Joyce. Rather than a pmduct of elite social mntrol,

working-dass leisure, thqr argue, was a positive reflection of the constmction of working-

dass identity and language.' Using the music hall in order to depict this pichire, they

60n the subject of drink, see Brian Harrison, Dtfd a d tbe VictOrfCUtS: ï&
Ténzperunce Question fn EngCae 1815-1872 (Pittsburgh, 1971).

'see Gareth Stedman Jones, "Class &pression versus Social Control? A Critique of
Recent Trends in the Social History of Mure," Hfstory Won&shp,4(Autumn 1977): 162-
170;idem., hnguages of C ' s : Studies in tbe ReCatidips &tueen Classes in Wc~Orfart
Society (Ozrford, 1971); c.f. Peter Bailey, leîsum and C h in VidOt311n E n g M : W O n C I C
Rematfon and tbe Contestfor M a l Contr91; 1830-1885 @andon, 1978); Patrick Joyce!,
 4
have studied lyrics of songs in order to examine the mots of workingdms attitudes

towards everyday Life in matters relating to Empire, war, and made unionism, for erample.

AH agree that song was saf'é and that "music hall was consemative in the sense that it
accepted c i a s divisions and the distribution of wealth as part of the naturd order of

things.' Whiie their snidies have rightly oist serious doubt on the "social contd' thesis,

their points of view, taken together, only acmunt for workingclass entertainment (e..g. the

music hall).

What of those enterceainments which were consurned by a variety of social ciasses

and had no speci£îceffect on the brmation of class identity? Such - üke the drnis
- serve to raise questions about the histonographic emphasis on class and ofEr a set of
alternatives, in the brm of a socio-cuiturai approach that accounts for changes in social

and aesthetic values, or put simply, in taste. Such an approach, ratha than bigbiighting

dass divisions, seeks to understand the perrneabiiïty of dass boundaries. The gerreral

question of "whatdrew the Victorians to the ring?"aliows us to establish points of

conneccion arnong the various classes and sodal gmups within the dass system.

II,

ALthough anractive to some, the circus was perœkd by others as a suspect part of

the Victorian underworld, dweiiing outside i n d d Society and ignorant of the

time/wotk discipline that underscoreci it. Nowhere was this view better encapsuiated than

in the comment made by Mr Bounderby, the capitalist, to E.W. Chiiders, the horseman in

Sieary's circuS:

Visionr of tbe PeopCe: Industrial E n g W and tbe Question of Clars,18#%1914

(Cambridge, 1991).

Bstedman Jones,Lunguages of C h s , 230.

 You see, m y filend, we are the kind of people who know the d u e of time
and you are the kind of people who don'r9

Hardworking, thrifty, oqpnized and ambitious: these were the qualities that underscorPd

Bounderby's Benthamite utilimrian phiiosophy and that heiped comprise the m d of

Victorian respectability - a concept which, according to F.M.L. Thornpson, is m u a l to an

understanding of soda1 relations in the period.'O Although Bounderby COZlSidered the

c h u s to be anathema to his system, it occupied a far more complu role in Wcrorian

sotiety than he understood. This thesis is concemed with

unraveiling this cornplex relationship the circus and respectable society and

considea several convergent forces that acted upon the circus and a&cted the direction

which its development took in the nineteenth century.

The market and regdation serve as one such set of forces, sometimes working in

tandem and sometimes in conflict. The pressures ofthe market and parei-b, mie

of pop* mste, helped to make the circus successfid m m m e d y during the course of

Victoria's reign. Wïth the strength of popular opinion behind it, the circus establishment

carved out its own space in the fom of a tent or amphitheater. E f i r t s by the c k u s

establishment and local authorities to provide a controkd space in the ring and tent

helped to differentiate the circus h m ia ancestrai pan, the hir. These e f b r ~ also
s

helped the circus to market itself as a respectable enterminment. While prompting the

success of the circus, popuiar taste also tnggered the hostiLity of moral reformm who

wished to regulate various aspects of drcus lifé and performance. In certain instances,

9Charles Dickens,Hard T i m s , (London, repr. l s ) , 23,

1°see F.M.L. Thompson, Tbe Rise of Respect&& Sodety: A A HLstoty of VictOricltt

Btftain, 1830-1900(iondon, 1988); On the conneciion between respectabiiity and the
performef, see Tracy C. Davis, Admsses as WOrAifng W
- Tbeft Social IidhMy in
Victot-faaCukure, (London, 1991), ch.3.
 6
these mord ~mpaignscuiminated in p a r k a i t a r y support and the passage of Ie@slation

concerning the drcus. The transfkrence of state intervention to new fields, such as the

circus, provides a k s h perspective on the and public opinion reiationship about

which kv. Dicey deliveffd a series of lectures nearly one hundred years a g ~ . ~If' we

assume, as Dicey did, chat every law expresses and endorses a prindple or a set of

principles, then the regdation of the circus enables the historian to create key points of

connection between the circus comrnunity and the world around it.

If the combined force of the market and regdation provides one conma for the

dwelopment of the modem cïrcus then the combination of n d y and tradition o k

another. Since the a m that appeared in the circus throughout the cenairg were o h

deriveci h m old aido performed at the falr, in the sueet or cornmon ground, the drcus

was c o m m d y regardeci as having its mois in traditional entertainment, Yet, these acts

were not entire@traditional in the sense diat they changed and adapteci to the popular

riste. In the process, the artist who performed them marketed hirn/heeseIf as an

individual and unique commodity. In many ways, th& a m serve as a barorneter of

popular tasse and interest and thereby suggest a semnd tension between noveity and

tradition.

While asserthg their indivïduaiity, these performers also saw the need for munial

aid, as in any othcr artisan d e , w h i d rise to sefihelp schernes that aiievhted

hardship. At the mid-century point, the demiopment of hrmal help nerworlrs in the fôrm

of fiendly sobeties, dong with ad boc u d f k e efforts, m t e d an important culture of

''Legal change motivateci by public opinion has ban treated by AV. Dicey in his
Lectures on tbe Rehtion Between Law and Public -ion in England dutlttg tbe
Nineteentb Century, (London, 1917); Cor a more reœnt study about the m o n of
governrnent incemention as a result of pressure f b m enthusiasts, see O . Midhmgh, A
Pattent of Goverrttnet2t Gvwtb, 1800-60: ï?x?Pasmget Ac& mrd tbdr Esforcsmsttt,
(London, 1% 1).
 7
bonbomie that a f k t e d the growth of a circus identity and mpecebility.* Many players

began to sente into a relatively organized communiy of kiends with new welEve

arrangements as weii as finanaal and sociai obligations which stood in marked mntrast m

the Fairground world, Cor example, where such weifàre structures were not in place.*

The relationship between individuaikm and the brrnation of a circus identity thus

provides another context in the devefopment of the modem circus. T m & the end of

the century when a growing suspicion of circus cuiture amse?many leaders within the

trade chaîienged these attitudes and the support of their community was viral in this

struggle. The public's hostiiity may be seen as a repisiting of past prejudices that were

directeci against itinerants such as the stroiling minsael and the snirdy bcggar of the

eighteenth century, as weii as eariier. That these views reemerged during the late-

nineteenth cenrury and were codateci with a growing fear of hreignefs helped to

produce a new set of arguments and attitudes about the threat of mntiunination, which

the c i r u posed, to respectable society. These v i m were indicative of a general climare

of anxiety during the fin de si&&.

Thus, the tensions between the market and reguiaticm, noveity and tradition, as

well as the relationship between individuaüsm and group identity, aii produced pressures

that pushed the c i r a in a direction which shaped its modem developrnenr Such

pressures wouid have k e n recognizabie to Bounderby, suggesting that contrary m his

"On the question of artisan respectability see, Geo!ky Cmsick, "TheLabour

Aristoc~acyand Its Values: A Smdy of Mid--Vàctorian ICenrish London,"WdOrfatt Studfes,
19.3, (March 1976): 301328 and Simon CoderyI"FriendlySWeties and the Discourse of
Respectability in Britain, 1825-1875,"JormrPl lm),
of Btfttsb S d i e s , 34 (January 53.

%th respect to the "comrnunityof fiimds"within the music hall M e , see Peter
Bailey, "A Cornmunity of Friends: Business and Good Fellowship in London Music Hall
Management, c.l86@l885," Music HaU= ?be Business of Pkumml ed. Peîes Eldey (Milton
Keynes, 1986).
 8

assumption, the drcus was îàr h m peripherai to Victorian sodety and its members were

Far from unaware of the importance of time and other attendant values diat underpinneci

the respectable world. in faa, the circus was engagcd in a constant struggfe driven by

lorces which sometimes reidbrced and at other times challengecl that concept of

respecmbiiity which Bounderby embraced.

III.
The thesis has two main strands that piovide an explanation OP how these cornplex

forces affectecl the Victorian circus. First, it explores the origins of the dnrus and its

development, as a d e , in chaptas one through three. Second, it probes the cornplex

relationship between the circus and respectable society in chapters lour through six.

Chapter one begins by locating the circus within Victorian Society and then,

suiveys its growth numericaiiy with a view towards understanding its mmmerdal

development From its fàirground origins. Circus managers, it is argueci, a=eatda niche

for their business in the second haif of the nin-th century and, in tum, the number of

companies grew from 10 in 1847 to 74 in 1897 - an increase of over 600%. As well as

of the circus, chapter one also goes h i d e the ring in order to

providing an o v e ~ e w

provide a glimpse o f what the Victorians could expect to see when they went to the

circus. In doing so,it shows that whüe the eady circr>s of the lateeighteenth and eariy-

nineteenth centuries emphasized equestrian ciramas (sometimes in three acts!), the cinrus

of the second half of the century lay greater stress on discrete n d acts (e.g. tumbling,

cloming, acrobaties and animai displays). Acmmpanying the cornmerpal expansicm of

the arcus was the emergence of the amphitheater in which many dnruses performed.

Having a âxed space meuit that the drcus also had a susmineci reiationship with the

community b e h which it performed. Chapter two thus deais with the orga&ation of
 9
the dmis and the efkcts of this organhtion on the community. The acmmpanying

appendix th- appears at the end of the thesis qmenmicaily reveais the impact that

amphitheater-building had on the concentration of the cimus in towns and industrial

centers inaeasingty throughout the period.

Chapter three shows that as the drcus deveIoped, sophisticated business brms and

practices ernerged. In particular, the evolution of kiendly societies and arade unions led

to schisms in th& trade. That is,such organizations dected the growing distirrdom

within the circus communîty as proprietors and certain @ixmers enjoyed the Wts of

assodation whüe th& poorer brethren remaineci outside their organization. Such

divisions were aiso reflected in safasr dBerenti& and hiring poliaes. This chapar d

that in the process of becoming profkssionalized, the shared brotherhood that osmisibly

united the members of the circus d e was, in f k t , built upon unstable bundatiozls that

compromiseci the "communitf to which, it was said, they belon@.

Tensions ernerging h m within the community were exaœrbated by tensiozls

arising from ouûide it- This was perhaps no more dearly expresseci than through Legal

challenges. Chapters Four and Bve consider the extent to which perfomers were a&cted

by them. The emphasis on disawe acfs in the circus piogram of most mmpanïes in this

period arguably provided an important focus for phiianthropiss in this regard. Perhaps

no group of performers was more policed than =bats. 'Ibe popular mste *ch

sanctioned these exhibitions encountered fierce resistance by a moral minodty conœmed

with propriety, partidarly in the early 18605. They argued that the acrobat - particularly
the h a l e acrobat - who performed death-defying kats in a scanty cosnime gratifiecl a

lewd taste fbr nudity and morbid display. The intensity of opposition grew as arrobats

increasingiy fèii to their deaths, provoking M a n b a J of Pariiament and the Queen a,get

involved in the controversy as well. In the 18705,the act-obat'sllveiihood had becorne

seriously threatened given the Dangernus Perfotmances Biii which, in its initial brm,

curtaiied the performancts of women and chiidren. Mar iîs passage in 1879,it bad the

important enec< of providing a steppïng Stone for hrther legislation, prohibi.ting the

employment of chüdren in the circus, a topic cihcwmd in chapter Eive.

Legal regdation of dmis children markmi a serious dismption a> a profession that
relied entireiy on the system of apprenticeship. Since cbildren wat seen as physidiy

agile and flexible, theh training as acrobats and equestrians was most dkctbdy

conducted at a young age, managers argued. Growing opposition to tfiis b e k f emerged

h m various q w e r s , induding h m among Evangeiicils. In particular, religiousiy-

inspirexi writers of "waif fictionwchararterized the drcus M d as a w s h , n

tomued in its

physicai training behind-the-scenes. Not coinadentaily, this opposition reached a fevered

pitch in the late 188ûs,at a tirne when the Prevention of Cruelty to Chiidren Acr was

passeci and when the National Society for the Prevention of Cmelty to Chiidrai was

formed. In their quest fbr respecabüity, many c h u s m a q p s responded positmeiy to

this movement, defending th& moral mmmitment to chiid protedon while aiso rlaiming

that growing-up p h y s i d y disciplineci did not p d u d e growing-up loveci; d others,

initiated change with respect to child employment that was consistent with the h.Both

chapters four and five argue that, in irs attempt to disouice I t d f h m its conbtoversial

role, the circus sometimes sought to accommodate the law. But, in the p r o e s , many

members of the circus a h expresseci a growing finisaadon with the reality of inQteaSed

government conml over their trade.

Chapter six also de& with the issue of l e p i regulation and tales as its fausthe

c i r a s anima!. It shows the mie that the animal played in the ring - and to an exrenq on
the stages of those eatLier circuses that l d s o much stress on equestrian piays- It phces

the animal within the culture of humanitarian concem and ofirs a picture of the way the
 11
arcus estabüshment reacted to this culture. A ghpse into the ring of Cooke's drcus in

1858, fbr example, shows one manager's stntggie to pin support h r his % m e r nsecret

Tor timing wild horses, a secret that had been prrsented in the same season by an

Amencan rival, J.S.Rarey. The mid-Victorian interesr in khd Bming fechniqyes br horses

widened into concern about timing techniques for wild animals, parricuiariy as the circus

began to show such nwelties in the later d d e s of the centuy- Likc the chiid of t&e

ring, the animal amacted the attention of phiianthropists Who wished to rescue it h m its
, animal was ultimately brought under
harsh existence. Aiso Lîke the child of the ~ g the

the control of p a r h e n t a r y law in 1900 due, in part, to the succesful campaigns of

rehrm groups, such as the Ruyai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais.

Thus, this thesis concems the devdopment of the drcus which, having its mots in

the fairground world, emergd as a structtued and oqanhed aade - am- to Mr

Bounderby's assumption - in the mid-nineteenth century- Its development was intricately

tied to the public's demand for ciscus acts and so,this work afso considers the Victorians'

interest in the circus as an areistic form within the con- of a vibrant (and sometimes

not so respectable) consumer markct. As such, this study dwhat the cimus meant to

the V i c t o r ÿ w and how it fitted with the structures of a sodety that was rapidiy changing

in social, economic, politid and gender terins.

 The Growth of the C?rnrs in ïlkmrhn Brimim
1. Perf;Ornianreb

1. Introduction

The history of the modem drcus in Brirain has roughly four phases although thqr

are by no means rigid. And while the k t phase has reœhed a noticeabie amount of

attention among chrus mthusiasts and scholars, the latter three phases with which this

begins with the deveiopment of

thesis is concemeci have not The fim phase, 1768-1837,

Asdey's Amphitheme which is often thought by experer who write about the drcus to be
the place where the &cus was hm.' The view has been tecentiy deveioped and revised

by one scholar who has arguai that

Astley was not, as is commonly supposed, the first to present his show in
the ring....What does seem to bave disthguished Astley's was its convenient
surround of sheds and knPng to d u d e the gaze of non-pagas.

Adopting a functionaiist approach, this revisionist argument states tbat 'whereas [Astley's]

precursoa had modtly passed round a hat to their casually assembleci audiences,"Asdey's

charged admission and had patrons take seats around the ring h r an entertainment that

began at set times.' Foîiowing Asdey's, other permanent and semi-permanent

ampbitheaters appeared on the scene. In his memoirs, the playPPright-manager, Charles

'Speaight, A Hfstory, 3 1. The bibliography onthe hismry of the modem drcus is

immense. For an overview see R Toole Stott, Ci- and AUfed Arts: A WmU
Bibliograpby,5 vois. (Derby,19581992). The principal authors that ascribe Astiey's this
"founding"role indude AH. Saxon, F'oor und Hwse; idem., Zbe tf/e a d M of Andmw
Ducrow and tbe Age of Romntidsm in tbe Britfsb C m ;A.H. C- A Seat. The view
was largely inherited from within the Qrcus establishment itse& see Thomas Frost, Cfnus
Li/e and Circus Celebrities (bndon, 1876),George Sanger, Ssvenry Yeurs A Sbowman
(London,1926)and James Lloyd,My Cimcs Lifs (London, 1925).

'Marius Kwint, "Astley'sAmphitheatre and the Earb Cinis in Britiin, 17681830"

(Ph.D. dis., Oxford U., 1995), 16.
 13
Dibdin, the younger, spdre of the amphitheatm rhat were acred in various parts of

England. Wales, Scotland and Ireland as of 1799.' These drcuses werr evenaially

responsible for contributing to one saand in the deveiopment of the modern c i r a s : the

theatricai circus. At Asdey's, the proprimr's original rafson d'etrre to demollstrate tri&

riding before the pubiic was presaited in the form of such sœnes as, "Ihe Taylor Riding

to Brenaord," in 1769 which combinai low mmedy with horsemanship in a burlesque

about a WtlLeite dothïer. Asdey's later presented more sustained dramatic pieas, a k t

whidi was helped by the ernploy of a "tcmporarystage erected in a few minutes on

trestles on the centre of the ring" in April of 177û and then the a d construction of a

stage, set a p r t h m the ring, during the winoet of 17789.' As the amphitheater evohred,

so too did its program which began to katurie, as in 1781, butletras (or brief pl+ that

relied on song) such as Brftaftz in A m q or, W h ' s Maid ofJer~ey? Moving h m

burletta to a new genre caiied gbines militaires on its stage, the amphitheater also

delivered pieces that relied on topicai news evena conmning the Napoleonic W a . ,such

as Tbe Arab; or,Freebooters of tbe Deserf in 1809 which included a grand attack on home

and fmt within the b e of an equesrrian drama? This piece, it has ken argueci,

'sec Charles Dibdin, the younger, M m i m of Cbarks mbdfn,tbe Younger, ed. George
Speaight (London, 1956) niese amphitheafers induâed: me's Ride in Bath (1772); Jones'
in Dublin (1785); Swann's Amphitheatm in Birmingham (1787);the Circus in Edinburgh
(1788); -4stIey's Equestrian Theatre Royal in Dublin (1788); the Circus Riding Schooi in
Bristol (1792);New Circus in M a n c h m (1793); and the Oiympic Cirrsus in Liverpool
(1798). see Kwint, fig. 1.4. 47.

'Saxon, 48.
 14
helped W y to establish the standard t k - p a r t program at Asdey's that g r a d e had

been talcing shape since the turn of the centuryO7

As i t moved into the world of theater, M e s a~idiaicgcouid rcly on scdng,in

die k t part of the program, equestrian dcamas which correspondcd m contemporary

theauical conventions. Ir was a "sort of melodramanthat induded "usurping viihins and

gailant knigha, chaste young maidew and virtuous wivesnand had as its dlmax the

confrontation between vice and virnie? It gsve ample opponunity for the display of the

entire stud of the Company. Speaking of a scene he had witnessed at Astieg's one

contemporary noted that "you will sometirnes see 20-30 horses [in this part], some of

them single with riders and others pked in twos and hum in cmiages, chariots,

etc....Banles are fought on horseback, as well as on f b ~ t This

. ~ part l a d apptozcimately

two hours. FoUowing part one were the "scenes in the M e nwhich induded tumbling,

gymnastic f e a s and cornic singing and usuaUy "occupiesthreequarœrs of an hour."'O

Finally, the program typically ended with a "nondescriptson of afterpiecen on the

stage.LLAs the cenhiry progressed, it became increasingly common for thk three-part

structure to Ei11 away. Instead, the theatricai circus g r a d d y adoptecl a more variable

program that offèreci %cmes in the M e " and thm amdudeci with an equesaian drama.

Whereas the equestrian drama was an outgrowih of the contemporary theatsicai

world, those acts that comprised the nscenes in the arcleuhad th& mots in the fair where

'Kwint, 63.

%acon,55.

'James Grant, "Astiey's," ?Be mat Metmpolis (London, 1837), vol.1, T7-80.

'%id-

lLIbid.
 15
players, such as acrobam, jugglers and othem, gathered. It has been shown by scholars

that this development stemmed badr as Éir as the late-rnedievai and ear1y-modern period.

George SpeaÎght, the Cucus historian, has counted, becween 1570 and 1663,twenty-two
refkences to rope dance=, thkteen such records of tumblrs, seven of v a u i m , and &e

of juggiers that appear in the books on dvic expenditures in Engiish tcnms.* On 28

August 1688, Samuel Pepys seated in his diary that he went to Bartholomew Fair and saw

"JacobHall's dancing on the ropes.** The scene was one of confiision in which "there

thundered the danging of gongs, ththe firing of pistoIs?the springing of ratdes..and the

hoarse voices of showmen, ali uniting into one loud, discordant and ceadess roar.""

Another important chmnicler was Hogarth who depicted such playas in his engraving,

Soutbwark Fair (1733). In it, a rope fiyer parachutes from a Church mwer which has

becorne an o b j m to assist a fiifgound act and actors @rm on a coilapsing stage in a

travelling theatricai booth.L5

Similarly, svay clues, denved k m inhrmation about the Eiirs in the h m of

posters, municipal reports, newspaper reviews, memoirs and woodcuts Wrm us about

the gradua1 i n t w t i o n of artists into one program and the organiztionai efbrts of the

Company to take this program h m town to tawn. in a report of 1833 by "J.JA.l&"

Clarke's equestrian troupe, for example, was listeci as one of the many enterminmens that

was to be found at Banholomew Fair. It stated chat Clarke who was biiied as "a [former]

equesaian tiorn Asdey's"perfonned with his mm amipany and his program began with

'LSpeaight, 12.

'%itedin Ian Starsrnore, EngffsbFa* (Lnndon, 1975), 13.

L'Guildhall,Noble, "A Peep At Banholomew Fair,"us., c.1841, c*26.126.51.

lSseeDavid Bindman, Uogartb (London/New York, 1981).

 the old performance of going round the ring tied up in a sa& hirlng the
going round, a tramfbrmation tnok place, and he [who]wait ïnto the sscL
a man [then] came out a woman on throwing off the

Following this act "Miss Clarke [performed] with and without a balance pole on the tight

rope." After her, "a Little boy named Benjamin Çatkreg, 8 years ofage" apparcd and

including "a Chinese and a Pierrot [who] w d k around the ring with each a leg put up to

their ne&." As weii, he exhibiteci "a Black Man... who threw himself backwards and

resting on his han&, formeci an arch, and then two heavy men stood on his stomach, with

ease."17 The performance ended with the appcanuice of a "countrymannwho ini-

prcsmted himseif as an apparently unskilled rider- He mounted a horse and

afcer a short the, beginning to grow warm, he puifs off his coat, then his
waistcoat, then another and another..and at last with apparent modestg and
reluctance his shirt.-.then he appears a spiendid rider..and does a féw
evoI~tions-~~

Nor was Clarke's company musuai. Mr SamweU's company,for example, perfbrmed at

the same fair in the same year. His ring program consisted of "tuxnbling,dancing, and a

real Indian W m o r who showed the manner of pehrming the m e war dance."" And

the troupe wmt there again severai years later, perfbperformingamong other things "the

equestrian d u c a t o n showing every possible means of mounting and dism~unting.~

Sem from one perspective, such programs consisting of dïscrete ac6 represaited an

'6Guildhall,Noble, "Bartholomew Fair, 1833,"c 26-5-26.51.

"Tbid.

'%id.

'PIbid.

Woble, Guildhall, poster, SamweiI's New Olympic Circus, BarthoIomew Fair, c. 1836.
 17
important evolutionary stage in the d e d o p e n t of the circus during the nineteenth

century. The gradual mlution of the traditional circus (as distinct from the theatrical

circus) which mnsisted of artists Who performed th& individual act was dosely Linhd to

the world of the fair. By labelling it "traditionai,"the implication is not that the actg in

this kind of circus were static; radier thqr were highly changeable, adopting a> markn

changes that were motivated by consumer demand, social values and new technical

w these perf'ormers banded together

equipment, as we will see. Bcsides ~ o l o m e Fair,

and performed at Jubüee Fair, as did Mr Saunda's in 1814,at Hyde Park Fair on the day

of Queen Victoria's cornnation in June of 1838, at Greenwich Fair, as did Clarke's in 1843,

and at Stepney Fair, as did Price's in 184S.=

in other instances,mmpanies hund employment at the gmwing numher of

recreational me
n s in this p e r i d Mr Saunder's company, for exampie, @meci at the

Ranelagh Gardens in Norwich in 1809." Still, in other GISS,these companies occupicd

meadows or other open spaces. Lloyd's company staked out a piece of ground opposite

Fischer's Hotel, near the Nutsheii Orchard in Cheltenharn in 1822? Simiiarly, the

Messrs. Brown and C M erected a temporary ring at Bell Street in Mafyiebone in 1831

and displayed some artists that had formerly been employed at Astley'~.~
Messrs.

Bridges' company perfbrmed in the Cattle Market at Canterbury in 1838 and presented a

program that induded the "youngMaster Bridges on the tightrope, die Mandarin Jugglers,

''TM, M C , wood~llt,Saunder's Circus, 1 August 1814; Guildhall,Noble CoUection,

c.26.5, T.1843,ciipping #277;M m n g Werald, 30 June 1838;"Stepney air," Ibe C h
of London, 1845,2.

uGuildhdi, Noble, poster, Lloyd's Circus, 3 August 1822.

"TM, AHC, poser, Messrs. O. Brown and Ch&, Bell Street, Maryiebone, 18331.
 18
the Automatcm Tumblers, a Comic Antipodean, and an intaesting panoramïc vïew of the

'doings' of the fàir? Whereas rhis program contained no theamcal elements, its

program in 1841 at East RetfOrd did, thereby suggesthg the fluidity of the program's form

which acmmmodated theatrical and traditicmaf elements. In this instance, the program

condudeci with Che equestrian cirama. KeniImmtb, or Orbe &Men Era of 1575 based on Sir

Walter Scott's novel which pmvided audiences with ghpses of the court of Elrnbeth 1."

There continueci to be an invisible Layer of countless small troupes that tr;rrrelld

h m county to county throughout the century, performuig at Eurs and odier out-of-door

venues, although some troupes began to I d br altemative performance s p a m . In

London done, the clmure of rnany important fairs such as Bow, Brock Green, T O M and

Edmonton Fairs in the 1 8 2 0 ~ ~ Bartholomew Fair in 1855, as well as Greenwich Fair in

and

1857, prompted many troupes and individual arthm to seek new options.= "The

Honorable MPs might have thought that we had wives and chlldren to support b e k they

decided to dose Bartholomew Fair and Greenwich Fair,"said one discontentecl conjurer

in 1860." Even if the fàirs su-, as in Oidord d u h g Whitsuntide, Birmingham and

many other parts of the country, there were still major efforts by local authorities in this

period to dean up the events, shorten them in length and malrc them more orderiy, in

Mark Judd "'The Oddest Combination of Town and Country' :Pop& Culture
and the London Fairs, 1800-60,"in Leisurie in BMafn, 178G1939,eds. John K.Walton and
JamesW a h (Manchester,1983), 15.

5üphonse Esquires, Tbe Englfsb m H m ,trans. and edited by Iascelles W d

(London, 1861), i, 347.
 19
g e n e d 8 The enect of this movement, said the conjurer was tbat "theother ikim still

existing outside London "Iose the* importuice every year," making it difFicult for the artist

to earn a h g . " Ir was coinadentaüy in this second phase, 1837-1860,chat the Era,

which emerged as the major entert;iinment newspaper of the period, began a, report on

the ernergence of aaditional circus cornpanies whkh brought mgether a &ey of

performers h m the Eurground worfd. In many wags, then, the apparent rise of such

companies aiiowed an increasing nurnber of ar&s more employment opponinities. The

rise of new organizational structures in this period, nich as the fiendly sodety that acteci

as agent and the Era, a national enteminment uade paper that carriecl help w a n d

advertisements, Éinlitated perfomers' search for anployment as well as managers' search

for taient. Not oniy did th& mean chat the Etir was beconhg a less cruciai arena Tor

earning money but it also meant, more genedy, that the dnis was developing new,

enduring and organized structures within which to deveiop.

A decennial sample colIrneci between 1847 and 1897' h m the Era, shows that

there were ten companies in Britain t-hat d e d themselves "circusesnor "equestrian

c o m p a n i e ~a, nurnber
~ which rose to £Ifteena decade lam. Of the ten mmpanies in

%ee Alun Howkins. "Whitsun in Nineteenth Cennvy Orb;ordshk," HLstory W h b o p

Pamphlets, no.8, 1972; c.f. Douglas A Reid, "Interpretingthe F M Caiendar: Wales and
Fairs as Camivds," Popuhr Cdture and Custom in Nft~eteentbW u t y Engknd, ded.
Robert D. Storch (London, 1982), 125-153.

''These dates go h m October und October the following gcar. For example, the
date, 1847,a d y covers the period bemeen Uctober 1847 and October 1 8 4 ; 1857
covers the pend b e e n October 1857 and Oc#>ber 1858,and so cm. The reason why
the evidence has been accumulateci in this way is so that it corresponds a> the ead of the
tenting season whkh is usually in Lare Septernber and auly October.

32Thetwo terms were interchangeable in this period.

 20
di presented three-part programs. EquesPian ckamas inducihg Mazappa, Dfd
184P3,
Turpids Rfde To Y M CftzdereIla, Tbe Cmnp of Side- and Esmer& wm commonly

found in the 6Rt part of the program. Clearly?these figures h m the Bru do not eilre

into account the invisible layer of troupes that performed at the hir or elsewhere o u t 4 -

doors since the newspaper's revïew secpion, h m which these figures are gieaned, do not

cover this kind of entertainment. The p i m m of the cïrcus world based on the

idonnation taken from the Ern therebre is only a partial one. Despite the Limitacim7it is

interesthg to note that in the n a t decade the E o reportexi an impressive growth in the

number of traditional circus companies. Of the £ifkenoanpanies in 1857,dght were of

the traditionai type (53%) and seven were theatrical cireuses (46%).

In the third phase, h m 186@1880, there was much mOdng between the theatrid

and naditional prograrns to the aaent that the structure of three-part program of the

former became a rarity. As of 1867, there were twentyone companies. W~thinthe

pro- of thode nine circusg (43%) chat continueci in employ equesPian p b 7the

theatrical part of the program Qmeat the end, rather than the beginning and the end as

was usual in the earîier period. Given the fàct that most o f the companies in 1867 were

run by b t - t i m e managers (76%)with a limitecl amount of capital m invest, financial

prudence was an issue for survival. Since the display of equestrian spectacles was h o w n

to be more codtly than kenes in the chie," the progiam was paaially detienaineci by the

limitations of h a n c e .

It was also determineci by legai consideratiom. The Theancal Regulations Act of

1843 had a prohund impact on the way in which the circus developed in diis period.

"It should be stated that the term "mmpanf rekrs to an or&anizationnui by one
manager. A managm may huwever have d"troupes"within his Company that
perfbrm at various locations.
 21
Since one o f the main provisions ofthe Act was that any Company needed a theatrid

ücense nom the Lord Chamberlain or local J.P. in orda a> present plaps, cheatnd

cireuses, the majority of which were uniicensed, h d that they were o h in breach of

the law? Faced with fines, many of these troupes were mmpeiied to pay up and to

drop the drama h m th& programs. Many new troupes simply avoided the le@

problern dtogesher by presenting traclitionai programs which this h did not touch.

Altogether, twelve companïes (57%)in this period gresenteci the traditional program.

Popuiar taste was another key fàcmr motivating the inaease of traditionai

programs. Perhaps no spectide in this period received greater appiause and attention

than that of the acrobat who katured in d the traditiond programs of the m.in
catering to market hrces, however, Qrcus managers often f m d that pressures mounted

h m disapproving quarters where the danger associated with the acrobt's work was

viewed as a threat to the hes of so many acrobats and to the pubiic's moral good.

Regdation in the fom of parliamenGuy statutes h m 1879 on& became a fZLct of lik

for the acrobat and the circus trade as a +le.

But this situation did not alter the steady deciine of the equestrian drama's

poputarity. At the end of the rhird phase, in the 1870s,the equestrian drama had becorne

an even m e r kature of the program- Commenthg on the trend in 1876,one

commemator was moved to write that

of late years, a change has come over the equestrian drama. The circus
flourishes and quadnipeds figure now and again, but the 'horse spectade'
has alrnost vanished. PIays are not now written for [the herse]?

%uws, Sratutes, etc, Theatre Regdations Act, 1843,6/7WC.c.68, s.23.

3%uttonCooke, A Book of tbe P h y (hndon, 1876) ü, 189-9,dted in Saxon, 228.
In this pend, the number of companies ruse again, h m twentyane in 1867 to thircy-two

in 1877. To the extent that equestrian dramv appeared at di,it may be said that they

were a specialized item, employed only at certain times of the year as at Chrlsmùas when,

fbr instance, Sanger's produced Tbe Si- of P k u at the Agricuitufal Hall in Deœmber

of 1877.' Taking into account the fàct that most circuses altered th& program and

tweive companies (38%)in this period presented - at some point in the year - an
equestrian-theatricaievent. Y* twenty companies (62%) had no inciination a> do so and

okred traditionai programs O*. Table 1.1 below shows that the balance between the

theauid and traditional program graduaily shiftd in Eavor of the latter.

No. of Cos Theahtical

10 10 (100%)
15 7 (4%)
21 9 (43%)
32 12 (38%)
47 17 (36%)
74 14 (19%)

In sum, the Era's figures show a paneni of saPady dedine of the theatricai

program. Whereas a l the companies in 1847 were theatrical ones, theg deciined to half in

1857 and then to appmximately one-third in 1877. The traditional cirnis,on the other

hand, increased steaciiiy kom ni1 in 1847 to over half a demie later. This rise increased

steadily so that by 1877,nearly twethirds of ail drcuses presented traditional progranis.

Since the Era's review section, h m which these figures are gieaned, was mainly aimed at

covering entertainmens that were pecbrmed in dean and accommodating structures that

'"Sanger's at the Agnculnval Hall,"ka,20 Dgember 1877, 7.

attracted anisan and middledass speaators, it would be safk to say that only the upper

ieveis of the cimus worfd appeared in its pages whiie that strahun connected with the

world of the fair remaineci invisible- Thus, by rrlying on the Era, we are Zesbricted oo a

discusion of the "visiblearcuSnand the balance presenteci here betweai traditional and

theatricai depends on this fàct. Were the 'invisible circusnpexceptibIe, it might be argued

that, in ha, there were more traditional drcuses than estimateci in this discussion, That

is, since the h d s of troupes that continued to kquent the hir were, p e d i y speaking,

too poor to prrsent theatricai ciramas tbat nquired an investment of capitai in

and sets, it is iikely that they ofièred traditional prograrns to the public, a supposition

which increases the number of traditional companies in our ovemll scheme.

In the burth and nnal phase ofthe decrelopment of the circus, h m 1880 to 1900,

the equesaian drama had diminished fùrther in importance within those companies on

which the Enz reported. The trend of previous decades continueci so that when the

equestrian drama appeared, it was typically presented as the M e . Yet, even in these

cases, the equestrian drarna rnight appear only for several weeks or months, rather than

remain in the program fbr the duration of the year. Given these quaiifkaticms, we note

that in 1887,when the number of mmpanies grew ta brty-, &ere were seventeen

theamical circuses (36%) and thirty traditional ones (64%), indicating ody a siight change

in proportion h m the previous decade. The patœm conpinueci so that by 1897,when an

impressive body of seventy-four companies appeared on the scene, fDwœen were

theatricai cireuses (19%) and sixty were traditional (82%).

With the decline of the equestrian chma, there was a strong public pressure on

the circus company to . rejuvenate the novehy of the acts in the ring. In some

cases, entirely new acts appeared in the form of wiid animais, particuIarly h m the 1880s

onwards. Lions, bears and dephans, br example, contributeci in an important wap to the
 24

novelry of the pmgtam. Although such animais were expensive and difEcuIt to maintain

even b r the weaithiest ofmanagers,there were neveaheless faMltable citcunstanœs that

ailowed the laser to ernploy these naielties. Given the grmuth in the popularity of the

circus and the consequent rise of incorne, more managas posesed more options than in

previous decades. The purdiase o r loan of a wild animal becme, if not the nom, a

sready pattern among a minority of managers. This m a r M a considerable change h m

eariier &ys when the wild animal was m m m d y encountered at the menagerie, such as

Wombweii's, or,as some contemposaries despaired in the 1830s,on the stage of Dnuy

h e under Ai€red Bunn's management. Ln cases where l e s wealthy managers muid not

afford the cost of renting a d d animal, they ernp1oyed dogs which were hown to be

cowiderably cheaper. Matchhg their own financial murces with the public's caste Tor

novelty, they presented a program that amordeci to the exigencies of the market. Yet, the

forces of the market wete again met with some resistance by animal welfàre advocates

whase f s of "cruelnforeign tamers and desire to sec some aniads removed h m the

ring stirred b o r in Parliament and ultimateiy was men expression in a seitute in 1900.

II.

the pattern ofchange that occutred in the development of the Victorian

ciras already discussed, w e now seek a, fW in the detail conœming the acts. This

section thereby considers, in tum, the acts that compriscd the drcus program of the

nineteenth century and how they changed over t h e . Beginning with an acamination of

the program of the theamical c h u s , this section wili then consider the gradual emergence

ofthe traditional circus and the that took p k in its ring. A variety of sources

including posters, reviews h m I d newspapers, Select Commitîee repom, help wanted

 25
advertisernents, mernoirs and mnhhœnces, as wefi as fiction, infenn us of the details of

the acts and o f the highly organized nature of the program oeerall.

Perhaps no part of the circus represented i~ organization bener than the

procession. O b used by those companies that toured fÏum mm to aiwn and in sane

cases, at the sran of the winter season in October by those companies that oonipied

permanent amphitheaters, the circus procession helped to advertk the company and

s many artists to the residents of the community. So popuiar was it that "a
introduce i

public holiday was [ofrai] held on the day of the parade¶"said one down,who d e d

himself Coma.37 To be sure, by stirring the residencs' curiosity, the promsion onai had

the effm of disrupting the worladay routine of the community as its members sought to

get a peek at the coming events in the ring. When Cooke's circus arrivai at Lincoln in

June of 1850 during its "tenting"tour (a terni which indicated that a company toured with

its entire stock and performed under a tent), it was said that "thehishion and the beauty

of the town...h e d the streets and windows" in antiapation of the troupe's enty. Nor was

Lincoln unwual. Other towns dong his route induding Worthings Chichester and Dover

experienced the same degree of excitement At 11:OO in the moming, these midents

eagerly waited to see Mr Cooke drive twemty ho- through the p ~ t i p athoroughfàres
l

ofthe towns. Behind him was "a fine brass band" which was fbllowed by the

superb war carriage with descripthm scenes of the Batth of Waterloo

[which would be presented in the ring]..a cavalcade o f spotced white and
golden steeds and ponies... the degant miniature carriage drawn by two
dwarf ponies, expressly made for and driven by the talentcd chil4 Miss
Kate Cooke [Cooke's daughter].s

3 7 C F "Circus
~ Life Behind the Scenes," #603, 166.

s"Advert," Derby M m y , 22 May 1850,2.

 26
mer the cavalcade, "theladig in B e Sfag Wunt Cbasenanother equestrian spgtade,

appeared and were mounted on cream co1ored Arabian coursers. Foliowing them "were

some reindeer in hamess"which were said to be "the psuliar novelties of the d i s ~ l a y , ~

dong with "thesmaiiest horses in the world...[that were] meny-fOurinches high, a

complete mode1 curiosity."* Numemus other artisa inciuding the duwns, Nmblem,

contomonists, and acrobats foiiowed in the cortege. Recilling his previous aLperience in

a circus procession, Y- Stewart, a cornedian, said "clowns [tike me] sometimes drove the

donkeys in tandem while other artists such as the 'nimble nymph' sat on the top,

uppermost seat of the highest wagon? The whole mmpany then "rodedong with all

that careiess grace which induces the village youth to ciream of aii the happiness and

grandeur of c i r a s L&E."~ "And so,"he continueci,

amid a crash of music and glitter of tinsel, the strange heterogenous

procession wends its way through and round the mm Ilke a rnammoth
snake of many c ~ i o u r s . ~

The comment revealed an important constant withïn the circus procession: the

band. Similady, C.W. Montague, the circus manages*mentioned that once the signal for

the procession was given

wW.Cwke's Royai Circus,"Humpsbtne Advertfsr, 13 jw 1850,4.

Derby M e r c u v , 22 May 1850, 2.
'O"Mvert,"

'V. Stewart, "TentingA Week W~thA T m i i i n g Circus,"Tbe Engiisb Hitcstroted

Magarrarrne
mi, (1897): 66-7.

O1bid.
 the band going 61% strihes up a iively air. The dnimmer haWig a i k i y
îâith in the power ofhis instrument to aman a crowd?plies his sticks
vigorously.*

In order to a t m the attention of the mm, the band was?in fkct, an essential pan of the

procession. Charlie Keith said there was no way in which to run a cirrus without one. So

desperate was he to h d players for his band at Colchester that he engageci "the services

of a jweniie band from the [local] ~ o r k h o u s e Aithough

.~ none of these nmnagas

indicated what theh band members wore, James Lloyd, another impresario, said that his

band members were once mistaken for k i n g English soldiers b u s e of their mllirary-ii&

outfit~.~~

The sirnilarity was not only linked to appearances. As in the miiitiuy band where

woodwind and bras instruments were dehing eiements, so u ~ did

, the àrcus band

consist of them. The ernphasis on brass instnimeentqin parti&, made the cirrus band

compatible with the brass bands movement that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century,

partinilady in the north of England where many cirmses were concentratedca So dose

in type were they chat Mons. Hogini plaad an advertisement in the h a in 1858 sîating

that he was "in need of a small b r a s bandnfor hir company? Other managers

advertised for specific band members, as did the Cirque Unique when it sought "a Brst

dass e-flat saxophone player" in 1858 and Powell and Clark's Company which sought a

"C.W. Monrague,"RecoUeCtionsof an Equestrian Manager,,"Cbumbers's]ou~,20

March 1880,183.

"see appendix for areas of concentration.

 28

bombaron plaper yeam later? The trend continueci throughout the century, as manages

placed help wanted adverrisements in the Era in an effort to attract those Who muid play

the solo coronet, the trombone and euphonium, double drum, solo ciarinet and double

bas. In still other instances, musicians associateci themsehs, as did 0th- artiscs, with

the Dramatic, Equestrian and Musical Agency *ch made engagements between artists

and manager^.^

Whiie it is undear how many residents heard Cooke's musicians or ssrw the

procession in any @en tom, some estimateci as did one Hampshire reportex that the

average number of speceators who were able to gain admittance to Cooke's d u ~ the
g

evening performance was 2,000' Another reporter guesed that the same number of

spectators was in attendance at the ep.ening perfiDrmance in Wuchester. At Wonhing,

many would-be speccamrs came away disappointeci h m the evenuig show since "itwas

impossible to obtain even standing room.q2 And the number of disappointeci residents

who could not obtajn admission in Dover was said to amount to "h~ndreds.~
Meanwhüe as Cooke's was "crowdedto overfiowin~'the actom at the Dover Theatre were

said to have played Sheil's q e d y , Evadne, to "empty benches* Comenting on this

49"HelpWanted," Era, 25 April 1858, 1; "Help Wanted,"Era, 21 A p d 1878, 19.

'Osee for example, advert, E r . , 24 Aupst 1856, 1; other agencies of the period
included Harry Wilson Bames' General Theatrid Agency in Manchester and H.Franklin's
Dramatic Agency although, as the narnes suggest, they catered mainiy br the theatticai
trade.

Cooke's Circus Royal," D o m C h f & andKBnt and Sussex Advmtisw, 10

August 1850,2.

*"Dover Theatre,"Dowr Cbronic& and Xent a d Sussex Ad-, 10Augusî 1850,

2.
 29
disparity, a reporter b r the D o m C h i & kmmted, "somudi fw the raste that p h

to see men and women kickùig their heels in the air to a radonal, intdectuaj and

instructive arnu~ement.~')

Tickets at Cooke's circus rangeci in price h m 2s for "&st dass" or box seats which

e 6d which were in the arena, outside the box seas. Ar

were located at the ~ g s i d to

Cooke's, as at most other circusa,children under ten years and school children were

admitted at haif-price during the evenings. Children were g h n even better concessions

during the afiemoon perfonmmces as C o o k admitted them gratis, a philanthropie

gesnire that had more public relations benefit than Gnancial risk since these day

performances t y p i d y amacted fewer customcrs. Ihy were held at 2:ûû p-, Cook

emphasized in his advertisements. Unsurprisingiy, the benevolent act proved popular

with the community and particulariy with the chiidren and as a amsequence, as many as

-600 children boom the local charity schoolnat Stratfbrd-upon-Avon, for aample, appeared

at his afiernoon performance.'

Upon entering Caoke's tenp, the k t thing thac nmst spectators would have

noticed was "thevague srneil of horses suggestive of the coming wonders,"as weli as the

scent of orange peel hom the staiis at which oranges could be bought during the show?

Furthemore, they would have seen the sawdust t h fUed the ring and would have noted

"'Cooke's Royal Circus,"Covenfry StatçdC1rdl 27June 1850,9.

"According to one review, the mmpany performed under a canvas oait as opposed to
in a wooden semi-permanent amphithater, see "Cook's,"Sussex q g t f C U I t U T a l ~ s s
and County Advertiser, 24 August 1850,6.

=Charles Dickens, me OLd Cdosity Sbop (bndon, repr.l=), 250.

the band that they had heard earlier in the procession? Whiie it is undcar what

Cooke's band played whiie the audience m e m h to& their seais, it is the case that

&cus bands often played the national anthem or parts of iîght operatic mmiues, such as

Meyerbeer'sL'etoiie du Nord, a work that was criticized for its "pagesmt-Iïk and hi-

coloured e&cr."60 Indeed, Schumann was said to have made the Link between Megerbeer

and the Qrclrs expüat when he commente& "I place [

M
-] with Franconi's drcus

people."61Finally, whüe waiting for the scaie to begin, spectators would have a h noted

that the ring was iit by "theglare of parafnn l a m p ~ . " ~

Then, the perfofinance would

a glow which burst upon them [the audience],when that Long, dear,
brilliant row of ligho came slowiy up; and the foreriph &tement when the
Littie beii rang and the music began in eamest, with strong parts br the
drum and sweet e h for the

Whiie the " p a in the local papers suggened that all three parts of the program

were of a "verysuperior chiuacrer,"the grand finaie of the program, ïBe Battle of

WaterCoo, attracted the widest attention. Cltzdy, Cooke's was a theatrical circus but

whether me Battle of Waterloo took place on a specially designed platform, as it did

earlier at his permanent amphitheater in Leeds, or, instead, in the ring, is uncertain h m

60PercyAScholes, Tbe Oxjord Componion to Music, ed. John Owen Ward, tenth
edition (Oxford, 1991), 636.

%onald J. Jolly, "JohnMorrison: Poer, Musician and TzaveUing Showman,"CWbaOnia,

Jan-Feb. 1895,164.
the pTOYinciai newspaper accounts of his mur? In any event, Cooke's choie to present

Zbe Buttké of Waterloo was, no doubt, based cm the play's Fast succes with the p u b k It

had been p d r m e d by a vari- of circus compsuiies since the 1820s,inciuding Astley's,

where it was first produceci, Benson Hill, who went to Astiey's eqxxthg to laugh,

"admittedto being amazed by the accuracy with which the miliüuy edutions were

e x e ~ u t e d . "Commenting
~~ on Cooke's vaion, one reporter at Plpouth said that

by the by inured as we are in the garrison 00 fire and smoke,we mntess we

were Litedy stunned and stiaed by the overwheimïng brces emplogad [in
the banle scenes] on this occasion.'

The play afso had a special appeal for chiidrem and for this mason, it katumi in

many Victorian reminiscences. Having seen this production at Asdey's Amphith-, one

obsemer called John Coleman said

to my immature mind, it seemed a wonderful spectacle wfth its reai horses,

reai Highlanders, real Drageons, real Home guards and mfdstrams, real
otd guards which died but never surrenderd...mai guns...and
gunpowder..and real red Grey

Another observer who wimessed the display some years later at the Vauxhall Gardens also

emphasized the play's reai-lik quality:

The entire evening to me was one scene of mntinuous enchantment. Tbe

B a t t h of Waterloo was being represenred on the b o r k ground and I
could not divest myseif of the idea that it was a d engagernent 1 was

-th regard to his amphitheater at Leeds, it was said that "a spacious plathm is
erected fmm the cirde to the top of the gaiiery [in order to]fàciiitate the quesuian
specade and display the powers of the home which will be arrangeci...by Mr W.Cookekell
See Leeds InteUfgettcer, 23 Febniary 1850, 1.

6%ensonEarle Hill, Playhg Aboutr or, Z k a t r f a l AnscCtOtes a d Advmtums (London,

1840), i, 234, cited in Saxon, 140.

&The Chus," Tbe Portsmouth and Naval Gazette, 20 J d y 1850,s.

 witnessing as the sharpshooters BRd hom behind the trees, the d e r y
wagon b1ew up and the stniggie and co&tgration took place at
Hougoumont. When 1 stood years afoerward on the real batdefield, I was
disappointed in the efkct. 1 thought it ought to have been a great d d
more üke Vauxhd.6B

Utifizing the strength of his company, Cooke, no doubt, employed the band members so

that "distantmusic is heard in the ûackgroundnand then "ahost of ûoops advance [and]

fom lines,"as occurred at the Vairxhall production. Afcompanying this sœne was a

chorus which sang "Tia dieerful sight, by the watch-fire!s iight, to view the Pnissians

above and below; eager for Bight., and mous for the Light, That's to guide him a> hi9

These kinds of equestrian dramas,involving patriotic sentiment, delivered

important messages to children about the nature of heroism. To be sure, the themes of

war and British vaior which they ernphasized made tbese child speccaturs "marvelnat the

performance and prompted them to think about the Life of a solider or sailor. It was said

that T. P. Cooke, the actor,

irnbibed a prediiection for the sea [at the young age of 81..& seeing [a
pehnnance ofl me Batth? of Trqfialgar...which bacame very speedlly
gratifieci by a friend of his îàmily who mmrnanded a ship."

Besides prompting children to "rnarvel," these dramas may have also deveioped

existing metaphors and correlations about the Angla-French relationship in the same way

T M , Astley's mes, ciipping, c. 1848.

Tbid.

''SU, PC 791.3.AST,J. H. Amhurst, ofwa-Co08 1-

''BJ.,, Th. Cm. 75, dipping.

 33
that an enactmenc of Hemy V may have d o n e . It has been argueci by anthropologlsts

that most thwries (scientific, racial or any other kind) move mainly by metaphor? In

the case of the equeStTiiin spectacle the metaphor was creaaed v h d y and may have beai

an extension of the popular undersrandhg of the nation,as prrsaited through

painting." Thus by presenting the British as just and by depichg the enemy as unjust,

these ciramas made "a mmpelling argument by anaiogy for the supremacy of the bmer

over the latter."' The allure of the British soldiers, according to Coleman, was that thep

"diedbut never surrendered,"rhereby adding an important element of hemic melodrama

to an historic scene. As such, in Act 2, Scene 2 of the Butth of W a t e r b , the patridc

message is reinforceci by the Duke of Wellington who prepares his troops for battle

against the French. He says to his men: %aidemen, the world has ûxed its eye upon us,

England expects much; no one is hem, 1 trust, who wodd not mhet die than disappoint

his native country's hope?

The Butfk of W a t e r h continued to be revived consistently und1853 and tben

only sporadically until 1898 when the Royal English Circus presented an "episode" 6rom

it.n Except in those rare periods of intemational conflict involving Brigin between the

'%in& Coiiey argues this idea with respect to paintings, see Brftons: Fmging tbe
Nation, 1 707.183 7 (New Haven, 1992).

'%ee C . Geem, Inttvprietution of Cultures (New York, 1973;idem.,L o d KtK)w&de:

Furtber Essays in lnterpretutive Antbtr,po&bgy(New York, 1983).

"sec Martin Meisei, Redizations= Nawatfw, R c t d and 2 k a t r i c a C A r k F in

Nineteentb Gmtury England (Princeton,1983).

'%nthony Monsanto, Jr., "TheLiving Proof: The Bamum and Bailey Circus and the
Reifkation of Racial Categories, 18841896; (MA thesis, Princeton University, lm).
 34
mid- and iate-nineteenth century, the military spectacle hardiy appeared on the boards.

lae qlgbanislan Wac or tbe Retriolt of C a b u Z and Britisb Trfullzplis in Indfa (1&43), ï k

Battle of tbe Alma (1854),Tbe Stmirzg and Cbptum of DelBi (1857),Tbe Bombardll~ej~t

and Capture of Ca?ztm (1858), ïb Z u h War (lûûû), ZBe F d of Kburtoum (1888)and

Tbe War in ZuluCand (1898) were among those pieces that were perfbrmed. When

military spectacies were not presentted, however, those equesrrian dramas with a long-

standing presence, such as Dfah Twpin's Ri& to Y d or RIcbard R7,appeared in the

prograrns of those remaining theatrical arcrises. In contras& the new cmp of managers

who increasingly appeared on the scene h m the mid-nineteenth centuq hund that it

was in th& best interests to keep up with the times. And as they bund that the times

were changing, so too did the program which now tended to h r those traditional acts

that could easily accommodate dianges in the popular tastd8

m.
Commenting on th& change, Peter Paterson, an actor cum circus clown noted in

1864 that most cireuses, "if they are to carry on a profitable business,"should wZLSiSt of

"thirty male and kmale perfonners induding the Iion king or queen, acrobetr, vultiguers

and amazons,"al1 of whom performed th& individual skilis and amtinuaIiy altered th&

performances to suit the latest "rage? This change in fàmr of the traditionai program

did not imply that equestrians otcupied a les imporouit role in the circus program. In

most programs, the horse and the skïiieci rider were still Eeatured. The emphasis,

7 8 ~a ~difkrent
r subject study on a dady relatai point, David Cannadine, "The
Contexx,Perfbrmance and Meaning of Rituai: The British Monarchy and the 'Invention of
Tradition',c. 1820-1977,"in Invention of Tradftfm,eds., Eric Hobsbawn and T. Ranger
(Cambridge, 1983), 101-164.

'?Peter Paterson, Glimpses of R8al LfJé (Eclinburgh, 1864), 123.

however, within the traditional circus program was di&rent. Rather than undercaklng to

play a role within the contexi of a play, the equesaiari now acœnted M e r individual

ability as a rider. Such perfbrmances d e a parti& impression on audiences when

they were performed by children. At Reddich in 1860, h r example, 'the monster audience

continuaily applauded the daring act of horsemanship of Master Powell (a m a e chiid) on

his bare-backed steed.'= The act may have beem iike the "DashingAn on the Barr
Backed Horse" that had made such an impression on Charles Dickens' fictional doctor

who said that the display 'was photographed sharp1y on my rnind":

[the act] was a series of leaps, badrwards and h d ,tuming and

twisting, riding the beast in everp sort of fashion and on eppg part of him,
except his ears and tail.... 1 thWr the equesuian-gymmst was Hcatally swept
around the ~g once or twiœ clinging with arms and legs to the creature's
ne&?

When pvformed by women or girls these a m were said to achieve a parricular "grace," as

the poster that advertised the performance of Miss Emily C o o k in 1853 statecLsl

According to one reviewer, she performed a k t inpoiving an equestrian leap through

sixteen paper hoops although the poster described h a dispiay as a 'fiight through sixteen

balloons borh backwards and brwatds." The stunt was impressive since " d a e n t

i m p e t~o carry the body through the air a considerable distance is tequired." So difficuit

was it that not even Miss E- Cooke could accomplish it on the f h t rriai although

"throughthe force of will [she eventuaUy] subdues d obstacles."u

BO"Reddich,n
Era, 8 July 1860, 12.

"Charles Dickens,"In the Ring," ACC 2% Year R o u d , 28 January 1868, 20.

82V&& poster, Astley's Amphitheam, 10 SeptP-mber 1853.

mIbid;c.f.,BoL,JJC, Astley's clipping, September 1853.

bid.
 36
So appreciative of these scenes were some spectatozs that they went to the dnnrr

in Lieu of more uiteUecNally rehmhg" performances. M E . Btaddon wrote of

that illustrious Spanïsh woman who is said to fme the atque better than
the opera and to have a more intense appreciation of a series of m g
plunges through tissue papr covered hoops than of the most eiaborate
fioriture of soprano and tenor?

"Mdlle Hadetina de Rozename, the flating zephyr ridernin Dickens' " T m and

Country Circus me,"was said to inspire "wondermtxcd with a liale dash of fëarIman

emotionai state which the opera arguably did not amuse. In addition to kminine 'graœ,"

she p w s s e d "powernand "speed." Acmrrdingly, Hameltina's horse

with archeci ne& and fhshing eye is fiying round the ring at the rate of
eight or ten miles an hour..d the nymph of the flmting zephyr, standing
upon his back, goes through her great 'trick act' with a power, if not a
grace, chat emkes the thundu of the gods most iibedly!'

Upon leaving the ring, it was typical h r the perfbrmer to make direct contact with the

audience by "Iean[ing] over the home, smil[ing] and throw[ing] a kiss to the[m] and the

clown."=

To a larger extent, howwer, male riders were credited with pcnwer and speed, as

well as conaol. nTosee 'the favorite pupil of the great and mighty Ducrow, the nsplus

ultra of British horsemen [of the 1820s and SOs]'..sitting upon the extreme verge of the

horse's hind quaners with neither bride nos saddle,"said the narramr in 'Town and

*%LE. Braddon, Aumra Floyd (hndon, 1863).

s6CharlesDickens, 'Town and Country Circus Lik,"All Tbe YemRound, 16 Nuvember

1861,185.

"I bid.

%iny Clive, ne Cfxus Gfri (London, 1906), 24.

 37
Country Circus Lik,""almostmakes the gazer giddy. Like the fémaie rider, "hesprine

suddenly m his feet [while riding].m But uniike the fnaale or chiid rider, 'he sweeps

round and round [the ring] at redoubled speed.*' Ln doing so,

he [puts] one fbot on the home's head and the 0th- on his shouider...the
home and he b o t . leaning into the ring at an angle which seems to
threaten t h [at any moment they WUbel sent whirling into the sawdust,
the spectators cannot choose but to breathe hard?

The circus was one ofthe féw venues in which the public codd go and see the exhibition
oftaiented riders perform h t s on aained horses. Witnessingthese tri& arguabiy

gratifieci a desire to see the workaday matter of riding a home d e glamomus.

While equestrians aimeci to -te -

a magicai if not sometimes tense -
atmosphere, the down, who ohen fbliowed in the program. was responsible for wreaking

havoc and chus desaoying this mood. As the fool he was responsibie for moddng the

seriousness of hurnan events, rnanners and morals. Current evenq for example, were

used in this regard as a leftmotrf by many clowns such as W.F. Wallet. During one

performance at O x f k i ,possibly in 1847,Wallm made a modr election speech in the ring

in an efbrt to âraw attention to the upcorning generai election:

In it, 1 proposeci to s o k the vexeci question of fieemen's right to vote for

the country as w d as the aty. 1 had primeci mgself with iàcts and figures,
and compareci the number of h e n with the number of acres of 6reehold
land belonging to the corporation..and was able co show that there was

'%harles Dickens, "Townand Country Circus Life," passim.

Tbid.

9LIbid.

qbid., 186.
 land enough, in fact more ttian twice enough, to amstitute each k e m a n a
brty-shiiiing 6reehold.*

Beaaying a heightaied sense of sesworth which was mmmon a> most perhrmers, he

added "this 1 intended as a joke but it tumed out something better - it was good iaw?'
Despite the originality of some, clowns were often criticized by viewers for their

sketches. Remlling one mediocre performance, Dickens' narrator spoke of a

w~rtlen

clown's act in which

[the down] ask[s] the audience if they lmew his grandhther; upon the
simple biks laughing ar this, he then launches fonh no end of mries about
his &rent relations h m his great-great grandfathet down to bis
nephew's wile's last tuvins.-

The narrator added that "it is astonishing to see [with] what gusto e v e q b d y hughs at

c i r a s clowns are not h e d for their inventive m."

[this]..~ He recommended

that "the[se jesters] ought to reîbrrn.. and to satirize the M g manners [and currient

issues] as they risenrather than reiy on old antics that were not funny? A decade later

the situation had hardly impmed as Chariie Keith, the down cum cirnis manager, noted

that

the oId jokes between clown and ringmaster which seemed to go round of
every circus and were wont to set the country yokels in a roar prove rather

WdIett, tbe Queen's Jester,ed. J. Luntley

93W.F. Waiiett, Tbe Public Lue of WJ;.
(London, 1870),73.

MChariesDickems, "Townand Country Circus Lifk," passim.

"Ibid.
 stale to the inteiiechial visitor particuiariy in this age of comic and cunning
peri~dicals.~~

Yet, "staleness"was relative. I t is m e that as the h l , his job was to modE his own

status and that of others. But there couid be new variatio~lson this old theme. For

example, recalling h m his chiidhood a comic sketch at Coolce's circus,Samuel Reynolds

Hole (1819-1904), Dean of Rochesur, describeci "Joef who told the ringmastez and the

audience that, "[My h û l y and I] iived happily in a pcaceful vülage two hundred miles

from land, three hundred d e s h m water and four hundred h m anywhere eise? He

said that this changed when "my brother, Biüy, began to die, and has been dying ever

since." At this point,

Joey produces a met-handkerchief about rwo yards in length and begins

to wail and howl in a paroxysm of woe. [And] then the masm of the ring
atternpts to console him.'O0

But the ringmaster loses his patience

when Joqr insists that his brother, BUy, dies so much more rhan anybody
else....'He does', cries Joqr; and then, putting his han& on his hips and
- -
with a broad grin on his face, he shoue 'He's a dyer by d e he dyes
every fol.enight'.'O'

The ''Joey" was a standard name given to the down - based on the tradition created isy

Joey Grimaldi (1778-1837),the clown c m pantomime. He is the main instigator of chaos

98ChariieKeith, C i r a s Lije und Amusemenfs (Derby, 1879), 40.

*Samuel Reynolds Hole, Tben a d Now (Landon, 1901), 148.

'Ybid., 149.

'"Llbd.
 cifus
40
and, as has been argued elseWhen, is both "iconotectw
and "iconodast,"serting up images
and situations only to break thern down, at someone else's expense.Iq?

Besides reciting his antics, the ciown ofkm Performed dongside anbais. Coma,

the down, performed with a trained donkey, "Mocha,"fbr example: We d to sit down

to supper together...[and during the round of appiause] w e shared a carrot pie in the

ring."'03 The scene was similar to die one that appeared in Hengier's program in 18/3

in which "the comic ponies will ceiebrate the clown's birthday by supping with b i d L D L

Horses could be made to do this, said Peter Paterscm, rhrough kind training that always

ended by okring the home o a t ~ . 'Besides

~ eating, animals could also be made to sing,

or give the appearance of singing with the down and Coma performed with a donkey in

this manner. "1 taught hirn to join in the chorus c

m a certain note and bray though it was,

he [always] got an encore as certainfy as if he had been a p h dm12~1:."'~

The musical clown occupied another part of the program and to this cabegory of

clown, the Huline Brothes belonged. One reviewer who had seen them perform with

Pablo's circus in Oldham in 1869 noted that "someof rhar musical tri&, though good,

are not new....[However] their comic dancing is en- so in this b o r ~ u g h . "Critics

~~

were arguably more experienced viewers of circus entertainments than the going
public which may have only gone to one or two performanœ~per season. For this

'02Coxe,A Seat,2 13.

'''CFA, "Behindthe Scenes,"#603, 165.

LO"v&A, poster, Hengler's, 1873.

'"Peter Paterson, GIfmpsesof Raal Lffe (Fdinburgh, 1864), 157.

'061bid.

'"'TM, AHC,2.97% poster, Pablo's Mammoth C i , Oldham, 20 Ncmmber 1869.

 41
ceason, the scale on which novelty was judged was difbent br the cridc than br the

audience members. Nevertheless, one act within Pablo's program at Oldham seemed to

spark approvai f h m both critic and audience Tor its noveity. in if a down d e d S;uoni

appeared

who, in addition to his wit and his rrally excellent bandling of the violin,
succeeds in drawing..music-..hm the most uncouth looking instruments
which no one couid h c y they containeci unless he heard for himself.'OB

With the growth of popuIar entmtahments in the 18605,the music hall and

theater provideci the circus with a new crop of clowns. Clowning gave rise to a "jack of

ali mades"who performed music and dancing, as well as e.

Acmrding to some

contemporaries, the comparativefy Little amount of the that clowns spent in rehearsal (in

relation to other artists, such as equesaians and gymnam) meant that they had the

opportunity to meet other artiss and stiare intorrnation about engagements elsewhere.

O n the Continent, this was particularly the case, There, Charlie -th said that

when the clowns have been o n e seen and paid their good momïng
compliment to the director, they saunter into the café comecîed with the
circus and p a s their time in piaying billiards, dominoes or other
amusements,.-withtheir brotfier artiscs.109

As fiiendship networks were established in such places, an archange of idbrmation

between artists about their respectme mrnpanies and about employment openings, no

doubt, occurred. Furthemore, these d i s or pubs were important meeting grounds for

the unemployed. One such figure was Peter Paterson d o ,aithough trained as an actor,

recalled king recniited to work as a clown in the ring upon meeting the arnis manager,

'OBIbid.

'%th, 67.
Mr Chirper'lo, in the sitting m m of a hotel near Birmingham. In a dialogue that he

reconsttucted in his memoirs, Paterson recaiied that Chirper told him that he shouîd turn

his attention to the m t trends among clowns:

the great thing now-a* [in 1864]is to gÏve parodies h m

Shakespeare...[Tor example] burlesques of To be Or Not To
Se' ...Shakespeacean clowns are [now] aii the go.lLL

"Oh, 1 see...p retend to have a mothache afkr making a fkw good 'mue', [and thai]

commence [by sayingJ'To draw o r not to draw, chat is the q~estion'"'~

replied

Paterson. In persuading Paterson to join the company, Chicper dismisscd the abor's ladr

of downing experience and insisteci that

tuming [the] clown is the easiest thing in the world..as for the jokes, never
ksu man. The ringmaster bas d the oid standard mes ready cut and
dry..and as for the n m supply...p u on soon get up a fèw by reading
Punch or ï b Fumily

One sueet clown whom Henry Mayhew intervieweci disagreed entirely with this latter bit

of advice. He said, "1 have d a great deal of 'Punch'but the jokes are neariy all mo

high there."lL4It is worth noting that whiie Puncb was perteiveci as mo high,

Shakespeare was n ~ t . ~ ~ ' downs such as Ha-

Other who appeared at Hayes' Monster

'LO"Chirper"was probably a fictional name. Furthemore, Peter Paterson may have

indeed k e n a fictional chamcter and these mernoirs may have been written by someone
with insight about the trade.

Mayhew, London Lrrbour a d tbe London Poor (London, 19=, iii,323.

LL4Henry

c e makes this argument with respect CO Amexican popular cuiture in

1 L 5 1 a ~Levine
the nineteenth cemtury, see W i g b h w , Lowbtvw: Tbs Emargenar of CuCturd Hfer.arc6y fn
America (Cambridge, 1988); for a faaual account of the impact of Shakespeare on the
 43
ciras in Preston in 1860 and Jim Pymer who appeared at G h e t t ' s Circus in

Southampton in 1864 were arnong the rnany Shakesp*arean jesteTs of the and were
b7
sought afie5some managers who placeci advertisements in the Ers.'"

Given his tendency to present naaienjokes, the d m was o h valued less than

his skilled counterpart, the equestrian. Saiary dïfkmntials re£îecGed this fact, Wh- the

most famous equesaians eamed up to £100 a week and gpnasts as much as S6û a week,

a "first m e nclown ody earned S30 per week,said Keith d o refipsred to Cook's papsheet

for his Continental tour in the Iate 1 8 7 û ~ . ~But

~ ' in En@& the siilaries - aaoss the

board - were lower; thme, clowns earned no more than Sû and f10 per

~ e e k . ~Clowns,
" such as Patefson, who were pro<rured f h m outside the citcus trade,

were thought to be unskilied labor by clowns who associateci th- strongly with the

circus and, as a consequence, viewed theaiselves a s mernbers of a trade. As such, Paterson

and other such clowns who ciearly did not belong to this brothdood were regardeci as a

threat to the employment prospects of the profisional clown, noted hith. He argued

that this kind of clown "keeps the [prohional clown] out of [his] engagements and

brings down salaries year every year." tIis rrasoning stemmeci h m the b d e f that

no manager wül pay £10, for example, per week for the services of a good
down at Christmas when he can procure those [mrsor music hall artists
who can play the d m ] at haif the costL1'

a r c u s in England, see AH. Saxon, "Shaktspeareand Cireuses," lbeatrs Su-, 7

(November 1966): 59-79.

Era, 10 June 1860, 12; "So~thampton,~

1L6"Preston," Eru, 24 Jan- 1864, 13.
 44
A deep resentment towatds artists who were not strictiy associateci with the circus

thesefore lay at the root of this comment. From Keith's point of view, the dnnis down

was king undercut by people who took l e s This was an act of opporninism, another

clown argued. In agre!ement with Keïth, Mayhew's down condemned these "stragglersnor

"outsiders"who "takethe d m ' s business ody at holidayI-] time, d e n there is a little

money to be pi- up at it." "You see," he continueci, 'brre who are obiiged to continue

at [ciowning] aU the year through are deprived of sen the littie bit of luck we should

otherwise have [during the holiday period]."laDConsidering his own eqerienœ in the

meaopoiis, he told Mayhew that he had counted "threereguiar ciowns [there], and one of

these is not a profgsiond: he never smeiied the sawdust, 1 lmow sir."*' Seen h m this

clown's perspective, the abiüty to daim "insider"status d e p d e d on an intirnate

knowledge and famüiariry of the practcai manihstations of drcus Iifè,induding the smeii

of the sawdust,

The clown's precarïous financial situation was made worse by the Eict that, like

other artists, he had to procure his own costumes and make-up. Mayhew's sreet clown,

for example, noted that his costume was always the same, pmbabiy for 6nancia.i reasons,

and consisted of

red striped Cotton stockings, with full trunks, dotted red and black. The
body which is dotted üke the tninls fits tight Ilke a woman's gown, and has
full sleeves and W. The wig or scalp is made of home-hair, *ch is
sown onto a white oip and is in the shape of a cock's comb. My fixe is
painteci with dry white lead. 1 grease my skin first and then dab the white
paint on?

'"Mayhew, 321.

"'1 bid.

'aIbid,
 45
He added that "the Me white" used in the cirrus or hall "istoo d a fbr us stffet

clowns."'~ But his make-up and haïr piece seemed oo be no different fiam the kind

used by Miss Catherine Park who played in a pantomime at the kndon Pavilion during

the Christmas season of 1862 and who was seai by Arthur Munby to be dressed by her

mother. "Frommy seat 1 caught gümpses of her mother, behind the scenes, arranging the

~ ~ some downs
codcscomb and chalking the dieeks of her down d a ~ g h t e r . "While

colored their fices white, others pained them black Mayfrew noted that he later saw the

Street clown he i n t e ~ e w e din the costume ofJim Crow %th a biackened f� The

image was one that Munby also recordeci in his memoirs in his discussion of the Ch*

Minstrels. One member of the troupe told Munby b t "it takes us half an hour to

coiour..and another half to wash it off. I iike the colour but 1 hate the bother of gening

it

The Christmas season mentioned by Keith, the street down and Munby was

important. The season lasteci h m iate-Deœmber uncil m i d - J a n q and represented the

time when many àrcuses cfianged th& prograrns in order to accommodate the

pantomime. Seen hom this perspective, the pansornime was a regular part of the circus

program ofking a season on its own. As such, the troupe o h employed the m g t h of

the Company, including equesaians, gymnasts and especially clowns who performed in the

principal coles,namely,the harlequin, the clown, pantaiwn or mlumbine. W e aü the

12'TCC, Munby Diaries, 15 January 1862, 31.

lBMayhew, 321;see aiso Michael Pickering, "White Skin, Black Maskj: 'Nigger'
MinstreIsy in Vimrian England,"Music HaU- Pe@ormançe a d SiyCe,ed. J.S. Bram~n
(Miiton Keynes, 1986), 70-91.

'""rCC, Munby Diaries, 13 January 1862, 24.

 46
diaracteis nmspired to wreak havoc on each other, the harlequin was the wprincipal

character, the hem in fkctnin the pantomime.m His evolution was infiuend by

Commedia DslC'Arte troupes that Performed in England in the earty-modem period and

had k e n subsequently popularized by John Rich who derrised Harlequin enterçaùiments

in the eighteenth century. The settinp in which the characters p i q d were a

combination of contemporary realism and complete nonsensem, as in Narkquin Bo

u

Robin H m d and, tbe Meny Men of Sberuiulod F m s t ; or, ï%ePretty IVbite H'and tbe

Encbonted Prftzcess, m r r n e d at Hengler's Cinw during the Chrlsmias seascm of 1882.

In it, the favorite sprite, "Gnatfly,"looked for Robin Hood and the hiries searched for the

Enchanted White Horse? Ar Sherwood Forest, the audience was introduced to Robin

Hood and his hithhl servant, Little John. A "grandtransfbmtion"sœne foliowed in

which the Four jesters appeued in three diûkrent and fragmenteci sccnes that connected

to the k t scene involving the searcfi for the white horse. In the transfknation scene,

the Clown was usually the main instigatot of chaos that was brou@ to the other

individuah and he was also the one who addressed the audience directfy., the implications

of this direct communication should not be overlooked. It was here that the audience

a approval o r d i s a p p d at the performance. The Wown rciterated

expresseci i

catchphrases, such as "Nowthen"or "Naw,look here" or Vhat did you do that br?*

which provoked audience response."

- -- -

'%ee Sandra Billington, A Social Hfstory of t k F o d (Ncw York, 19&4),89-90.

LZBLoisRuthehrd, "'Harmles Nonsense'; The Comic Sketch and the M o p m e n t of
Music Hall Enterminment,"Music Hall: Perfhnnance und Style, ed.J.S.Bratton (Milton
Keynes, 1986), 136.

'-&A, poster, Hengler's Circus, 23 Deœmber 1882.

 47
W i the rise in the number of companies, mcist of which pfe~entedsome fOrm of

clown act, the chance fbr employment among d m increased. And, yet as the

observations and cornplaints made by Keith and the street clown suggest, there was stiff

cornpetition for this kind of work. The situation calls iaro question just how free and

easy the 6nendship networks at the cafe or pub were in the fàce of growing cornpetition

for clowning engagements.

Another kind of artist which appeared in in-ing nunrber in this period ofthe

1860s and pursued engagements with the drcra was the acrobat Among the most

fàmous acrobats o f the p e n d was Messr. Blondin* So popuiar was Blondin, one

commentator was moved to mite in 1862,

Of aü the sights in Engfand now

And I've looked everywhere
There is not one of any sort
W~thBlondin c m

The public's interest in "sensational"displays was seen by contemporaries to be an

important reason u n d e r p i ~ h ghis success. The danger associateci with high- w h

walkuig, in which Blondin spmalued, was at the mot of what made acrobaties

"sensational." His earlier crossing o f the Niagara Falls with a wbeetbarrclw, among other

props, helped establish his reputation in England. The verse continued,

The worid counts seven wonders up

An eight 1 will install
The Hero o f Niagara
And greatest of thern ail.-
 48
When he acrÏved in Engiand in 1861,Blondin perbrmed mainly at outdoor ktes where

millions of spectators were reporteci to have seen him. Meanwhile, iess hnous acrobats

who Performed at drcuses capiralized on Blondin's reputation by borrowing his

sechniqua. For some, the&=, Blondin was reguded as a sort of r d e model d o s e

vida of daring and skiil infiuenced the kinds of acts that they, in tum, pertormed.

enail? Observing the perhrmer on a high w h at tf>e

What did Blondin's a c t ~

Crysel Palace in July of 1861,one witness noteci that

[he] sraned by dtemating between walking and running [across the

rope]...and occasiodly lying on his back or s~andingon his k a d or
nrniing s o m a a u l a ..."

After a kw moments delay, he "resumedhis journey blindfblded, enveloped in a sa&

down to his knees; in this dras...he laid on the rope at fdl length."LYHe then ums

seen to "walk dong the rope in baskets, with chains on his anns and legs,"despite the

"stiff gaienthat was blowing the rope. The baskets [on hi9 h],"
said one observer,

were made of ordinary wicker work at the bottoms as weli as the sides
[and]render it quite impossible los the h t to harr any grip on the rope;
how thercfore he maintains his balance is a mpstary."

Finaliy, the performance ended

d e r [he] disengag[ed] himseif h m the baskets..And haif way on his

r e m to the centre rnast, he lashed his balance pole on the guy ropes and
executed Mnous evolutions without the pok?

at the Crystal Palace,"Era, 7 Juky 1861,11.

L33"Blondin

'Ybid.

U%id.

U61bid.
 49
Of the pertormance, another viewer said that "it is so defidous to see a man risk his iife

[from 170 feet h m the ground] without k i n g in danger meseif."*

I t was no surprise that the greatest compliment which could be @en to an -bat

was one in which his or her pdbrmance was Woened to that of Blondin. A reporter who

went to Quaglini's Itaiian drcus in Swansea noted chat H a Christ& "isa very tsilented

artist who, as a rope dancer and voltigeur, reminds us very hrcibly of the celebraad

~ l o n d i n . "Similady
~ at Sanger's in Spaldin& it was said that "M. Pledge on the oads

elastique led us to beiieve that we were in the presence of Blondin himseKnug The
comparisons, no doubt, stemmecl h m the iàct tbat thei tri& resembled the ones that

Biondin made popular. Some a h adopteci his name, inciuding Selim Powelï ixqd Mdlie.

Zepha Danla, both of whorn went by the narne of the Female Blondin. Such appellations

gave rise to others, such as "theAfrican Blondin"and the "InEuit Blondin,"m.

Since rope walking was nothing new to the ring and had featured in the drcus

before Blondin's appearance in 1861, rivalry betweei him and other rope walLers

unsurprisingly a m . In fact, some within the trade bund his SOSaUed "innovativentri&

and widespread popularity to be an example of the way in which the world of

commercialized entertainment worked agahst them. In a deknsme letter to the Era,

Charles Hengler, a rope walker in his Edmily's circus, mmplauied that Blondin was seen by

so many more spectators than he, Hengler, c d d ever hope a> att~act.Considering that

afier performing in Britain br bur months,Blondin had "been seen by 1.5 mrllion people

who have paid more than £50,000 for admission to see him," Hengler's observation was
probably right '* And yet, Hengler said "[Blondin's]tri& are a piracg on mg

performance....They are a lame and unenbhed imieition."'*' Adding a nationaiist

component to the debate, Hengier made mention of Blondin's French dtizenship and

said, "[his tri&] are only fit for the French Fete Bootb." The mceived wisdom in his

Eunily was that "the[= tri&] were done by my hther Mky years a g ~ . ' ~ *lhis may have

k e n m e , dthough the evidence d o a not aliow a semiotic cornparison. In any case,

James Ryan. another rope waiker, wrote to the Editor of the Era in 1861 in support of

"added rhat "tbeBlondin has

Charles Hengler, statîng "that 1 perfectly agree with h.He

not to my knowiedge inuoduced any one k t which had not b e m dm= by other rope

dancers (e.g. myseK..)...at VauxhaU for season afrer s e a ~ o n . " ~ ~

Whiie Hengler and Ryan clung to the pasq others loolked to the funire with respea

to the way in which the acrobatie art was changing. Besides high wire mpes, cirrus

acrobats employed other apparatus in the ring, most notabiy the btapeze. In 1875, W.P.

Dando, a theatricai stage manager, r e œ k d the patent for his gymnastic apparatus that

included a trapeze and horizonal k ~ m - ~It" was meant to be used almg with the

"appliancesfor enabling a perfonner to ascend or dgcend h m a considerable height to

the ringnthat had been inventeci several years emlier by G. Oliver." Operating by a

puky, the mechanism could be used to raise the performer by a rope that connected to

"OnBlondin at the Crysorl Palace," Era, 6 October 1861,5.

"'"To The Editor of the Enz: Mr Blondin's Ofd Tncks,"Enz, 7 July 1861, 11).

'Ybid.
'*'To the Editor o f the Era: M. Blondin's Old Tncks,,' Era, 14 July 1861, 11.

LUn#3067(1875) W J .Dando,"BriNsb ïZwahJCClC Patetzt~,1802-19ûû, eds. T-ce

Rees and David Wilmore (London: Sodety for Theatre Research, 1996). 34.

L*$#1234(1871), G. Oliver, Britfsb Z k a t r f d Patents, 22.

 51
the artist's hamess belt and the Lifting apparatus. This la- apparatus was Mto the

roof of the circus ring by means of a book? Perhaps rhe simplesr and most commonly

used trapeze was the one patented by WJarirÜ., the acrobat, in 1870. It consisted of a

setfcontained hame with paralle1 bars that were suspended by mpes or wircs and sccurrd

by guys. These carrieci a aapeze on which the petformers swung. Below it, there was a

plarform formeci o f boards "tied together and sumgtheneci by transp.erse rods, the ends of

which a~ supponed hinge-like by bols and dips."'"

The trapeze performance b m when the perfbrmer "placedthe nape of her ne&

in a noose at the end of a rope that hung over a pulley,"as Mdiie. de Gloriou

demonstrateci at the -rd Music Hall.LU The same image reappeared in Edgar Degas'

portrait of Miss La La at tbe Cirque F e m u d o . Then

hanging so with her head thrown back, she deveriy ho- heRelf up, by
hauling at the other hall of the same rope [undl she is] twenty ket abme
the stage.'*

Upon her ascent to the top of the rope, she saw the trapeze which

is made to swing to and fko by...[ her] assistant; and the feat is to mrcb it,
swing ba&vads and brwards with it, and then to s p ~ CO g the nex< one,
producing to the eyes of the audience, for a brief second or two, exactly the
appeamnce of flying.'=

As the description stated, more than one arcist was emploped in the act, making it unIike

the high wire act which was typicaily pdbnneci solo. But finding trained perfomers for

16'L bid.

"'# 1572,W.Farini (1870),Britfsb ZbeaWCllC Pate?m, 1S19.

" X C , Munby Diaries, vol.38, 11 June 1870.

L'Tbid.

LmCharles
Dickens, "In the Ring,"20.
 52
rhis kind of work was a major problem and Tor this reason, the entrance of insdidently

trained acrobats demoted the trade and thmeneci the respecabilïty which so many

sküled artists sought to maintain. For them, the sysran of appmtiaship which had long

existed in the drcus was bang undermineci by the unskilled m b a t ' s presence- That the

latter appeved in the ring suggesoed the extent to which mm-rninded managers

were wiîling to be infiuenced by the public's desire for noveity, rrgardlcrs of that n d y ' s

danger to the perforrner.

in some cases, novice childrai fiiied the gap. At Wth's Manchester drcrri in 1878,

for example, the program featufed Lilo and Elspa, "the fiying children," on the trapezeY

Arthur Munby recaljed seeing a iittle girl calleci Unle Azella pedbrm on the tr;tpee

According to the girl's sister who stoad beside Munby whiie they watched the aaobat

perform, "[Liale Azeiia] has been at this only three web, besides 8 dags and..she

pmctices at home."u2 Like many others, Azella was part of a growing population of

child acrobats who were inspimi by the public's growing interest in m b a t i c dispkqs

and thus 1-ed how to walk the high wire and pertOrm on the trapeze ofrai through a

proces of seff-ducation. Instnictional books, such as Tony Denier's H m toJoin tbe

Cirrus (1877)gave lessons to young people that reiied on "rcgulatingthe voluntary

motion of the body and it more strength and pred9on. The immediate efAcc is the

increase in both size and power of the parts ~yerased,"~

15'Derek Hudson,M W :Man of Truo WOT& (London, 1972), 2545.

'Vony Denier,How ToJoin Z?w Cfrcus (Ncw York, lm,18. Aithough the book was
prinred in New York it was probably rcad in England, particuîarly in this period whai the
nuniber of child acrobats increased; see chapter h.
 53
Of course, not aii c h u s troupes had suc& apparatus or indeed needed it when

acrobatie twnblers, who pehrmed on the ground, wuld be procured- In m e cases,

their physidy precarious stunts were accornpanied by music which heighbened the efkct

of their daring. The Brothers EUiott, for example, perfbrmed

with thirty-two gaiion casks...[ b] them cm th& feet as if they were

dancing
kathered things In the air, throwing them from ket to feet with the
greatest predsion..and strict time is kept to the music.*

Not only did musical acmmpaniment highiight the "thrillnof the &play but its parsence

also serveci to draw the audience's attention to the artists' talent and their d-discipiine,

as they kept in time wirh the music. It was of m e signiûcruice that man? of the patrons

who saw the Brothers EUiott on this occasion were the p u e of the Duke of York's

Military School for whom "thespiriteci manager has s p f f i a l l y set apart this morning's

performance,"thus making ciear the links between the circus and a culture of

The tri& was a variation of the one the Cragg Brothers perfbrmed with their sons.

In the act,

the young Cragg is king tossed upwards h m the soles of his hther's kt,
from which, as h m a sp~g-board,he tums somemault after
somersault,alighting (always on the upturned ket) now on his back, naw
on his kt,now in a sitting posture, with amazing rapidity?

meam,
'%BL,~h.Cts.,50, ii, poster, Grand Amencan Equesaian C~mpany,D w ï a r ~
14 November 1853.

Moming's Equestrian Performance at Drury Lane,"Era, 13 Novembcr 1853, 12.

Ls5nThe

'"Robert Machray, "The Greatest of Acrobats: The Marvelous -," WindSOT

Magmhe, n.d., 495.
 54
Apparently, said the lather, "[thechiid] look more üke some strange figure of rubber than

a human being."'n

In contrast to the tight-fitthg IeoFafd costumes usually worn by laobats, such as

Azella, Zazel, Blondin and others, the Craggs performed in the "dsess suit,..which we

inaoduced...[ and] which of murse is (now] bang wpied by other a c r o b a ~ . "Despite

~

their daims to the contrary, the tight fitting bodice continued to be worn iargely because

it was practical in the sense that it was designed h r movement and did not get in the way

of the artist's balance which was essential. Chiltiren, such as LiUo and Eispa, who, as

mmtioned, perfbrmed with Keith's circus were said to have wom these outfits which

inadentaily "showedevery musde in th& errceedingiy delicate bodies.'* Some

acrobats, such as Little Corello who performed at the London Pavilion in 1û63,wore "a

sleeveless jerkin and short breethes with tights,"a coshune which similariy exposed the

body's contours.'" The effect of apparent nudity was made aii the more aiacming d e n

it was displayed by women. Arthur Munby noted that he had seen a "full gruwn kmale

acrobat...performing in pink fkshings [We the male aapbats]...that is to say, she was

apparentiy nakedn16' I f these coshimes dsed questions about the respecrability of

those who wore thern then the decision made by the Craggs to dress in new robes was

important, particuiarly since they took the form of dress suits

- - .- -. -. - - - - .

'"1 bid.

'-Ibid.

L"nAdvert,nEra, 6 October 1878,18.

'%C, Munby Diaries, 25 Feb. 1863, d . 1 7 , 206-7.

161TCC, Munby Diaries, 12 May 1862,d . 1 3 , 134.

 55
"As it is in trapeze and acrobatie pedormances" said Chambers'sJ o d in 1877

"so it is in those connecteci with the exhibition of wild or semi-wUd ad mal^."'^ in

making the cornparison between the cwo a m , the artide was reZaing a> the audience's

daire fbr --more exciting and fëarless exhibitions. It continueci,

it is a gossip among the theatres b t one visitot atmideci night aher night
in order fhat he might not be absent d e n Van Amburg's head was Mtten
off by a lion.'"

In contrast to menageries or zoos that sthibited udd animals by mut

enclosures, the circus presented them as Perfomers invoived in acts with their tamers,

"So...instead of the old invitation to W up, wdk up!' [by the showman at the &] we

are invited to view the prehrming Lions and dancing dephants,"said Peter

The difSerence between an animal that lay idle in a cage and one that performd was

important, as Paterson suggested.

Wrestling was a common display that tamers perhrmed, particulariy with lions and

was one that Aiex Amousa engagxi in with his beast, Prince. Although Prince was at ease

with his nainer h m the start, "he was nervous the fim time we wrestied in pubiic ....mhe
people's chers and shouts a b l e c i him...[and he scratched me]."Le He addeci that in

case Prince revolts, "1 always have a loaded pistol in with me, but 1 need hardiy add that 1

should have to be driven [much harder than this] behre 1 shouid think of using it."L(6

Some rames did indeed ônd themsehrcs in ciFcumstances in which it was appropriate 00

Kin@, Queens, and Trainers," Cbambers'sJoumuZ, 17 March 1877, 176.

L62"Lion

'"Ibid.

'&Paterson,Glimpses, 136.

Wrestiing Lion and His Tamer," 3"be W c b , 22 Febrwry 1893,204.

16s"The

L66~bid.
 56
use the pisol they carrieci. .iMaccomo, the lion tamer, h r example, saw ~FROtigers engageci

in a "sanguinaryconflict" and entend th& dem with a six barrelied revolver in order to

make them stop.Lq

Irnmediatdy on doing so,the immense brute which had just beem

introduced into the den left bis opponent and made towards Marromo, and
with a t d c roar sprang upon him.L".

Then, Maccomo "ùisrandy 6red his revolver, the bal1 taking efkt in the right brefoot of

the tiger causing him for a moment to crouch in one corner of the den."'"

But sometimes these pehmances were a hoax. James Sanger gave evidence

before the Select Cornmittee on PerfOrming Animais in 1921 and d e d that it used to

be common for circuses to present "boundng iions,"that is, "a lion that was a p p m t l y

very via ou^."^^^

Now,to make the thing more startling, they used to ham a coke fire with
hot irons...to sakguard the man going into the cage and they used to
announce that 'The Great Maccomo' or some name iike chat wül [attempt
to] enter the den br the ninth time tonîght and of course, the people used
to flock to see i ~ . " ~

But in redity, said Sanger, the

bouncing lion...is the tamest lion you could v i b l y have,-A clangetous and
spiteful lion is, in conuast, a sly and quiet animal; they never give p u any
sign of what they are about to do."

--- - - --

L""Macornmo.the Lion Tarner, and the Tiger,"Era, 24 June 1866, 12.

lmIbid.

'Tbid.

SeZect Cornmittee on Pejonttfng Anintu& (1921) vol. 7, In.840,32.

L70PP,

'"Ibid.

'%id.
 57
In fact, the animal's viciousness was best detiermined by its killing history. In

instances in which the animal on display had previousiy Wed or maimed its trainer or

keeper, the curiosity of spectators naturaiiy intensified. This was so at Sanger's drcus

which pehrmed at Hasting in 1861 when 4,000 patrons fiiîed the companfs arena in

order to see a Lion, which had earlier been responsible for the death of a groom at

Asdey's. Despite this animal's viaousness, it was said that

the comrnand [that Mr CLpCkRtt, the tamer] has over the aeamms is truiy
-
astonishing; the pawing and kissing between him and his pets who pass
-
through their various pedbrmances like kittens are something m l o u s
to behold.lA

But, "exciternentis wrought a> the highest pitch,"one d e w e r noted when "the capacious

jaws of the Lion are opened for the reception of Mr CfOCkett's s k ~ l l . ~ ~ "

w did audiences when

Just as tamers had to exhibit caution and fearlessness, so t

they entered the menagene which was set up by many circuses as a side show before or

after the cirw perfbrmance, as at BeU's, Sanger's and at other largede wmpanies. In

one unfortunate incident, Mr George Elliott wmte to the managers of the Royal Imlian

U S his " 6 ' s velvet cape was grasped by a large ape

C ~ ~ C that h m behind [at their
menagerie] and a piece of the material was tom right out of the &arment.'" "Of

course,"he added, "it is a very hrtunate circumsFance rhat the animai did not clutch my

wife's arm as in that event the result would have beai v e y se ri ou^."^^^ ~everrhelm,the
victim's husband wanted compensation for 'the cape which has bem rendered quite

L75G~R0, LCC,Min, 10, 827, Itr.,25 Ocmber 1905, f h m George Elliott, 2 Park h e ,
Greenwich to the Mgrs. of the Rayai Imlian Circus
 58
useless."'" Years earlier, P X Bamum fàcetiousIy wamed bis patrons of such thin@ by

I could guarantee the morality of my ànrus exhibitions b u ~ c o u l d

not
guarantee the m o d t y of my wild beasts [at the rnenagerie].ln

Among those willing to take the chance, it was wideiy believed that these dispm

were üluminating because they provideci useful knowledge of the animal kingdom. In

Sbarp Tornmy: ïüe Story of Circus L@, Mr Spring, the circus propriaor, sags to Mr

Strickland, the schoolmaster, that if his pupils attend the drcus they "wiii learn more

about natural history from seeing the lions...than they will leam h m th& school books

in a ~ e e k . Speaking
" ~ ~ of B a m u m and Bailey's exhibition in 1898,the Bfnnfngbmn

Dai4 Mail simiiarly stated that

the schoolboy or schoolgirl may have in a single mur of the collection [of
their menagerie] a lesson in zoology, surpassing in interest and practical
efkct [that] which cran] be imparted by leamed [school masters] in a
whole month.'*

In Nottingham, the School Board dedared a half holiday in honor of Bamum and Baüey's

entry to the town and many schoolchildren anended the s h w with their ciasses.'"

Enthusiasm spread as their tour continued. Schoolteachers in Ross, for amnple,

petitioned the School Board sweral months later when they ieamed that this circus was

corning to the nearby town of Hereford. It was reponed that 'the whole teadiing smE

'"ibid.

'"CFA, dipping, scrapbook #604, 100.

J. Lysaght, Sbarp Tommy: Tbs Story of Circus Ufs (bndon, 1891),57.
L79Elizabeth

l-amum and Bailey's Show,"Birmfngbum Dai&Mail, 31 May 1898,2.

and Bailey's in Nottingham,' Notcingbam Dai& lhpnxs, 10June 1898,8.

LBL"Barnum
 59
with no exception signeci the petition."'* Some locai newspapers epcn sponsorrd

contests fbr sdioolchildren and gave prizcs for the best otgv that descrhd what they

saw of Barnum and Bailey's. Joseph Caidweli, a g d 12, the winner of the Y d b f r e

C h n i d e ' s contest, wrote that

1 saw the show corne in at 500 am...J also saw the elephants,the kgest
of which weighs 5 tons.'"

The elephants were feanwd in the moming procession when, it was said, "they marcheci

' ~ the program, the elephancs

solemnly by with Little regard for the curious c r o ~ d . " In

were introduced by their tamer, George Conklin, who made them perfOrm "new and novel

dances."'" in addition to dancing, elephants were also made to stand on their hrelegs,

hs not hard,"said Reuben Castang, a tamer, bef'ore the Select Cornmittee

a dispiay n ~ h i c i

on Performing Animals in 1922." That is, he explained, "[the elephant] pua his nme

dawn on the ground and the saain of the body naturaljy U s on the brelegs."m Not

only did they p e h m solo but they also pertOmed with other animals, including horses.

At Ginnett's and Sanger's, elephants wem made to walk over horses which resteci on the

ground. This oick, said Ginnett before the Select Conmittee, requued a amsiderable

amount of aaining since horses were o h ahaid of e1ephantsLu

'"Ross Schml Board,' H m f o r d Joumal, 12 November 1898, 2.

lS3"DearUncle Nd,"Ymksbim Cbronick, 19 August 1898, 3.

'&"TheBamum and Bailey Procession,"Bfnningbum DuSb Mail, 25 May 1898,2.

'"EC,program, Barnum and Baiiey's Greaoest Show on Earth, 1898.

'&PP,Seîèct Cornmittee on Pe&mfngAnimals, (1922) v, ln. 4 3 9 2 6 .

Tbid.

Ybid., In. 607, 739-45, p.36, 42-3.

 60

Besides tigers, Lions, apes and elephanm, the circus ofan pre~entedperforrning

bears. James Sanger spoke of "TeddyBeaf who

used to corne into [ou] ring with the down..and of course any bear d
wak on his hind legs..Jt used to waik in with the down a m in a m and
then the down used to inttoduœ a bottie to him, and then [Teddy]used to
put that to his mouth and ttunb1e d m and r d abo~t...~

The secret of the am, said Sanger, was that "thebotue [containedl condensed miik" and

the bear was simply pretending he was drunk LeS&ars could be made to do otha

"sensational"acts, he contuiued, such as walk a tight mpe, or ride a horse. In fàct, "I have

aained a bear to do [both] a m myself,"said

While some ârcwes iïke Sanger's had the resources to exhibit wild animals to the

public, srnafier companies did not and had to d y on cheaper alfernathes. Trained dogs

provided such an option. According to the receipts of a sale in which Wombwell's stock

was put on auction in the 18705, a mastiff dog cost £12 and an Engüsh h x terrier cost

62/2s; in cornparison, Hannibal, the lion, was sold for b270.= Not only were dogs

cheap but they were also versatile as the French trapeze dogs demonstrateci when they

"hang[ed] by their legs [ h m a trapeze]." PerfOmiing at heights was not rPsPicted to

trapeze work. 'ïhe same dogs might also dimb "a very high ladder and then jump [down

to the sawdust]," said Sanger.lg3 In some cases, these "diving dogs"wure sacks around

their heads or were put into sadcr behre th& leap. This was not dangerous to the dog,

'"PP, SC on P ~ m i n Anfmak
g (1921) vii, Ln.880,p.33.

'Tbid.

in.949, p.35.
LgLIbid.,

' W i i d Beasts Under the Hammer,"Eru, 14 Aprii 1872, 12.

i93PP, (1921) passim, h.1004,36.

 61
said Fred Ginnett, the drcus manager, bebre the Select Cornmitee on Performing

Animais. "I wiii let you in on a secret... the sack is just as old as everphing &...[ it] is

made of jute and you can see through if""

Dancing dogs were another fèature of man? aricus programs. It was cornmon br

example to see perfbrxnances invohring "three dogs [who] had to waik tound and round

their master to the measure of music."'s One observer of such an act said &at "one of

the dogs [stood] simply on all bus,one on its hind legs and the other on its fOre-Ie!gs.

This last one held himseif right up in the air,showing the whole underside of its

body."'% The dog stayed in this position chrough the eEom of the trainer who

prompted it by "softly tapp[ing] its tender parts between the hind legs with the h i e m e ,

which he held dmwards for the p ~ r p o s e . " ' ~ ~

Considering the increasing criticai attention that animal rights achcates gave to

the circus from the 1880s onwards, the circus and its tamers were piaœd in a preGatious

position. Agahst the popular pressure which demanded these kinds of novel exhibitions

and the favorable financial conditions afkdng some managers which iàciiitated them, the

circus had to baiance the new requirements of parliamentary reguiation which amse in

1900 largely due to the campaigns of refOmers many of whom wwe conne!cted with the

RSPCA and the National Canine Delaise m e . Saiking this balance was in be the

dilemma of the circus in the nwr century.

'"PP, (1922) passim,h.749,43.

"PP, (1922) passim, Appendk 1, 1467.
'%id*

19'Ibid,
 62
W.

In the h t a development, the Qrcus world was dominated principly

phase of i

by the theatrical program with the equestfian speccacle(s) as its main fèature. In the

second phase, when there occurred a rise in the number of companies on the sœne as

weii as an increase of capital and iabor, there developed a new strand of Qrcus tbat

firatureci discrete dispfays of agility in the program. The taming and subzsequent dosure of

some fain in the 1840s and 50s, as well as the 1843 Theatre Regdations Act whose efFects

were felt slightly later, helped propet many artisD h m out~faoorsinto an organized

ring. New organizationai structures inciuding the press thiit ran job m e n i t s as

weli as the rise of the agent system also helped in this migration of b r . In this

formative period, therefore, many performers began assOaating themseh.es with a

community that had new systems of authority and new codes of pmkssional behavior that

suongly contrasted the worid of the fair. It was in this period thaî the traditional drcus

evoIved and grew in importance.

This was helped by the fâct that the program it ofked to the public was flexible,

accommodaring the ever-changing public desire for nmehy. From sUed riding oo

clowning to acrobaties to tumbhg to animal Faming, the program gratifieci the pubiic

desire for excitement, wonder, humor and neme tîngling amusement, Whiie the danands

of the pubiic for these kinds of displays continueci, the demands of the moral rebrrners to

stop them mounted. The stress of the situation welghed heaVyr on the cirnis manager

and performer who were concemed with their own respectability, producing a

considerable amount of anxiety in th& min& and, to an actent, in the min& of local and

parliamentary authorities who were in a position to eifect legai regulation, as we WUset.

 In his 1864 comrnents on the state of the trade, Peter Paterson, said that the c k u s

was "so enfirely changed h m what it was some thirty to brty y e a ago
~ as to be almost a

new institution."' No longer associateci with the "hiemountebank panies..at the dage

green,"the circus, he believed, was a highiy organjzed afkjrir.' Indeed, the proocss of

bringing together a range of artists inciuding musicians, equesaians, gymmms, downs, as

weU as animals, into one program conttibuted CO the oqpnhtion which Paterson

described and which has been examineci in the previous chapter. Not only was the

amalgamation ofartists a key hcmr in the organhîion of the c h u s but so t

m was the

utilization of a controlled space. The deveiopment of the modem drcus depended on the

emergence of some kind of organized space in which perfbrmances tmk place so that,

unlike the "village greennwhere spectators came and went, the circus atttacted customers

who paid the cost of admission and took their seats. The evolution of aztitudes about the

ciras implied by this change s u e an important direction, in terms of status, in

which the circus was moving. This chapter will thus consider both the ot&anization and

the implications of this organization on the circus and the mmmunity around it.

There were severai dinerem h d s of spaces that the circus occupied which

depended on the cornpany's sïze, s t a t u and wealth. From permanent amphitheatexs, such

as Astley's, to semi-permanent ones to tents, the &cus appeared in a range of con-

'Paterson, GCfmpses,123.

%id.
 64
over the course o f the cenniry? The fim part of this chapter examines diese mntexts.

The rise of the raidency system, a s opposed to tenting, which came to domulate the

circus wodd had important implications Tor a whole host of hcmrs anecting the drcus.

In parcicular, as secrion two discusses, the occupation of residences afkcted artists's

emptoyment: the pattern promoted an in- flow of b r as artists moved with

greater frequency among resident circuses. The residency sgstem innoduceci a new

variation on the old theme of touring with a single company which travelled h m piace to

place.

Residency was also important in the brmation of community allegiances, as senion

three of this chapter demonsttates. The developmait of M c pride, commercial

mtertainment and regdation al1 contributeci to the new and changing environment in

which the dnrus dwelied. It stood to reason that as these resident mmpanies, which may

be classified as "visiblecircuses," came under the goke of reguiation during the second

hall of the century, the d e d "invisibiebrais," which was entirely itinerant and iacked

an approved sranis in the community, fbllowed. To the extent it appears in the historicai

record,the "invisiblecircusnwas often the subject of local cornplaint. Towards the end of

the century, an ernerging fear of contamination h m itinerant peoples motivateci e f b t s by

some cornmunities to regdate th& strand of drnis, as wd,and to b ~ it gwithin the

scope of respectable society.

3Because the Era and other records used in this study did not always dlsringuish
between a tempotariiy-construcced wooden amphitheater, which might be e r e d br a
period of three mon* or so,and a permanent one, this discussion relies on the prindple
chat both these s a i c n i r e s count as residenc buiidings. Whem it has been possible to
differentiate between these two kinds of stnicturies, a distinction has been noteci.
 65
II.

Cooke's tour rhrough the provinces during the summer scason of 1850,which hao

midcentury point. For Cooke and other mid-cenniry managers, the drcus season was

divided into two pam: From March until O c t o k , most rnidslentuy troupes, Mce

Cooke's, generally went tenting and this involveci singieday visits to individual tcmms

dong a predetehned route. Between October and March, circus companies ocnipied

permanent or semi-permanent residences in tuwns? As the century progrrssed, however,

the difference between the summer and winter s c w n gew less distinct and companies

performed in k e d sites Tor periods of weeks, months or even the length of the y-

Table 2.1,which is gleaned h m information regardhg the deannial sample collecocd

fkom the Era employed in chapter one, highiights the inkquency, dthough widi some

hiccups, with which companies tented after the 1850s.

Year % No. Total

Since the change away h m tenting and rowards residency was gradual, it became

common for companies between the l&l(k and 18809 to altemate between tenrhig and

residing in amphitheaters during the summer season. For rnany companies, it was cost-

effective to remain in their winter arnphitheafers during the sumxner season or

altematively, sublet h m other managers tbat growing crop of amphitheaters that iittercd
 66
the entertainment map in the provinces and the rnetmp0i.b. For example, in 1877, the

manager of the South Shields Amphitheam admmkd that his establishment couid be

leased h r £3 per week. in m a t cases, the manager simply wished to cover the cmts of

the ground rent which in Keith's case amounted to 618 per month fw his amphithcrirer at

Southport? In cornparison, Powell, Fmtit and Clarke hund out a xason later, in 1878,

that ground rent was more expensive when they tenteci - a daily average oC544-û- than
when they leased amphitheatefs. Around the same tirne, the Newcastie Town Councii

agreed to have Mr Pinder emct his circus tent on the Haymarket for sixmm weeks at a

cost of 10 guuieas pet weeko Furthemiore, the heavy demands of tencing and the

incidental cosa of tepairing those items that were a casualty of the road iaised important

questions in the min& of many managers about why they ought to continue to tent if

sublening was easier and possibly cheaper. (It is impossible, h m , to say with any

accuracy that tencing costs were higher than those which the leasing c h u s enmuntered in

the maintenance of the amphitheater since the lamr figures are madiable.) Nevertheless,

the purchase and upkeep ofa tent sometinies proved to be a nuisance and added to the

travelling d m i s ' s expenditure. Considering the problem of aposurr,tents - particuiarly

Cotton ones - were in constant need of repair. Powell, Foottit and Clarke's 1878 account

book suggess that these costs amounted m appmximately U)-2-6 weekîy, in addition to

the £0-14 that the Company s p t on thread and repair matetials. The efibrt invofved in

repairing such damage becme particularly burdeisorne (and expensive) if it was required

on a frequent -bis,as was o h the case. Of course, the mmpany was put in a

particularly vulnerable position if the tent was beyond repair, as was reportedtg the case

'"Important to Equetrian Managers," Era, 5 May 1878,6.

m,Newcastle Finance Comxnittee 589/197, no.7, 138,4 Oceober 1877.This wodd

have been at the taii end of the tenting season.
 -
when a high wind "srnashedthe center post" of ikhcame and Clarke's tent at Behst "and

down came the erection." Despite the subsequent efforts made

to hoist it again, a new post having obtained, the wind continueci to

blow so strongiy that ali e!fForcs of the emp1qees proved to be abortive?

Other matters made tenting seem dhdvanmgeous to the company both in terms

of money and importantiy, reputation. The n d fOr tentmen who would set up the

structtu-eincreased expenditufe by an mecage cost ofLfl-0 pr town, according to

Poweii,F w t i t and Clarke's accounts? As weli, tenmien were notoriously unrrliabie and

sometimes jeopardized the respectability of the operation, as in 1888 at Sanger's circus in

Motherwell whm some chineen of Sanger's "atteadants"induding the ananen were

arrested in an incident that d t e d in the injury of rwo consrables? Regardhg the

incident, the Era was quick to add that "thosein cusaody are merely the attendants and

that the artists were kept aloof of the dh~rbance."'~Whüe neœssary to the propt

running of any tenting circus, tentmen, who were usually hired on the spot, were o h

viewed as suspect in the eyes of managers iargeky because they had no interest in

remaining with the company on anything more than a short-term basis. For this reason, it

was common for managers to adverrise Tor employees who "are sober and steadf; or,said

one advertisernent, if they are hired and then pmve otherwise "they wiii be disrnissed on a

moment's notice."" There were signiscant liabilities associateci with taking a show on

'"Bekt,"Era, 11 April 1858, 11.

8TM,AHC, RP 76/1539,Route Book with Accounts, Powell, Footit and Clarke, 1û78.
?t"ïe Police and Circus Men,"Era, 23 June 1888, 16.
'OIbid.

1 September 1878,Era, 19.

LL"Wanted,"
the r-not the least of which was the hiring of casuai labor which might disrupt the

smooth running of the drcus and compromise its reputadon.

While tenting did not disappear h m the c h u s caiendar, many companies, as table

2.2 shows, were flexible, alternathg berween tenting and residing in amphitheanm.

Year % No. of Companies

I t was perhaps unsurprishg to find that there was a correspondhg rise in the niimber of

those companies that ody occupied amphitheatem throughout the year and did not tent

during the sumrner.

Year % No. of Companies

1847 10 1
1857 O O
1867 38 8
1877 31 10
1887 36 17
1897 35 26

That the height of drcus building oarirred h m the late 1850s to the 1880s helps to

explain this pattern. Based on the Enz's reports, it is clear that at le= menty-three new

'%ased on a decennial sampie coliected h m the Era, 1847-1897seasons.

UIbid.
 69
amphitheatess had been cc~stnictedby the end of the 1850s, a figure which had

increased dramaticaiiy to at least fifky-nine by the end of the 1û6ûs." Commenting on

the visible rise in building in South Shields, North Shields, Sunderland and

Middlesborough, one conternporary was moved to wxite in 1866 that *the inmase in

these places of amusement has been something asmnishing within the last fèw years?

A decade later Charlie Keith built six amphitheams rhroughout the north of the muntry

from Douglas on the Isle of Man to Southport to H a M k That Kath's focused his empire-

building in these areas reflected a larger aaid w i t h the d e . As the appendix shows,

Lancashire, a county which expedenced much amphitheater development, rralired the

greatest average proportion of drcws:31%;meanwhile Yorkshire was a cl- ninner-up

since it amacted an average of 29%of all cireuses throughout the period, many of which,

Iike Keith's, found accommodation in the towns-

While these figures in the rables are helpfd in terms of shedding light on major

patterns in the made, it should be noted that tabla 2.2 and 2.3 take for granted that a

proportion of companies occupied either permanenVsemi-permanent venues or tenting

grounds but, either way, cannot be determined exactiy, as table 2.4 shows:

- - - .

"see Era, 1850-70.1 have counted the nurnber of buildings basecion newspaper
reports. It is, however, undear whether these were d e n structuries buüt for the season
or permanent buildings that lasteci beyond it.

""Theatricaf and Concert Halls in the North of England,' Em, 16 Sept 1866,14; cf.
appendor induded at the end of this thesis.
 Table 2.4: Unknown Chcuses

Year % No. Unknown

If we assume (and there is no reason not to) that these paenmges can be scattenxl

evenly across our ejnsting categories of "tenting,"'combined" and "residential,"we End the

pattern supports the argument that there was an incrase in tesidency. It is perfecdy

possible that diis pattern of residency, involving much investmmt for hose managers who

consaucted their own arnphitheaters, causeci a correspondhg increase cwer time in the

nurnber of companies that wmt out of business,as rable 2.5 suggests:

Table 2.5: D i s s o M Circus Canp;iriies

Year % No. Dissolved

What did these structures Look üke? Wth himself designed his own buildings

which were p r i m d y made out of wocxi. In fàct, by F e b q 1882,he reœived patent

protection for his so-called invention, which had k e n mereiy a variation on the old

theme of portable theaters. His design consisteci of

convertible vehides phceci in a arcle with a roof brmed by erecting a pole

in the centre, which supports a ccner secured by ropes to rings B m d to the
rooS of the ~ehicies.'~
 71
It concained "rnoveable seats, shutters, etc [And] spaces are lefr in the circus fw the

entrance and exit of the horses, etc., and a portico with p y office and other moveabIe

such a bdding was not

buildings may be fitte~i-"~'Whiîe the cost of ccmst~ccing

induded in its description,it is lmown that these structurts were cheaper to build than

permanent ones. Nthough not designed h m Keith's plans, Newsmne's c i r a s at

Blackburn was said to have been built for a cost of "about £200" in 1867." Three

decades later when Mr Clarke proposeci to buîid a temporarg wooden circus at Dover, "he

supposed the building wodd c m b3ûû or m."" Such buildings, iike IüPeKdths
' at

Southport, could hold 250 persons in the private boxes and stalls, 800 in the pit and

1,000in the gallery? These M o n s suggested that the circus was not tu fkom the

theater in its creation of a mdti-layered stranun of classes in the auditorium."

More subsrantid structures,which were built in this period, held an even -ter

number of patrons. Pinder's circus,for srampie, was erected in Novembet of 1877 and

was reputed to be able to hold an audience of 2,500 persans? The dimensions of the

building were 120 feet long by 100 feet wide and the ring measured 42 feet in niameter, a

rneasurement which acmrding to Speaight beaune standardized in thls period.= E v m

"~bid.

""Blackburn,"Era, 14 J d y 1867, 12.

'su,AHC, clipping, c.1898, ?Dover Town Cound".

m'Southport,"Era, 6 January 1878,18.

"sec Kwint,chapter 2.

n"Bradford,"Era, 4 November 1877,7.

DSp&ght, 44.
more impfessive was Newsorne's Circus at Glasgow, which was mnstructed in the same

season and could accommodate an audience o f 3,000 people." Newsome boasted that

the stalls are placed at the west end [of the circus] and are fit& with
ebony chairs, upholsmcd in crimson d v e t with which materiaï the ring
fènce is also covered. Imrriediate4y behind the staiis are the second seats
and to the right and lefi is the pit h m which a promenade ~ t a i d dong
s
each side o f the house whüe the entire east end is oaripied by the
saiiery*"

Other additions distinguished this building h m Kdth's design fw a temporarg

construction. That is,

the building is lighted up with gas jets and a handsome chandeiier

conaining 210 jets..[Furt&ermore] stabling has been pmvided for 50
h~rses.~

Tradesmen, both local and regional, were employed in the construction of Newsome's

Glasgow building. M. Penton of Edinburgh built the drcus f b m the pians of Mr McAndis,

the architect, and Messrs. C. Jenner and Co. of Edinbugh designeci the upholstery w U e

Messrs. E. Whanne and Co. of Glasgow looked afm the Lighting arrangemen4 aii of
which suggested an important point of wmection betweai the Iocal/regional eamomy

and the resident circus." The cost o f employing labor and supplia in the COllStruction

of such a building was hi&. Fred Ginnett was said to have built his "~apacious

hippodromenat Brighton in 1876 for £4,000. Such a place was reporteci to be not only

Era. 25 November 1877, 19.

24"Glasg~,"

=Ibid.

%id.

nIbid.
capacious but also comfortabie an4 unlike the temporary stnictures, "had hot air pipes

which wiU be introduced to warm the audience in cold weather?'

If ody b m a financiai point of view, it b e h o a d the manager either to bave his

own company perfom in the building or to sublet it ro another Company. In instances

when both plans Wied and these buildings stood vacant, managers were made vufnerable

and some encountered dire h d a l cüftldties as a result. For example, show after

building an amphitheater in Bolton in 1878,Messr. Charles Adams attempted oo Bnd

lessees fkom the end of May, after his own company finished its winter engagernent at the

building. Only in mid-June did he sucœed in rmting the premises. Shody akmards,

however, he dismantled the a'rcus and sold it Cor parts, presumabiy because he did nor

want to mmunter more financial tisk. Propercies induding "30,000 ker of floortxiards,

16,000 k t of tongued boards, 8,500 ket of pine posû and iafPrs..as weU as, smirs,
doors and windows" were among the items he sold? Meanwhile, in Nortingham, Messr.

Weldon, who erected a circus in that a t y during the pmvious February of 1877, found

that because he was "underdistraint of rent," he had to seii at auction "thestud of horses

That drcus companies were

and properties connected with the e~rablishment.~

constandy going out of business throughout the cenniry did not help marms. According

to the decennial sample, it is dear that afrer 1857, this became a pattem. (See table 2.5)

For the manager who ammpted to get Iessees fbr bis amphitheater or organize a troupe

on his own, this Buctuating pattern hardly helped his amfidence in the business and

pobsibly helped b g the dosure of some buildings. Observlng such "specgcular"

~ about

="A New Ci- for Brighton,"Era, 8 October 1876,9.

="To Builders, T i r dealers, etc,"Em, 4 August 1878,15.

'"Sale of Circus Property," Enz, 2 June 1878,13.

Mures among amphitheater m e r s , Chariie Wth remarked, "it is dangerous [for drcw

proprietors] to dabble in brick and mortar [or wood]."'

R e g a d e s , many did. And this trend had enormous implications in terms ofthe

o v e d concentration of the circus in aisthg buildings, rather than mts,and in dties

and towns, rather than rurai a r a s throughout the caiendar year. Taking ïancashite,which

was the most denseiy covered region for àrcus entertahment,as an example, it is dear

that bemmm 1847 and 1897 the inhabitants of the county's major tmms, notabiy

Manchester and Liverpool, were incrcssingiy arposed to the drcus? the Manchester

a figure which
public had the opporninity of seeing 120 drcus perfi,rmances in 184p,

rose to 134 during 1857. The number of pedbrmances Wer increaseâ to 348 in 1867

largely because of the residency of Franconi's and then Newsome's companies in that city

during this season. The figures dropped over the n a dwee decennïd periods so that by

1887, only 252 performances took place, a figure that further Mi to 204 by 1897.

Liverpool experienced a similar pattern: 108 shows were given in 1867,a figure which

rose to 398 in 1877 iargely b u s e of the Iong-tem residence of Newsome's and

Hengier's in chat aty. hlthough the figure HIdram;itiically to 192 performances in 1887,

it inaeased to 264 during 1897. The pattern of dedine during the last two dccades of the

century in these two aties may have been linked to the aMilability of other similar

32Thesefigures are denved from fmding the number of weeks each Company
perfbrmed in the tom, mdtiplying rhis number by six (since modt troupes performed on
every day of the week except for Sunday) and then, multiplying this figure by two (since
most troupes perfbrmed both during the moniing and evening). Source: Era,
"Manchester,""LiverpooInb r pend between 1847/8 and 1897B.

=E.g.: Batty's performed in Manchester for 10 w&: 10~6~2=120. The lamr two
figures indicate that the circus Perfomed six days a week and twiœ daily (during a
matinee and evening performance). Sunday was the oniy dag in the week that no
performances were given.
 75
entertainments, such as wvariety." These hdin&s conceming Lancashire are r d d in

the data of other populated areas, such as Yorkshire, Wimvidshire and Northumberland

which bliowed a simiiar pattern, aibeit on a smaiier scde, as the appendix shows.

m.
The flow of labor in the circus trade correspondeci to the exigenaes of this

situation. Artists' engagements with the mident Qrcus might last for a week, a mont., o r

an entire season. As such, the artists' engagement with the A

of the amphitheater

was more flexible than with the manager of the tenting troupe. This was iargeiy due co

the iàct rhat the latter had neither the t h e nor the rcsouroes to -gage new talent while

on tour and instead required a constant group of artisçs which perfbrmed in a set

program. To meet the demands of the residency ~pstem~which

required a more active

mm-over of dent, both artists and managers had to use the newiy developing srmcnires

within the worid of commerciaiized entertainment,

Agentr who increasingly emerged h m the mid-185QP h e l p i to fill employment

gaps. This agent systern evolved at a t h e when the integration of a r t i s ~into

~ 6riendly

societies also occurred. In fàct, in the han& of the Dramatic, Equestrian and Musical Sick

Fund, which was established in 1855, the agent system and the fiiendly d e t y were

combined. Both however ;tfkcted artists of the highest tier rather than the rank and file

who could not afford membership fies nor booking fees that might start at 1s. For those

who could afford them, the Agency adverrised in the Era that artists "are respeafully

inforrned that the abow association is ready to transct aii agency business..and dispatch

in an honorable way at reduced charges, the p r d t s of which go into a h d to support

members in sickness and misfomuie? Mier payment of the initial membemhip kes, the
ariist was also obliged to give the manager a percentage of his salary but just how much

of a cut was given is unknown and probably v a r i d acmrding to the araiJt's salary. For

many agents, havuig control of a particular aftiStPscareer provideci than witb a degrre of

Stans and proprietoriai daim, as weii as mon* Mr John of E i e r o y Square in

London went so îâr as to take out an advertisement in the Era that stipulaad that "he is

the only authorized director and manager of Picco [the minsPel and that] any

engagement,contract o r agreement [must bel entend Into wlth...[ him],' suggesting the

degree to which artists, Iike Picco, were both protected by and responsible to a middle-

man.35 W e , on the one hand, the agent provideci protection h m arploitative

empfoyment pfactices, he also,on the other, serveci a> l m whatevet bonds may have

formerly aristed between the circus manager and artist. But this reflected a common

predicament for many other kinds of performers who were di en^ of such agenaes as

those begun by "Arthur Diilion, Dramatic Agent" in Covent Garden o r "MrFranklin's

Drarnatic ~gencf in Manchester in the m i d - 1 8 5 0 ~ . ~

For the rank and fiie mmanbers who couid not f i r d to join an agency, hfbnnal

friendship nerworks provideci information about engagemens, as the previous chapter has

shown. More reüably, howemr, artists, if they were literate, tumeci to the job section of

YnGeneralDrarnatic,Equesaian and Musical Agency," Em, 22 July 1855, 1.

Enz, 14 June 1857, 10;see also "'Piam,The B h d Minsrrei,"Era, 10

35nPicco-N~tice,"
August 1856, 1 0 for an ewmple o f breach o f employer-agent contracts. While Gay claimeci
that thete was a binding contract between him and Picco, the Court ruied that "Piam
couid not be cornpeiied to [consentto if], for he was no party [initially] to [the said
contract]."ALthough it was not mentimeci in the prcps report, the question about how
much Picco, as an Iralian, understood the terms of the agrremmt which were pfesumably
in English might have been an importuit issue in t e m of the outwme of the case.

j6see Tracy C. Davis, Actresses As WOrkfng Wmmm Zkir S o c f a l I w fn VictOtJcln

Culture (London, 1991), 42.
 77
the E r . b r Wrmation about work Charles Haigler, fbr example, was keen to Bnd the

whereabouo of Mr Haywood, the equestrian, JO thac "hecan joui [the troupe at Wfh]

immediately.' Sometimes managers requested that amtes & vistes (or BUiag ouds

with photograph pomaits mounted on than) be sent dong with mms b r employment,

How~rer,some artists cornplainecl that managers were ofkm @tg of Ming to retum the

"cartes even when the stamps have beem provideci h r the purpax? Altematmety, the

performers themselvcs made their time-tabie known to the circus community by

adverrishg in the Era's "jobswanred" section when they were k e to und& a new

engagement with a new manager. As a meam of increasing their maktabiiity, t h q o h

drew attention to the diversity of th& dents. For example, when M. Ozmond and Mdm.

Ozmond placed an advertisernent in the Era ~ 8 t i n gthat they were open to an

engagement for elastic-wire performances9they noted that M. Omiond "cane r r n as a

clown, if needed.- Mr Hogini and his h d y onend an even greater Yariety of skiiis in

their advertïsement which srated that chey, "havingcondudeci a three-year engagement

with Mt Hengler will be at Liberty for an engagement"and "cmperform on the monster

globe, chair, single perch, stiits..and as taiking clowns, jug%iers9tumblers and ~ a u i t e r s . ~

SpeQalty artists often found themselves engaged in a stream of short-term

contra- which suited the residency system. Once their act was seen by one community

and was no longer novel, the artist simply fbmd employment with another troupe

elsewhere. For srample, b e e n 30 June and 20 October 1878, Edwin Croueste, the

--

''Ers, 23 September 1860, 1.

%TheCarte de V i e Nuisance: To the Editor of the Ela," Era, 10 Deamber 1876,6.

39Era,3 October 1858, 1.

''Era, 23 September 1860, 1.

down, worked with six companies: Aaato and AUen's at Sunderland, the Pavllion Circus at

Lincoln, Stoodley and Harmston's at Nottingham, Keith's at Southport, Tournaire and

Reed's at Guemsqr and Charles Adam's at Scubomug&,whichwere all resident

companies4' His engagement at these amphitheaters lasteci fiom one to six weeks.

proof of his popularity, Keich empioyed him for a m w e e k engagement in August, a key

holiday period, in the sort town of Southport. Ar each of the places where he

performed, Croueste was the head of "a powerful army of downs,"as one reporter

observing the Nortingham show cornrnented.o Croueste was in so much demand in this

season that the manager of the Coiosseum Circus at Chelanham attempted to secure an

engagement with him for the following winter season by advertising in the Era in

September that he was needed, dong with Abe Danieis, the musical d m , to complete

the Company w h w e winter season was to begin on 4 November?

The hperative to get novel acts was a central concern a,the resident circus

manager. If managers M e d to accompkh this, as Mrs. Newsome, now the sole

proprïetres of Newsome's, was accused of doing by the CàrlfsfeE x a m i w , they ran the

risk of lming pubiic support.* During the Chrismias season of 1866,a reporter for the

newspaper wrote that he had witnessed Newçome's drcrus twice and comphed:

Era, 2 June 1878, 7; "Lincoh," Era, 9 June 1878, 8;''Nottingham,"Eru,

30 June 1878, 9; "Southport,"Era, 4 August 1878,7; ibid., 11 August 1878,7; "Guemsey,"
Era, 18 August 1878, 6; ibid., 25 August 1878, 7; ibid., 1 September 1878, 7; ibid, 8
September 1878, 7; "Scarborough,"E r . , 29 September 1878, 9; ibid., 6 October 1878, 9;
ibid., 13 October 1878, 8; ibid-, 20 October 1878, 8.

Eru, 15 September 1878,19.

43Wanted,n

"In contras, the Era reporter F e a hvorable review of Newsome's drcus in Carlisle
stating that "the principal novelty has been the pantomime which has gone off remarkably
well ... the patronage and presence of W.H. Hogron, Esq., MX, has been stcoorded to the
establishment during the part weekudted in "Carkle,"Era, 28 Jan- 1866, 12.
 w e have seen ail th& *difbmt*perfi,rmances so o h t&atsome of them
are necessariiy tiresorne a,wirnessBa

importantly suggsting char some patrons w a i t to the drccis more tban once during a

single season. As a consequace of this dtidsm, Mr HairgBthe agent for Mdm.

Newsome, withdrew the company's advertisements h m the Euzmfner. Sevaal opeeks

later, Mr Henry had a change of hearr and allowed new advertisemens to be printed in

the newspaper announcing "an entire change of program. The same reporter lamenteci

upon his r e m to witnes the "new program"that "itamounted ody to a reshufEing...the

season is flat."" The crîtidsm supportai Keith's comment that, with the residency

system, "the visitor fkquents [the amphitheater] more tlmes in a week and he becornes a

better judge of our b u s i n e ~ s -Knowing

~ the importance of f k h n d t i e s and wishing

to cultivate on-goingsupport among his patrons, Mr Transfield promiseci the audiaice on

the opening night ofhis amphitheater in Hyde in 1898 that "therewould be an entire

change of program weekty [loud appiause]."a

The public not only demanded a rapid tum-over of a m at the resident drcus but

also a high standard in th& contents. For this reason, Hunter Mande, "aclassical /ester,"

who had finished an engagement with Myers's American Circus suggested in "a word to

equestrian managers,"a note which appeared in the Era and which huictioned as a "job

wanted" advertisement, that

""Newsome's Circus,"CarIik& B u m f w , 27 Jan. 1866, 3. 1 wish to thank Matthew

Cragoe for this rekrence.

'?l%e Circus and Ourselves,"CarlisGe Examiner, 3 Febniary 1û66,3.

 if [pu]inquire which of aü the downs now tmeihg is most elegam and
-
concise in language most chaste in senpiment, most original in idcas...gou
will find the answer is Hunter Mantle?

Clowns had a particularly ciiflicult time cultivating a p p d since, not only were th&

jokes thought to be "staie," they were also sometimes thought to be rude. Ghen what he

perceiveci ta be the public's increasingiy aiticai and devated rasteç, Quinette caiied fbr

£iil the vacanaes at his Southport amphitheater in the 18ûO~.'~

IV.

i.

The public's positive judgement of the building and of the company that

perhrmed in it was important to the survivai of both. And populat support sometimes

derived h m the belief that the weU-managed amphitheater, as an escdAished part of the

town, conrributed to the common good. It was not unwmmon br m;ryors and other

public dignitaries to preside at opening nights, as the cirrsus proprietor, Chariie Wth,

observed." Furthemore, as a fonn of rational (and cheap) enteminment, the brw was

said to be a needful aitemative to other brins of social intercourse, such as drinking.

Such a comment was made by the Town Councii in 1865 at Middlesborough where, it was

said, "drunkennesswas a besetting

mA Word to Equesîxian Managers,"Era, 26 August 1860,l.

51"Quinette's,nEra, 8 September 1888,20.

'%n Engüsh Amphitheatre,"Era, I l Jan. 1863,10.

""ML Newsome's Circus,"Era, 15 October 1865,l l J t is curious that the paper

mistakeniy rekrred to Mr. rather than Madame Newsome's cirnis.
 it seems fiom the records of misdemeanors that convicticms fbr that o&ce
decRased by 152 cases. It was officiaily staoed that [this] was deady traad
to the coumeracting i d u a i c e of a weiiumducted piaœ of
amusement.-.Newsome's

In sum, Newsome's was "a testimonial to the moral Usefijness of a properfy conducted

a d i i b i t i ~ n .Many
~ years later, Aberdeen's &tes went so fàr as ta honour the Cook

Brothers at a dinner for the sarne reason. The City Corncilman, Wiiiiam Paul, who

presided mer the event believed that

aii would be agreed that it was desirous to wean the people from the
public house [since the drink trade b ever becoming an increasing e d in
this City] and that this could best be done by pfoviding for them iegitimate
and proper enrefEainments such as have been given by the Messrs. Cook in
their ciras.%

Crudely put, well-estabiîshed and "rationalnpublic amusements such as those found in die

concert room, assmibly room and theater, as weU as the amphitheiltier, were o h

consmed by those concemed with proprieîy as important detement h m the public's

enjoyrnent of dnnk, for example.

A decade earlier, the argument was employed by those witnesser appearing before

the Select Cornmittee on Public Houses in 1853. Rev.John Clay, for example, sugge~ted

that in his own community, Preston, there were not enough rational recreations t&at

would produce such desirable enecS. Instead, "thepublic houses are cursing this

p l a ~ e . "Recaliing
~ some curiosity mm chat were set-up in Preston d d e s eariier, he

added that such displays would be welcome again, as they drew together "the poor

"Ibid.

Tbid.

'"~omplimentarg Dinner to the Brothers Coolce,"ara, 3 Feb. 1878,7.

n ~ Cornmittee
~Select , Report on Public Houes, xmwü, (1853),ln.6408.
 82

working man, the worlang dass boy, and the higher classes also? It was thus assumeci

that the existence of such rooms on a permanent or s e m i - m e n t basis provideci cheap

entertainment for a broad range of the public the* discouraging popular participation

in vice-riddm aCtMties. In keeping with Samuel smiled Mef that 'the interests of

capidists and labourers are identical,"many beiieved that the drcus ofked the

community a h a d e s s relief h m work; of course, this was a view that Mr Sleary who

famousiy said that "peoplemutht be amuthed [sic]" also oook*

ii.

But the &cus troupe's tesidencg was not without its problems. In particuiar, peag

jealousies stirred within the performance wmmunity as estabiished theater managers

viewed the amphitheater as a rhreat to their business, dmaccing h m the number of

specmtors that popdateci their own houses. One way of registering this opposition was

through a process of reporthg *informationsnto local magistrates. These "init0nnatio11sn

or cornplaints were cornmonly registered by local theater managers d e n chose theatlid

cireuses presented ciramatic pieces or pantomimes without a stage piay liceme and were

thus, in violation of the Theatre Reguiations Act of f -3. For the theater manager who

was concemed with protecting his local conml over the drama, the reporting of such a

violation was deemed entirely necessacy. While the satute did not appfy to tents or

"Ibid.

wickens,Hard Times, 32,

 83
booths, it could be seen to apply to arnphitheaters which were regmieci as more or l a s

permanent?

In the event of a court hearing both warring W o n s - the managers of the drnis

-
and of the theater were caught up in the d S d t proccss of supplying the court with

proof. Rather than hard evidence, witnesses ofken gave highly-co10red impressions of the

problern surrounding the case. At Sheffield in 1863, the Sanger Brothers found

themselves, iike other cVcus managers of the pexiod, Eifed with the threat of paying fines

for performances that, they b e l i d , lay entirely outside the scope of the 1843 h , 6 '

Their case was initiateci by Mr Pin of the Theatre Rogal who dthem of perfbTII1iZ1g a

stage play d e d Blue Beard without a dramatic liceme. In pleading the case beEore the
Sheffield Magistrates, Mr Branson, the soliator for the plainti& appealed to the court for

the Brothers to pay "asum not exceeding 510 b r every &y" that the law was b r o h .

Importantfy, said Mr Branson, the Sangers' piaœ was no booh nor tent. It was, he

believed, "apermanent building although at present it was ody buiit of wood" and

6aIhe question arose. for example, in Fredericks v. Payne in 1862 and it was decided
that "abooth was not a place"according ta 6/7Vic. c.68. see "TravellingTheatre,"Era, 16
Novernber 1862, 6.

cursory glance through the entmainment section of the provinciai and

6 ' J ~ sa
t
national papers in this p e n d will show numemus other s i m k cases. For example, see
"InformationAgainst the Proprietor of Hengler's Circus,' Em, 14 April1861, 11; "The
Theatre versus The Circus,"Sto&m Her- Soutb Durbarn d CGeueI;arrdAdtiierçtser,27
January 1865, 3; "Stockton:AIleged Infiingement of Act Reiaîing to Stage Plays,"
DarCingtotz Tekgrapb, 28 January 1865, 2; "The Case Againsî die Aihambra," Era, 15
January 1865, 14; "PehnningStage Plays without a License," Era, 28 March 1869,13;
"ApriI- PoweiI's Circus,"Era, 2 January 1870, 2;"What is a Stage Play?," Era, 29 January
1871, 12;%portant Circus Case," Era, 18 June 1892, 15; 'Stage Play at Clrcuses," Eru, 17
December 1892, 12; c f . "Chuses and Dramatic Licenses," EM,3 Deœmber 1892, 12. It is
signincant that many of these cases were brought to court during the ChriPrnias season
when b t h the circus and theater commody pfe~entedpantomimes. Importantiy, most of
these cases were dismissed due to iack of proof.
 84
therefore a threat to Mr Pin's Livelihood because of its lkœd statu^.^ John Lauri, the key

informer who t d e d at the hearing on the side of the plaina, was "a pmotessonai

PantOmimist with thirry years arpaiencenand was ar that t h e , in the anploy of Mr Pitt
Lauri said that Mr Pin had sait him to observe the events in the ring. For the Bench, the

key question underlying the case was "didthe Sangers have a stage on which this

If they did, then the 1843 law might be seen 00 have been
pantomime was perfi~rrned?"~~

broken. That Ïs, the 1843 Act stated that all places of public enterÉainment which

contained stages were theaters and therefore in need of a theatncai liceme if plaps were

pehrmed within their waiis. Upon king asked the question, ïauri responded: "Anytbing

on which you c m perfi,rrn is a s t a g e . The prosecution's soiicitor sarcasticaüy

reuiforced that "'AU the world's a stage' (laughter)? While the performance was

conducteci in a ring fiiied with sawdust, not a stage, it nevertheles possessed aii the

&arameristics of a thearicai pantomime with its transformation scene and music, said

Laun. He fùrther added that aithough there were horses, which made the perfbfmance

seem iike an equestrian spectacie, "the chi& part of the enhibition was the p a n t ~ m i m e . ~

"Could such a performance have taken place at the Theatre Royal? asked Mr Dixon, the

magisuate. lauri responded, '7 don't think our stage is large enough. (laughter)?'

While the case was dismissed because the witness could p d d e no reasonable evidence

6"'Theatrev. The Circus,"Era, 4 January 1863,5.

631bid.

'9bid.

'%id.

'%id.

671bid.
 85
h r the position t h t the Sangers broke the law, Mr Pitt and his infbrmer, Mr Iauri, were

mticized by the SheffieId maghrates for their efforts to proseCute the Sanger Brothers:

1 can ody express my regre...t that Mr Pitt shodd have exhibitecl such a
keling against any pcuty as to try to deprive him of the mcuis of getang an
honest iivelihood.68

E m o t i o d in tone and -tic in pfesentation, the Pitt-Sanger case drew

attention to the extent to which the mident c h u s couid simultaneously stir support and

hostiiity h m the community. This was instructive without being unique. Other

cases arose h m similar situations inwlvhg jeaious theater manages who believed chat

the resident circus infnnged on their le@ rights over spoken drama, For this reason,

sorne circus managers sought to preempt these hostile legai actions by appkying for a

license to perform a pantomime, which containeci dialogue, before the production

iUiam Helby made such an

openeci." At Landport in 1869, for example, Mr Stephen W

application which was immediately opposed by H. Rudey of the Theatre Royai who, iike

Ur Pitt, wished to protect his rights over the spoken drama. Rudey's soliator, Mr Ford,

"contendecithat the gianting of these ficenses to piaces of this description muid be a

most efkcaial mode of lowering the dramaQOHe added that

if this iicense were granteci, it muid make the Theam Royal, which was
weilconducted, take a second rate place and ultimately be brought d m a>
a level with the other places of amusement in the borough. If theg iicensed
this place, where wodd they stop?'<

#For such cases see, "Bolton,"Era, 10 May 1868, 13; "Bolton,'Era, 24 January 1869,
11; "Cooke's Circus,"Era, 12 -ber 1869, 11; "Refusal of a Dramatic Liœnse," Era, 3
November 1878, 4;"CiKiuses and Dramatic Licenses,"Era, 3 Deœmber 1892, 12.

for a Theatrical License for the Circus, Landport,"Era, 27 June 1869, 13.
7m~pplication
 86

The magistrates rejected this argument and granteci the stage play iicense to Helby,
rcasoning char "thiswas a tmun which was g
re
ae extending its population and should

have other places under the supenision of the i&@strate~.~

in such a case, the Liœnse

symbotized more than just the right a> perform stage plays or pantomimes;it represe!nted

the a p p d which the Iegal authorities bescawed on the weii-amducted amphitheater, an

approval which riied many theatrid managers, particuLarïy th- at the Theares RDgal

who wished to hold on to those monopolistic privileges which since 1843 had ben

revoked. This approML was intricately tied to the fact that in many populous towns, like

Sheffield and Landport, local authoritier acceptexi the widespread need for weIisonducted

amusement.

iii.

Wekonducted also implied wekonstmcted. Howewx commodious and

cornfortable these places seerned, some of hem posed a real risk to audiences. The

collapsing of balconies and galleries was not an unlaiown occutrence and h r this reaxni,

managers were particularly keen m reassure their patrons that their buildings were sound

structures and made from quality materiais. Yet,such assurances - even h m respected
and well-known managers - were mere hyperbole when accidents ocnirred. In the event,

manages had to rnake serious repairs to theh buildings, raïse raise& for the relatives of

the injured and dead, as well as answer serious legal charges of negügence. Charles

Hengler found himseif in such a position in Ocmber of 1872 when one pemon died and

at least forty o r n f r y people were seriousty injured anei "oneof the side @des on which
were seated about one-hundredand Mky persons of both sexesnfeil? O&ring a rare

insight h a > (at least part of) a circus audience, the local papas printed a pattiaî list of the

victims of the accident at Hengler's cinrus. They indudeci:

George Booth fbmace man

Thomas Hanson white mecal smith
Jane Hanson (wik) warehouse woman
Angela Gambels ?
EUen Barker ?
MaryAnnPitrlcins scholar
Thomas WOOdhouse ?
W
ill
iam Gould razorgrinder
George Hunt h h salesman
Thomas Grey ?
Mary Grey (daughter)
Thomas Needham
John Breckenbridge
RusseU
Alilan Scott
George H m t
Harry Gillot
Robert Knewwshaw

While most of the viceims sufféred injuries ranging h m "dislocationsof the anklento

"brokenlegs," Robert Knewwshaw died in hospitaî afçer having "sustained a fracnue of the

spine."" Specuiation about what cawd the eofiapse ran high. Accordhg to the

foreman, Richard Beeves, who acannined the building aftu the accident, the hemy min

"Fall of A Gallery at Hengler's Circus, She[ndd," SkfleU Dai& Te&ègmpb,

22
Ociober 1872, 7.

''"Faif of A Gallery at Hengler's Circus, Sheiiidd,"S-eeld Dai& Tekqpzpb, 22

October 1872,7;"Thek c i d m t at Hengier's Circus,"Sbe@dkiDai(Iv Te-qpb, 23 Occ~ber
1872,S;Census of England and W b (bndon, 1871), *Sheffield,"RG10/4681,53;
RC lO/4684,59;RG1O/4684, 62;RG1O/4689, 53; RG/4676,98;RG10/4678,56.

T h e Arcident at Hengler's Circus,"S&@eCd Dai& Te&apb, 23 October 1872,3.

that had recendy fallen caused the wood from which the d e r y was consvucted to " buckle or give

way at the centre."76 The rain had also 'drawn the beuen out of the monice at the foot of the

balcony."" But the fact that the "mortice w u not of niffiicient depth' caused muiy to doubt the

suuctural soundness of the building in the fint place, regarciles of the weather conditions. Puning
fonh its own theory, the Enz reported that

it is believed that [the accident] was the r e d t of one portion of the building rening
on what is known as ' made ground' composed primdy of loose debris and
mbbish."

At the coroner's inquen, one c i r a proprinor called Mr Moore testified that he had been in the

business for twenty five years and that

during that time he had never had an accident of th[is] kind before. It w u his
deliberare opinion that if the circus had been coasuucted according ro rhe
specifications in the plam, the accident would not have happened."

Yet, whatever Moore's professional opinion, Charles Hengler wened thar he, too, had been in the

business for menty-five yeus and had never had an accident of this kind. Furthemore, "he has

had myiy circuses b d t on the same principle as this one?' One local reporter chimed in diat "Mr
Hengler, his family and establishment are weIl-known and on this account considerable sympathy

will be felr for him."' Strangely, the

""The Fatal Accident at Hengler's Circus,"SkfiIdundRotbe~humIndppendent, 28 November

1872,3.

78"AlarmingAccident in a C i r w at Sheffield," Era, 27 October 1872,7.

""The Fatal Accident at Hengler's Cirnû," ShefiIdand RotherhumIndependent, 28 Novernber

1872,3.

'OnFall of a Gallery at Hengler's Circus, Sheffield,' SheffieIdDady Telegrqh, 22 October 1877,7.

"Ibid.
 89
commentator Eiüed to d e mention of what steps were to be taken to help the grfeving

fàmilies o f the victims and instead added that, "[theaccident] bas cast a gloorn over

[Hengier's] present and what promiseci to be a most successfui visit to ShefBdd." Another

reporter M e r stated that "generalcegret will be Mt that so hannless and yet so

interesring a place wül be dased - let us hope oniy temporady - a f k this we&-
Standing in judgement mer the aiminal charges of negligence against Hengler, the jury

presiding over the case at the coroner's inqugt decided that whiie Mr Hender was

innocent, it did behoove hirn and aii other c h u s managers to have th& snuctures

"inspecteciby the Bofough Sumepr or some other competenc officiai before king

opened to the public in order to prevent such accidents for the funw."'13 To be stue,

such orders had, in the future, an impomnt reguiative e&ct that, if fbliowed, helped to

make the circus a more respectable place to visit than it otherwise had k e n .

Not only did buildings have to be properly built Tor structural soundness but they

also had to be properiy rnainrained for fire saf'ety, as wdl as good g e n d upkeep and

sanitation. Amphitheater owners found that the process o f leasing, which was becoming

increasingly common within the circus world, was also ben>ming a mmplicated and tense

affair. in some instances, the lesee compromised the very repuation that so many

amphitheater managers sauggled to attain. To be sure, thce was a risk that the m e r ' s

finanaal invesmient might diminish in d u e . The Sanger Brothers,for example, who

managed Astiey's Amphitheatre went on a Eusopean tour in 1879,leaPing th& buiiding in

the hands of Mr Glover, the actor-manager, who used it to ptesent theatrical pmductions,

induding Miaz@pu, &mru F b y d and May M m ,or % Vfctssftudesof a Ssrclont Girl.

OnTheFatal Acddent at Hengler's Cirrus,"SbeBeCd and Rotberbarn Independent, 28

November 1872, 3.
 90
Whiie the circus managers were away, Thomas Ve&y of the Lord Chamberfain's Offiœ

who was in charge of inspecting the condition of the theams visiteci the house; pcissing

building inspection was a requirement, among 0th- thlnw, for the r e n d of the stage

play Ucense which the amphitheater heldmM

He hiund that since his last visit to the

theater the year before "therehad been no imprwement in the arrangements for...genefal

comfort and conveniencenand specifically indicated that the "publicwater dosets are in a

very bad condition? When John Sanger got back h m his tour, he replieci ta the Lord

Chamberlain's Office by saying,

1 have just remmeci from Austsia to hear with regret that p u had
cornplaints to make rrspcctingAstiey's ...but reallp the neglezt is not of our
own making. W e sublet the theatre to Mt Glover who agreed to keep the
place in chomugh deanlines and repaireM

Were the problems really of GIover's making? As Vedy's report indicated, suggestions for

improvemens on the building had been made by him to the San- one year eariier.

Since the Sanger Brothers did not make the changes he suggested, the building's

probiems were simply passed on to - and possibly made worse by - G1me.r. The Lord
Chamberlain shrewdly responded by suggesting that cwo stage play Lioaises be issued to

-On this point, see John Russell Stephens, Tbe Censmbfp of tbe Englisb Druma,
18241901,(Cambridge, 1980), 13-14.This was made a feQuirement by the Lord
Chamberfain's Office in 1857.Inspection was c o n d u d by the Exarniner who was
accompanied by a surveyor. In the provinces, it was done by the equmalent licetlsing
authorities. By 1878, such insperîions had been delegated to the Metroplitan Board of
Works (MBW) and the Lord Chamberiaïn's Office. There was, howerrw, much wnfirsion
about the M B V s role and it seems Verily phjeci a iarger part at this time in the
inspection of Astley's.

"PRO, LC 7 25,LC Inspection Reports, 15 Septeskm 1879,ktœr to S. P01lsonbg Fane

f&rn Thomas Veriiy.

'PRO, LC 7 25,LC In-Letîers, Letrer h m John Sanger a, the Lord Chamkriain's

Office, Spencer Ponsonby Fane, Comptrokr, 22 Sept& 1879.
 91
the theater, one to Messis. John and George Sanger and the other to dKir tenant,ff In

any case, irnpmvemens had to be made a,the building by the owners if it was a, remain

open and indeed, they were initiateci several years later "at a cost of 56,000, the main body

h apparatus,"said George Sanger into whose han& the house had

of which related to f

Men.pUltimately however his inability a> satisfy the demands of the London County

Council c o m p e k d George Sanger to dose Astley's in 1893,purcing an end to i

s 125 year
existence. Meanwhile, in the provinces, a muniapal impmvement cornmittee u s e

inspecteci theatrid building and amphitheaters and muid recommend 00 the magisaatc

that a stage play license, if the manager heid one, be m k e d in the event the buiiding in

question did not meet safèty and hygiene d e s . Aitemativeiy, if it did not hold a stage

play license, the building could stül be mndemned or temporady dosed on public health

grounds, as occurred to Mr Pinder's Circus at Merthyr TydPiI in 1869.- Whether the

owner of the buiiding occupied it himself with his own cornpany or leased it, he Eacêd

important responsibilities not o d y to himseif but the community around him,

responsibilities which were enfbrced by reguiative bodies.

iv,

The "invisiblecircusn- which occupied no fOrmal residence and lacked an

approved s a t u s within the comrnunity - was regardeci diikrentty. Ia appeafanœ sparked

concened attempts by I d householders, particulariy a h the 1880s,to expel it h m

vacant pieces of Land. Commoniy m n n d wich "IOW exhibitors,"and "gypsiesnof the

@'PRO, LC 7 27,LC In-Lmers, Letter from WH to the Inrd Chamberlain,

recommending that two Licenses be issued.
 92
day, as weli as the "sturdy begaars" and "stroiiingminsttels*of previous centuries, the

members of the "invisibleairus"raised public doubts and fears about lawlessnes and

immorality. George Smith (of Coahrille), a brmer brickyard manager, ctianneiied diis

sentiment into a fbrceful legislative drive, intaidecl to secure the circumspectlon of

travellea and their nornadic Lihrstyle." Whiie Smith's campaign wiîî be deait with in the

next chapter, the cornplaints of wmmunities, particulariy throughout metropoIiran and

suburban London, illustrate the extent to which the public's attitudes oowards the c h u s

were shapeâ iargely by c o n t a . In general, cornplaints were rrgisrerrdwith the

Metroplitan PoLice by local propertyholders who feared that the "invisibleci.rcusn

threatened the good of the neighborhood in sePeral di&rent ways.

One man in Kilbum asserted that as a consequeme of a showman's prrsence in his

area, property values were sure to decline. He cornplaineci of noise and paraicularly "an

organ which is dreacihi...[since it) continuaify plag[s]...the same tune mer and over

again." The police officer at the Paddington dmsion atcending the cornpiaint srated that

Mr Tyler reporteci that he spent a lifk's savings in the purchase of two

hoW... which would be worth S50 per annum but owning to the shows
only reaLised S3O each per a n n d '

W.J. Sherlock, the superintendent h m the Finsbury division, noted that "these

lstyled gypsies reside in camvans which are drawn up on waste or uncioseci spus...and

hold exhibitions ofMnous kinds...which ofkn continue for some days."" Implicidy a

"PRO, HO 45 A33890123, Home Office Files, X Division (Paddington), Police Report

from Thomas Madxr, insp., 5 May 1884.

q R O , HO 45 &3890/14, Horne Offiœ Files, G Division (Finsbury), Police Report f h n

WJ. Sherlock, 2 May 1884.
 93
distinction was k i n g drawn between the legitùnate and "visibledrcus" and the "invisible

one." That is, as one Metropditan Poiice Report stated,

The shows [belonging to the "invisiblecircusn]stop in such positions for a

week or more at a rime and they di&t in that respect h m the ordinary
travelling circus or menagerie which only stops br a day or two and then
m w e s to another place?

On this point, Sherlock lamented, that "the police have no p m r to in- in this

matter? However he suggested that

a k e shodd be extracteci fior a license; and the loml authority shouid have
power to stop such shows or exhibitions after they opened if they proved
to be a nuisance.*

Such a license, it was argued, wouid have the benefidal efkct of estabkhing how much

time the troupe intendeci to rrmain on the land it occupied. This was important since
"these [unticenseci] parties..sometimes remain for rnonths...[and in the process] are

responsible for ruining the mords of young people? Another superintendent counted

three places in his division of Cambemell where "personsof [the itinerant showman]

ciass reside in -vans which are resorted to by children and young people at night??

Couchhg their arguments in terms of protecting the cornmunity's children h m moral

corruption, such authonties hoped that these enteminment9 rnight be discouraged. Yet,

"PRO, HO 45 A33890/14, Home Office Files, T Division Speciai Repon, 2 March 1884.

%PRO, HO 45 A33890114, Home Office Fiies, G DMsion (Finsbury), WJ.Sherlock, 2

May 1884.

"PRO, HO 45 A33890/14, Home Office Fiies, R Division (Greenwich), ChM.,

superintendent, 2 March 1884.

"PRO, HO 45 A33890/14,Horne Office Files P Division (Camberwtll), signature

unknown, 2 Mar& 1884.
 94

these obsenntions and suggestions for more stringent policies for dalLig with itinerant people

conflicted with the advice given by the Home Secretary, William Harcourt, who called for a statu

quo. He argued that "ch;ldren in their humble amusementn ought not to be d h b e d , a suggestion

that was given expression in a police or&r of 28 April1885. His position stemrned from the beiief

that

the showmen...unlike the gypsies who may be found guilty of violation of the
law...contribute to the innocent entertainment. of those who have too few means
of enjoyment to reiieve the monotony of labour and of life and who m o t afford
the c o d y amusements which are open to their more fornuiare neîghbors?

Within this discussion wu an inherent disagreement about the extent to which itinerant showmen

were seen Y bad for the physical and moral well-beiq of the community. For those ntepayers and

others interesred in expelling itinerants from their neighborhoods, it was qreed that the Iack of

legal endement given to the police to deal with showmen was a problem. Although powen were

never explicitly created for this purpose, the idea that the "invisible &cusW ou& to be and could

be brought within the scope of the law w u an important outgrowth of the system which had

almdy brought the "visible circuswwidiin its grasp. Seen from the point of view of some

onlooken, there was s t i l i much work to be done in terms of the inregration of the 'invisible cirrusn

into respectable society.

v.

The creation of a controlled space wu a key factor in the development of the

modem circus. As the cenniry went on, most circuses found rhis controlled space within

9 P R 0 , HO 45 A33890/25, Home Office files, from WVH, Secretary of State, Home

Depanment, 6 November 1889.
 95
the con= of the arnphitheater which was a stark mntrast to the Wlagp green"of those

days gone by. The rise ofthe resident drarr which ernerged h m this development

helped to bring about rnany changes in the way the circus and rhe community inmacted.

One important change oawrrd with respect to labor arrangements. UnWoe the tenting

cïrms which maintaineci an idmtid program and cast througbout one season, the

resident company relied on a mmparatively high turn-over of talent, a fkt which had

important impiications in terms of employment opportunities fw artists. In tum, the

public came to demand d e t y in the program, a d e c t i o n of the gmwing appetite for

this kind of cornrnerdal enteminment. Just as the drcus program and perflormers needed

the public's approval, so tao did the building chat the Company occupied. Throughout

the cenniry, the resident cinw found iself faced wirh new regulatio~ls
which retated to

theatrical Licensing, structural soundness, fhe safcry and sanitation. The cornpanp"~
abiiity

to respond positiveiy to these new danands s e d a> b ~ the

g circus within the scope of

respectable Society. In the process of this development, the d e d 'invisible circus' was

seen as an inaeasingly menadng part of the community and mnoened attempts were

made to regulate it, as well, by the end of the cenniry.

 CHAPTER THREE

1. Insoduction

In May of 1870,Wüliam Mitchell, a clown, relinquished an engagement with Mt.

t p e h m in his circus in Leamington. Mitchell

G i ~ e t to ut sick and returried to his
native Nottingham in order to recwer his health. With no means of support and "his

fiends king few," he b u n d shelvr in a workhouse and slept there for nearly six weeks.'

On 22 June, he "raised himseIf and tried to dress but he was too kebie and fiAl back cm

his bed as a corpsen at the age o f 53 yearsO2Mitchell's case was instructive without king

unusual. Many circus perbrmers were famikr with poverty and as such many h d that

their 1 s t place of rehge was the workhow. Yet, this endpoint was not UnmeLSaUy

shared. The historid record does show that some players were luckier than others.

Some received help h m within the drcus pmbsion t b u g h a flexible,ad boc w e l f k

system which took two basic fbrms. The fOrm of help which was the most ffmiliar was

the benefit night, a naditional practice inhericed h m the theater at which the proceeds of

the performance were given to a particuIar neeciy member of the company? On these

occasions, the theater, its amenities and staE were (in theory) pfovided fke by the

'"Death o f a Circus Clown,"Era, 3 July 1870,6.

The subject o f help within the nineteenth century performance world is

underresearchecl. The rwo key recent that adcires theatrical w e k (widdy nefineci)
are the bllowing: Peter Bailey, "A Cornmunity of Friends," 33-52; Tracy C. Davis?Actresses,
has a section on Gendly society schernes for acaesses. See a h her d e , "Victorian
Charity and Self-Help for Women Pehnmers," 22watm Notebook, 41 (1987);For a non-
academic smdy on welfare in the theater, see T.St. V i t Tmubridge?B e
System in fbe bedtisb Zbeatre @andon, 1967).
 97
manager to the benefidary (or a rrpresentativeof the benefiday) who then hostcd the

performance. The second form ofad boc theatricai welFarr or heip used for Wing the

ailing artist's coffers was the nsubsaiption,"when sympathetic groups or individuals

wnaibuted to a "get-wellnhind N o part of this welfue &a was buiit upon solid

founâations m e r . Instead it conaacted and expandeci and mmmody heiped those

who were well-known and iiked by the members of the perfbrmance community, as the

filst part of this chapter will demonstrate.

The pfactices of "help"(dehed throughout this chapter as reiief or protection

from hardship or unjust cirmmstances) changed as the cenniry progressed. Inspireci bg

the midcentury self-hefp movement, some members of the prokssim sought more

rational and sauchired help d e m e s than the ad boc system codd O&, as the second

part of this chapter will discuss. The Dramatic, Equestrian and Musical Fund and, kater,

the Van Dwellers Association served as workers' associations that were designeci to

promote indusuy, thrift and respectabüity, three key quaüties aiat defined seKhelp.

Organization had the efkt of Linking groups not belonging to the circus togethet wirh

the circus; in the case of the Dramatic, Equestrian and Musical Fund, the theatricai and

musical trades were d i e d to the circus; in the case of the Van Oweiiers Association,

itinerans who ran roundabouts and s t e m engines at fairgrounds were associateci with

the arcus. Each group had common interests to protect and thus a mutual identity

developed. But this came at a price, namely the d u s i o n of the poor drcus performer,

such as William Mitchell, who could not aFfOr-dmernbership to the organization and who

was effectively lefi outside an ot&anized mutuai aid sodety that promoced wotkets'

independence h m charity. Thus, the circus baame increasingly suati£iedb r n the mid-

nineteenth cenhiry onwards and the lowest and the highest within its intenial hieracchy

grew further a p m in social and profksiond terms. In tum, the connections bcrween the
 98
highest ranks of the circus and im allieci trades, such as the musical and theatricai ones,

tightened. The developmmt of se&help schunes, therefore, as this chapter ciem~~~~trafes,

had a profound impact in the oqpnization of the circus and the formation of a trade-

based identity.

II.Chatitable Acts

i. mamgers and actists

I t is a vuth u n i v e d y adaiowiedged that absence makes the h m grow fonder.

Cerrainly when we consider the reiatïonship between managers and arQcs thip can be

seen to be borne out. The manager's desire to alleviate the artist's (and his hmîlfs)

plight was often stmngest when the artist died and when his fàmily needed Bnandal help

with burial ~ 0 6 6outstanding

, debt and prwisions for the niture. Trading on the pubhc's

sympathy, the manager calleci attention to the needs of the poor a m ' s h d y in an eeOrt

to rouse help.

With much to gaui and Littfe to lose if the hanciai b d e n was shared, managers -
particuiariy in bndon - found tbemselves joineci in a c011llllondesire m aid distressed

artisa and their Eunilies, a desire which was aided by spatial proxhity. Frederidc Neale

of the Pavüion, Mr Lane of the Britannia, Messrs. Nelson Lee and Johnsonof the City,

and Mr Douglas of the Standard Theatres - aü of whom manageci theaters in the West

End - demonsnated such clannish support in 1856. Together t h q solicited the help of
their companies in an attempt to raise a subsaiption b t would AOWthe late harlequin,

Mr wlliam Chadton, a decent burial, that haIlmark of respectability. According ho Neale,

 1 undertook the responsibility of arranging with the undertaker and the
body was removed h m the wotkhouse on Thucsday moming to a
relative's, there to await the fimeral.'

He added that the fimeral which was held at Stepney Church five days afkr the

harfequin's death was "respectable." The bliowing day, a gentleman associaoed with the

Fielding Fund, which was possibly connecteci to the Fielding Cl&, d e d at hi9

residence. T was not at home when he d e d "but remembered that "he left a note
stating that he had lefk three sovereigns with Mr Searle of the City of London Theatre for

the use of Mrs Charlton.n6 The gentleman h m the Pund not o d y wished a> alleviate hks

Chariton's immediate distress, but he endeavored "to procure for her h m the same fund

five shillings per week for some period"which was done.'

Mrs Charlton, like most wives of deceased clowns, was a needy aid recipient.

Accordhg to many contemporaries, the d m ' s occupation was a parricufarly lm-payirig

and unstable one that rende& the performer and his fàmiiy members iikeiy andidates

for poverty in tirnes of distress. Charlie Keith said that the "typicai"d m earned f3 a

week - a figure that slightiy underestimated the sums that appeared in the bliowing
weekly salary List, possibly h m Charles Hengler's cirnis in Liverpool in the late-1870sor

early 1880s:

- - - -- --

'"The Late Harlequin, Mr Charlton,"Ba, 3 August 1856, 14.

The Fieldhg Club was a d i n ~ . gclub, estabiished in 1852, which had late-night
Eàciiities that catered to those actors who wanted to get th& dinner a k r the evenïng's
performance. As today, performances a cenhirp ago g e n e d y ended at 11:00 pm. The
Fielding Fund to which Neale dluded was ràised in all Iünllhood by members of this Club
but this conneaion is tenuous at this present stage of m y research. For a disamsion
about theatrid club ME, see Michael Baker*Tbe Rfse of t h VictOtlCUt Actor (bndon,
1978),72, 166.
 Table 3.1: Saiary List of Clowns d a t e 1870s/eady 1880s'

Neddy Vokes, &MO

Prossini (Ginnen's Circus), E4-W
Frau Greville rutor's Cirw), E3-û-û
Tom Hall, monkey act, i5-15-10-0
St. Leo and T a o , gymnast and clown, vudor's Circus), f8-û-û
(for both)
W.Mardiews (Cirque Scarboro),t4-10-0
Bros. Nap[?] (Quinette's Cirw),tl2-W (for the group)
Fred Lemaine (Powell and Clarke's), E3-10-0

Ln cornparison to the company's trapeze urisr,Bonsdo Demon, who eamed ll5-û-O a week, or the

tumblers, George Teru and F a ~ ywho

, together earned Q5-û-û a week, the clown was indeed the

lowest on this pay List? Furdiemore, since the clown's work was based on week, month or

seasonal engagements, he had no long-rem contracnul connections and therefore had no guarantee

of a steady salary. For those who were forninate enough to arrange consecutive engagements with

various companies, as Crouene did when he performed with six different ones between 30 June and

20 October 187S10,it w u possible to prevent hardship. Seen from a more suiguine perspective, the

g0wt.h of commercialized enterrainment provided many employment oppominities for the

talented. Many clowns (and other versatile urins) thus found engagements in music halh and

theaten, as weil as cireuses. Such opportunities were most common during the Christmas season

when clowns were in great demuid for the pantomimes that flooded the London and provincial

nages. But the fluid synem of engagements sornerimes had adverse effects on the circus clown,

parriculvly when comics from music h d nages adopred

'CFA, salary Ln,possibly for Hengler's Cimis Liverpool, clate 1870s-1880s.

%id.

loseepages 77-78for a reference to Croueste's engagements during rhis season.

 the unprokssional practiœ of accepting engagements h r th& own Une of
business and giving their services as clown btee or for an extm altle...when
they fèeI funny, not thinking at the time that they were ddng anything
detrimental a> the [circus dm's] w&ue..hephg the kglama0 and
profksseci downs out of engagements and bringing down mes.LL

T'us, by ofkring to perfOrm as downs 'for frec or an extra aifie,' music hall vrlsts

threatened to make the circus down redundant. The situation, which was also ardcuiated

by Mayhew's street down in an earLier chapter, was made worse by the Eict that the drcus

d o m ofmi made more money h m stage engagements than fiam c h u s ones and

therefore had much to lose h m this wunpmfessionalpraeaice' among mmic artkts.

we have seen, the one who secureci a music hall aigagement could cun betweai 58 and

£12 per weekU Exna expenses proved to be an added drain on the drcus down's small

and unstable incorne. In tenns of his costumes, the Qrcus clown had

two kinds [ofdothing] to purchase - pecforming dresscs and ordi<iarg

-
wcving apparel and through imhg to attend the drcus and often
practice in the latter,they get soileci by the dirt.... dust, and whiting rhat is
ever to be hund in a c i r c ~ s , ~

As a consequence,said Keith, these &arments did not last "onequarterof the time of those

Ln te=
of a private indi~idual."~~ of his üvùig mnditions, drcus iïfk demandeci that he

had to travei h m venue to venue. The fact is,"observeâ =th, "his lodgings in the

course of a year owing to his continually h g to shifi about cost amsiderably more
 102

than the rental of a h o u ~ e . "H~i s~peripatetic existence is important here not just b u s e

it added extra expense to his weekiy bills but also because it prevented him hom

estabiishing communal ries with neighbors, ties which might prove h a n e in times of

distress. The pattern of residency, which came to dominate the circus worid, made! this

problem particularly acute since the performer's short-term connections to the cornmunity

meant that he might pass through the rown as a mmplete unknown. Furthetmore, @en

his limiteci engagement with the Company, he was less lihly to be co~sideredas a put of

a 'Wf'in the way he might with the tenting wmpany. Self-relianœ was therefbre key

Yet, in times of trouble some managers did step brward in or&r to aiieviate

extreme hardships which these players faced, as W

rll
iam Cooke demonstrateci during the

illness of Tom Barry,the down. In March of 1857 Cooke, as manager of Asdey's, hostied a

benefit for the anist by granting the fke use of his rheater and inviting such members of

the profession as "Harry Boleno and his pantomime fien& Mr Tanner and his troupe of

dogs, and Mr Ross, the singer"to perfbrm at it? W h m Barry's lllness wolsened and the

clown died the foliowing we& other managers biiowed Cooke's orampk. Pablo Fanque,

for example, exxended the hand of fkiendship to Barry's widow and held a benefit at his

amphitheater at the AUied Circus in BradEOrd in her husband's name. Using die Era's

offices to transmit the money he earned h m this evmt, Fanque enciosed LI0 worth of

post office orciers behg the pmfit of the benefit

1 should have been better pleased bad it k e n more,but it was the dose of
a very d d season."

'qbid., 43.

16"TheLafe Tom Barry," Eru, 19 April 1857,12.

"Ibid.
 103
Barry's widow "e!xpTeSSed her grateful thanltsnbut not aU widows s h d the same m g

of gratitude, however, when th& domestic a&cs wexe bmught 00 the public's attention.

Several years afrer coming to the aid of Mrs Barry, Hamy Ehleno was met with a differrnt

response h m Franciska Flexmore d e n he atœmpted to organize a baefit fw the latter's

deceased husband, Richard Flexmore, the beloveci down. Upon hearing of the earty death

ofFlexmore,who died of consumption at the age of 38, Boleno soiidteci the help of E.T.

Smith, the manager of Dniry Lane, in a public letîer tn the edimr of the Era:

1 know Mr E.T. Smith with his usuai kindness of heart, will do dl that he
can to let the Theatre Rogal, Dnirg Lane, for so charitable an object at the
most reasonable terms."

Since FIextnore was said to have a "nobleand genemus dispositionnwhich made him "a

n e v e r - W g fiend o f any unfortunate pantomimist who requinxi the aid of his piu~e,'it

was thought that such suppon would be fbrthcoming." But Plexmore's wik, Francisk,

was outrageci chat Boleno had faüed to consult her about his desire to arrange a benefit in

her deceased husband's name- ffad he done so,"I should have abandoneci such a

proposal at once,"she replieci in an editorial letter to the Era that appeared the fOU0pping

week? For her, the benefit night that Boieno wished to organize threateoed her

respecrability, making her seem dependant. The appearance of coping, as w d as the

pmctice ofcoping,was proof of one's respectabiiilcg. mus, it stood to reamn that

Franaska's deknsive statements were best eqxesed public@in order 00 remedy whatever

public shame Boleno was responsible b r creating. "Happily 1 have no ne& for any

"'To the Editor of the Era," Era, 26 August 1860, 10.

'S)eath of Flacmore, The Clown,"Era, 26 August 1860, 10.

Editor of the Era,"Era, 2 September 1860, 10.

 104
assistance at present," she stated in her letter? Furthetmore, since Boleno reveaied in

his letter that Mrs Flexmore was responsible fbr the cwe of the 0 t h Mrs Elexmore, the

clown's mother, the widow added, "as regards m y mother-in-law, 1 have se#led an

aliowance [upon her] that wiii keep h a mmfDrtabIe during her liferime? This daim

must have strudr the "kind6iends" of the elder Mrs FIexmore as suspidous sime they

were, as iate a s 1864, giving her weekty donationsP These fiiends included Mt C.

Burton and Mr Cave of the Olympic Theatre,Thomas Barton, an auctioneer, Miss Eiiza

Arden and Miss AUessandri, Mr Reuben Leslie, and Mr and Mrs Angel of Roeenthai and

Taylor's Opera and Burlesque Co.,who thus demonstrateci mncem and respect not only

for the beioved down,Richard, but also for his mother. Thomas Barton ho@ that by

publiazing this subscription (which amounted to 51-04 per annum) in the Era, 0th- in

the prokssion might follow suit "In remembrane of poor Di& Ftexmore and the old

woman [now80 and infirm]."n Seen h m Franciska's perspective, hmmer,

respectability and diarity were m u W y incompatible. Cleariy, however, she and her

mother-in-law had different p i n s of view on the subject.

The oniy heip that Franciska was prepared to reœive invoived a scheme pro@

by several gentlemen to erect a manorial to Flezmore at Kimsail-green cemetery? The

h that 56C12sdd was raised h m

plan was reaiized in Febniary of 1862 thads to the f
 10s
the "Flexmore Monument Fund? Standing nine fcct and six inches hîgh on a pedesd

with "four masked heads, representing Pagedy, comedy, on one si&, and music and

poetry, on the other,"the monument was undeci in a cerrmony that wu attendeci by

many menbers of the theater and circus world. The monument had an inscription which

read "ùi memory of Richard Flexmore Ga- -

who died August 20,1860 'A klluw of

infinite j e t ' - Shakespeare?

Kindness h m within the mariagerial community was not ody demonstrated by the

giWig of money raised h m benefit nights or subscriptions a> the deceased's Eimlly. Ihe

manager also declared his k i i n g s of bonbomh to the artist by taking in his chilchen and

instrucring them in the d e that their tàther, now dead, was inopable of teaching. This

had profound importance in a profession that typically reiied a the sysam of hmily

apprenticeship. Such acrs of benevolence were appredated by the hmUy of Mr Charles

Watson, the "HibernianCiown and Amencan Jester." Like W

ill
iam M i t c h d and Richard

Fiexmore, Watson died young - at the age of 30 - of amsumption and left his W y

penniless alter a "longand painfui iiiness? Afkr Mr ECimbar of the Theatre Rogal,

Portsmouth had "genemusly..superintended the h e r d arrangementsnand also set up a

subscription hind for the family, the Messrs. Sanger took on "the two boys [belonmgto

the deceased] as apprentices? Aacording to the Era, such an acr of "prompt

kïndnas...does the [manageml honour?

*"The Flexmore MonumengnEru, 9 February 1862,4.

nIbid,

""Death of an Equestrian Clown,"Era, 21 July 1861,10.

Tbid.

qbid.; c.f. chapter 5, "Childtenof the Ringn.

 106
Clearly the artist's eariy death aeated sympathy within the p e f i m c e

community. This raises important questions about the name of sympathy and attitudes

towards death in this period. The ubiquitous nature of anisumption did not hii ail aamacr

sympathetic responsg hom this community which knew wbat it was hke to k in squdid

and damp quarters. Life threatening ilinesses arguabfy promoted mrnmunity and

The temporarily si& artist amaaed l e s sympathy h m the manager than the fi-

Eàted or deceased one. Customarily, unless the perfOrmer became sick as a result of an

accident at work, it was not the manager's responsibility a, provide assistance for the

artist and his famüy. Edward Tate, an equestrian in Jim M p i s ' s drcus, leamed this lesson

the hard way when he brought the manager to court in order to recover £8-154 for

wages and expemes lost during bis illness. But at the hearing,

Mr Ducrow, Cooke, Pablo, and 0th- equestrian mamgers of celebrity were

d e d and proved that... it was not u s d to pay pehnners or any other
servants during illness, unles the sickness amse through accident in the
performance of duties?

As a result, the d e k won. The outcome ofthe case demonsttated the extent to *ch

the prformer was minerable in the hce ofmishrnine. it also underiined the distinction

ktween charity which, as the previous examples indiate, was unsoliami by the

performer and W e r M y , on the one hanci, and compensation, which derived h m

the notion of equity and was thus demanded by the petformer, on the other. in the event

3LForbackground on attitudes conter-g charity, see MJ.Daunton, "Poor Relief and

Charity" in h p s s and Poverty: An E n i c and Social Histoty of Brltan, 1700-1850,
ed. M.J. Daunton (-rd, 1995) and his e9say, "Housiag"in Cambrfd' SocialHfstory of
Brltain, -1.2 %ople and their Envin,nmentsw,edited by F.M.L Thompson (Cambridge,
1990);also see Anna Davin, îhruing Up Poo+:Wome, ScbooZ, Street h d k m , 187û-I914
(London,1996) for insight into the community and the reiationship among neighbors
during times of distress.

32"JimMyers and His Stud Groom,"EPW,3 J d y 1859,15.

 107
the manager wanted a, adopt a sympathetic poiicy and help deviate the performer's

condition, he might provide an aiiowance for the artist - espedally if he hoped the art&
might remah in his company.

in other cases, the manager might aiso take such a stance if the unfbmmate

pehrmer was k e d with a Lk

i of permanent h k n i t y , as was the case h r Rochez,

another clown. R o c h e z benefited h m a subscription that was raiscd in his name bp

Charlie Keith and that was fundeci by membas ofthe probion on the Continent, where

Keith was performing at the time. Keith was apdogetic that his fieuow arciscs'

contributions could not be more: "thegivers are, however, foreigners [and are]

unacquainted with Mr Rochez, but [thq] are ever ready to assist a brother ardst whatever

his nationality.*' Whiie Keith alone contributeci fil-2-6, butteen of the members of the

Company he was with in Cologne gave £50-0. Another Gemian company to which mth

tumed Cor help raiseci a totai of 52-0-0 for Rocha's h d . " Helping han& wac hardly

extmded to ail since managers and MOW

artists gave aid 00 those who were popular and

they did not offer it to those "Iesser"downs, such as Mitchell.

ii. managers in need

At the ocganizational mot ofthe ad boc w e k schernes was, in many cases, the

manageriai community. As we have seen, the manager piayed an important mie in

soliciting help fimm his artists and feiiow managers. But he, tw,
encountered crises and

at such times he found that what he did unto othem was often redprocated. In certain

cases,the treatment he received not only afkcted him, but also his hmily, as the Cook

Funny Rochez, the Clown,"Era,12 October 1873,7.

33"T..inle

%id.
 108

Brothers dixoverd in M d of 1861. At rhis M e , they found thUr circus in Plymouth - given ro
them by their farher, William Cooke,senior - demolished by a fire that 'originated in one of the

stablesnand reduccd the "wholebuilding to a mas of ruins" in lm than an heur?' Upon heving

of the desmaion, Thomas h e u , an hotel keeper, issued a plea to the hotel-keeping community.

Appeving in the editorid pages of the Era, it rated: "few men have conuibuted to the revenue of

the principal hotek throughout Great Brirain more &an Mr Cooke." It wu thus

their duty..JO remm him [and his sons] a kLidness..A purse raised among them
and other kind uiends might do much to defiay the heavy losses these two young
men bave sustained [in]...their Gm year of managunent.'7

Nat only did the inn-keeping community feel solidarity with mauagers because the latter gave them

business, they also felt this way because many within their community once belonged to the ùrcus

profession as Alphonse Esquiro, a traveller with an EngLsh circus observed in 1861. He stated that

"theselow lodging-houses oken situated in obscure corners of villages [where circus companies

=y] ...are genedy kept by ex-acrobatswho know the visitors.""

Inspired by Kinnear's lmer, a bill-sticker in Staleybridge wrote a public letter which

appeared in the Era the foilowing week, soliciting help fiom his fellow

sticken...who ought to do something to assist the Messrs. Cooke in this hour of

need, seeing that many of h e m have been employed by these

""GreatFire at Portsmouth: Destruction of Cooke's Ciras," Esa, 10 Much 1861,lZ.

""Denniaion of Cooke's Ciras - To the Hotel Keepers of Great Brirain," Enz, 17 March 1861,
11.

j'Ibid.

The Englirh At Home, (London, 1861). i, 334.

38AlphonseES~UÙOS,
 gmtiemen...who always conduct themsehrrs iike gentlemen tuwards those
they employ"

Sening the example within his wmrnunity, the Sealeybriâge man donateci "thirtypostage

smnps for the above object," humbly "begging to inscribe mgself, aithough a bill sticlm,

One That Can Feei For AnothecW

It was dear that Mr Batty of M e y ' s was reading the Em in diose weeks bllowing

the £ireor perhaps talking to sympathetic manbers of the theatrical community. He thus

stepped brward and ofired his amphitheam - once managed by Cook, senior - to the
Messrs. Cooke for heir benefit night, One good tum led to another. A . such as

"Messrs. Buckstone, JLToole, Widdicombe, Johwon, Charles R Phillipr, W.Eburne,

Arthur Leclexq, Mesdames Rebecca I s i x ~ Maria

~, Simpson, Louise Mercq, Kate Mn

and others offered their services grut& and Wed up the program for the Cookes'

bcnefit." (see diagram 1: program, 1861) Jikpressing his pmbund thadcs ta the

petformance community,W
ill
iam Cook.acknowledged on this occasion

those ladies and gentlemen who have so readily and kindy assisted us in
carrying out out bill ofhm; the Managas who have kindiy permitteci their
attendance; Mr W i
lliam Batty for the frpe use of the theatre [ch- h m
the audience]; and the Gas Company for th& supply [ofgas to Light the
theatre] fkee of charge-"

Bonds of friendship which the manager secured with the pubfic were just as

important as those which he secuRd with members of the pmfession. Withoutaudiences,

s*bc-kf~
it was obvious that the benefit night muid faii. Like the arrists, manage13 bill

- -

-"The ïate Destruction of Cooke's Circus,"Era, 24 March 1861, 11.

'OIbid.

"W.H. and W.Cooke's h e f i t at AstIey's Amphitheatre,"Ers? 14 April 1861, 10.

Urbid.
 110
and hotei keepers, the Qrcus-going public o h e x p d sympathy oo those managas

who,on previous occasions, took the time and made the &rt to support those membas

of their wmmunity in need.

üi. the community and the circus manager

From the manager's point of view, the relatimhip between the circus and the

public was crucial if his Company was to sgure a respectable reputation. Philanchtopy

designeci to aid widcrws, orphans, the sick, the elderiy, and the idhm was one way of

attracting the public's sympathetic attention. In this respem, the circus was sem as one

among a whole host of institutions that acteci locally in order to provide help to those in

need and, as such, arrracfed wide support? Nation-wide crises,Tor example, prompteci

the circus to perform charitable a m . In Manchester, for erample, in April 1854, when the

Queen deciared a &y of national humiiiation in honor of the soldiers inmlved in fighting

in the Crimean War, Messrs. Stone and Newsome's circus hosted a benefit fbr the wives

and children of these men. So too did the Churches in London. While Messrs. Stone and

Newsome iaised £20, the C h d e s collecteci %62U, signifying the Parety of cultural

channels through which phiianthropy was funnelied (as w d as the capcibiiities of each

institution at fund-raising).

In a relateci way, hmpitals and asylums fkanued prominentiy throughout the

century as recipients of cïrcus aid. As benefàctors, managers often secured good relations

with the community they aided, a fact which helped to fo* their respectable image.

Sometimes these efforts took the Conn of bendt nights which were popular events with

UJoseHarris, Prfvate Lives, Public Spiri: Brftufn1870-1914 (Landon, 1993), 198.

Circus in Fountain Street," Malzcbester Çourfet., 29 Apd 1854,7. Many &a&

to Matthew Cragoe fbr this rekrence.
 111
the general public. In November of 1859,when Beii's Circus h d a baiefit night in

Manchester, the Era asked, uwheredo aLi the people corne One of the most

disthguished members of the audience was the aty's Mayor, Ivie Mackie, esq., undex

whose patronage rhe performance was given. The sum iaised frwi it 540 - - was put in
the cofkrs of the Royal InfÙmary. Similarly, S d o w ' s Circus was met with popuiac

approvai in 1864 when the company gave a night's proceeds to the Cottage Hospiral in

Durham, whase "friendschiefly consisted of the working dases who are the perscms

interested in [thehospitai's] s u c c g ~ .Whiie

~ ~ they composed most of the patrons in the

audience on that evening, they were also accompanied by Messrs. C.Trotter and W.

Richardson, two local dignitaries. The sum raised was £134-0. Ar both Bell's and

Swailow's cireuses, the managers each took it upon themselves to present hmaily th&

donations to the Treasurers of these institutions at the end of the performance, a p t u r e

of showmanship that made the most of public approval.

Sometims acts of charity were met with a iess enthusiastic response. During the

Chnsunas Season of 1861, h r example, Mr Pinder asked the Montrose Magistmtes to h d

their support to his circus since he proposed a benefit h r the local Soup Kitchen in

Montrose. Their vague response led Pinder to issue bills with the words "underthe

patronage of the Provost and Magisuates."" The situation was darifieci by the

Magistmtes when

45"Manchester:BeU's Circus,"Era, 13 November 1859, 12,

46"Swdow'sCircus,"Stockton W e r M Soutb Durbm und CGeuslirtLd Adue?tiset, 9

Decernber 1864,3.
 two Baillies, actuated by reiïgious suuples compiained of this use of th&
officiai tities and wished them withdrawn h m the bills?

Using this as an oppornuiity fbr pubiicity, LWPurder withcùew the bills, and then issueci

new ones which stated:

The Managers of the C h c w regret that, owing to a misunderstanding, the

Patronage of the Provost and Magishl.abes was not obtained for the
Performances thls m g : cowquendy the Entertainment wïU not be
under k i r Offidal Patronage?

It further dedared, 'the benefit will [SM]

be [in ai4 of the Soup Xitchen? Such a

tactic did not làii to drive a wedge between the Mon- public and the Magkmes. In

mm, "theMagistrates soon regrened the fàise deIicacy which bad prompteci them so

ungenerousiy to rrcall the patronage which had been [ r e q u d ] by...the companywt

The Christmas seamn - a tirne of ghring and rrceiving - provideci a key occasion,
from a public relations point of view, for many managers to declare th& desire to help

those in need. Since chis was also a particularly busy and therefore lucrative time of year,

the manager lost proportionatety more than he wouid have during any other perioü.

Charitable acts in rhis pend of the year natuzalty won the a p p d ofthe dergy and

gentry as at Covenay in 1872 when Ginnett's dccus presented the proceeds of a benefit

night to the Warwickshire Hospital of diat &y." The Era aclaiodedged the k t that the
charitable benefit signified financiai loss to the manager when it pointeci to the "iiberality"

of Mr Tayleur of Tayleur's Qrw who, "being devoted to our local and desacling charity,
 113
the Harnmadryad Hospital"gave an evening's ben&ts Seireral w d r s lam, in

Wolverhampton, Messrs. Keith and Mai's circus hosted a benefit fw the Lod hospital.

But whiie S53-9-0 was raised, the hospitai was ghiai eraaly M,s i m g perhaps the

necessary balance managers had m strike between benevolence and financiai

pmgmatism." The attention the press drcw to the bene& night was an important way of

boistering the circus's benevolence cwn rcspeccability. Afbr all, midanineteenth an-

respecability relieci abwe aii on appearanœ: what better way of c o n m g diis than

chrough the practice of public charitable acts?

-
The respectable circus amamxi respectable audiences. At no t h e was this more

obvious than on the manager's own benefit night d e n the public remmed its h d

thanks to the benevoient manager who kept the proceeds of the errning fot

Mer spending the summer sevon of 1872 in Prestcm, where he gave bendt

perforniances to St. Walburge's Churdi and to St. Joseph's Church, J. Ncwsorne enjopad a

crowded benefit performance of his own when he Rceivcd the patronage of Col. Goodair,

officers and odier dignined members of the Preston pubiic." Sometimes gratitude was

repaid by presenting the manager with a token of appfeciation, as Mr Adams dis<loveffd in

Southport in the same year. At Adams' benefit perfbrmance, the mapr prrsented him

with a silver cup, "a mark of esteem and a p p d of the rnan.netin *ch he had

conducteci his estabii~hment.~

This pnsmration was made in the ring and was

%"The Circus: Wolverhampton,"Eru, 26 Deœmber 1885,20.

=jseeGeoffiey Crossick, =TheLabour A&maacf, 301-328.
 114
observed by "dithe elite of the district? Simiiarly, ahcr a season of bendts in Norwich

during which time the Licensed Victualiers and others reœÏvd fiuids fiam Batrg's Circus,

its manager, Thomas Batty, was given "agdd locket conminhg the picturas of Sir H

Stracey and J.W. Huddleson, MS.,"suggestuig the extent to *ch the drcus had the

support of the highest dignitarïes within the c~mmunity.~

The manager had much to gain by rnainauiing good relations with the community

as w e have seen. Given his position within the hiexarchicai chain of conunand - assuming
he was respecteci - he had the authority to d
iupon his servants, artIsts and the
community, in general, fOr their support at his own benefit or in times of his chxess or

that of others. He thercfore held a responsible position within the performance

community. It was in his k t interests u> treat aii of his ernployces and the public with

dignity, fàhess, respect - and mast importantiy, genefosity. In a shrewd way, the

manager o b waited for the right moment to act benemien* c h j s of national

humiliation, bereavement, Christmas, and his annual visits to a particular town semeci as

the occasions on which he commonly chose to show bis generosity in the form of benefit

nights and/or subscnptions. "Show"was the operative term since his efkrts were often

observed in the press as weli as in the ring.

The system of munial aid in the performance community was an inherentiy

resilient, albeit uwteady, one. Ir reiied on a sympathetic public to understand the cause

of an artist's or manager's illness, his unhappy pfedicament and the effects of these k t o r s

on his family. I t aiso relieci on the artist's or manager's popularitty with the public. Such

a fickle system n e c d y produced uncertain d a . The development of the men*

 115
Society - the Dramatic, Equesaian and Musical Si& Fund - in the mid-aineteenth century
ofkred an important alternative to this sgscem, granting ben- to those paying members,

regadless of their popularity. Such a system, however, tore at the communal Wric of the

performance world separatingaut those able to dbrd membership to a firiendly Society

h m those who could not. Ironidyythose who needed help the least (e-g.managers

and star artists) were protected by such apsodatons since they were the ones who couid

f i r d the costs of membership and mondiiy contributicms; con-, p m r pl- -

such as Mitchd, Watson, Tate and 0th- - who cleariy couid not, incrasingty hund
themselves outsiders to a prokssion whose menbers seemed unifie4 at Ieast on the

surfàce, by bonds o f goodwiii. hs late as 1895,ad boc schemes were being employed

in order to reiiewe distressed anho, such as W.hfk, the d m , who "iscompleteIy

heipless and consequentiy, unable to foiiow his pmfession." J. B d e y , a fkiend of the

clown and a "masteraupmter,"wrote an address in the Era ta the wmmunity, asking for

th& help so that he and his fàrnily "[q]

have a Liale towards keping them h m

The reaiity of ardusion of these poor artkas h m the aade sodetg was
starvati~n."~~

SC to the drcus txade. To be sure, the divisions between the two groups of
hardly wufi

players - the priviieged and the poor - were simiZar to the ones that divided skilled and
unskilied workers in most trades. The division and sense of dislocation among the

unskilied was made worse by the Eict that the Dramatic, EquesPian and Musical Pund

included ernployers who had an interest in securing good relations with theh skilled

employees and maineaining a tight (and d u s i v e ) cornmunitg of Hends.

 il6
III. Bonbomfe and Trade Assodation

It has been said h t not di heip tcmk pîace on an ad boc baas. Some measurrs

were adopted within the contes of the fiiendiy sodety and a h the trade association.

The rise of these organizations smed the art& h m the prospect of depdence on

public charity o r even worse, the disgrace of the w o r k h ~ u s eBy

~ examinhg the fi-iendly

society and Sade association, this section considers the extemt to which some members of

the a r w community shared the benefit of security that association and bonhomie

brought. I t atplores the thrifi rnoyeaient of the 1850s and industrial action during the

1890s in order to discover how the circus intemalized and adjusoed to

changes that aaected rnid-telate nineteenth-tusy workers and managers.

i. Dramatic, Equestrhn and Musid Sick Fund Associati~n~~

At the mid-point of the century, when rnembemhip in a niendly society was "a

basic badge of respeaabiüty,"some circus performers and managers allied themsehs to

the Dramatic, Equestrian and Musid Fund? The organiz;ttion was founded in 1855 on

the progressive printipie, common among other such organizations in this period, of

"sooth[ingJthe hours of sickness, accident and old age whiie elevat[ing] the

profession." Such societies, observeci Lmd Beaumont, "place[d]within the power of

the l a b o u ~ gdassg the means of rnaking themseh.es independent in th& old age by

means of sacritices during the e a r y portion of th& Lmes" so that tbey,unIike Mitcheu, the

6LItshodd be noted that the "equestrian"p r o h i o n was another term used for the
tircrus profession.

62seeF.M.L. Thompson, Respeaable Society, 200-201.

 117
down,could "look to comlng years without the prospect of the orrorkh~use.~
The Funâ
fiiled the gap created by esmbkhed theaters, such as Drury Lane and Covent Garden,

which set up smail-scale friencüy society schemes br theh t h e a t r i d emp1oyees, and the

Actors' Benevolent Fund which <3ateredto the e h of the acting profession and d u d e d

a d a r i e s and choristers? For those who did not quaii@ lor such schemes but had

mough money to make steady paymens inm a friendly society fund, the Dramattic,

Equestnan and Musical Sick Fund Assoàation offwed many advantages. It d c o m e d "not

only ...those who depend exclusively upon their heads and their most sweet voices...but

[ah] those who risk iife and limb for our amusementnUito its r a d s . The Fund's

policy statement stated, "ofthe 23,000 benefit societies in the United Kingdom

this is the oniy one that cornes to the assistance of the Dramatic, Equestrian and Musical

profession.w~In order to establish the Fund as a registered charity, its oqphers

"procured [a List consisting ofj 1,763 autographs of members in the prokssion and

presented it before the Cbarity Commissioners"in 1856 when it was then regi~tered.~

Although not much is known about the Fund in the latenineteenth œntury, it is a fact

chat its membership and finances dwindled, iike o h fiendiy societies, in the 1880s with

the trade depression.69

&citeciin Cordery, "FriendlySocieties," 53.

'=sec Davis, Actresses, 58-68. She deals primarily with women who derived benefits
fiom theatricai weifàre schemes.

66nTheDramatic, Equstrian, Musical Si& Fund Annhersary Festival," Em, 21 Febniary

1858, 10,

%, Biography nies, "MrJWAnson," Z k Ploysrs, 9 Jme 1860, 1.

69 have found no annual reports which the Fund produceci in the 185ûs,60s and 709.
 118
Of those belonging to the leadership of the Fund, two important members of the

equestrian business, William Cooke, manager of Asdcg's, and his e m p l a p ~the "star"

equestrian, J.W. Anson,secureci key piaces: Cook was both a member of the Board of

Trustees and a Lik Governor while Anson s e n i d as Tmasure!r h m 1855 to 1887. From

1857, another of Caoke's ernpluyees, J. Hollcmq, an equestrian, sat on the Committee o f

the Trust and Cooke's wik sat a s a Life G w e m o r . It was said that Mr C o o k Initially

subscribed %1ûû in aid and procured for the undereaking many subscribas and iSenàs in

While occupging some important positions in

his own privase &de of acquaintan~es.~

the leadership of the Fund, drcus arrists and managers were nevertheles a minority

group; a disproportionaliy greater n u m k of its leaders bdonged to the theatrid and

musical world. The bllowing table approximates the proportion of circus people - in
cornparison to theatrical and musial artiss - in the leadership o f the organi~atim:~~

" ~ yleaders, 1 r e k r to those! who occupied p b as Trustees, Uîé Goveniors

Committee Members,Treasurer, etc.
The Fund's donors reflected a similar pattern- A list b m 1858 tek us that there were 73

Among them were

subscribers in this year of which 66 belonged to the theatricai madetrade

some of the most i m p o m t London managers, such as B-Webster, of the Royal Adeiphi

Theatre, E.T. Smith, of the Alhambra (in 1858), and JJ. Towers, of the Riopal Victoria.

Among its dramatists were JS.Cayne,Mark Lemon and N e k m Lee. (The iamr

incidentaily wrote scripts that were o h p l a . at Astiey's). In contrast, the Fund's

donors directiy connecteci with the ciras in this year included ody W
ill
iam Cooke, Mrs.

W. Cooke, J.W. Anson and W.F. Wallet, the clown. Curiousiy,the list also named

Frederick Ledger, the proprietor of the Era, b r d Emest Bmce, Vice-ChamberMn and M.

Boisselier, French Counsel-General, as contributors of the Fund. Given such an eclectic

group of contributors, one must wonder whar they had in common. At least one thing

was dear: they al1 wished to help that comrnunity of mis which the Fund pmvided Cor.

Yer, that community of artiss which belonged to the Fund remains an unknown variable*

To the extent they on be d d , CharLie Keith noted in his memoirs,

d Musical Fund Assocfatim 1857,1858,

of the 1862 List has been tom.

 The Dramatic Sick Fund Assoaation to which 1 belon@ b s four years...[is
one in which] actors have the greatest and most legitimate ciaim [due to
th& large rnember~hipl?~

How much did it cost a, become a member? The entrance fëe to the sick fimd was
5s. The cast of weekiy membership depended upon the age and the health of the

connibutor. But if the member was under 40 years of age and in g d health, for

exampie, all that was required was ' t h e pence...[in ordcr] to male provisions for a 'rainy

&y'* - a sum si@cantly srnaller than the average weekly Zee of 66, observeci by

Geo@ Ctossick, for able-bodied men beionging to fkiendly societies in ICentish

ond don." For those rnembers who were "merhrty and in sickness,"the wsekly

membership fie was 20s." Within its Brst kyears of existence, the Fund was said to

have alleviateci 1,445 cases of sicicness, 104 cases of distress,and to have @enS82 to

thme families whose lovedanes had passeci a

-
. The Fund employed a club doctnr,

W.B. Parks, whose job was to provide rudimentacy medical care and probably preve!nt

misuse of provident fwids. Mer such expendim, the Fund was left with 5513-19-7in

1856, S44û-û-ûin 1857 and S84O-0-0 in 1858 which it put in the han& of the London

Joint Stock Bank. By 1868, the Fund's financiai status had risen to such an extmt that it

-
possessed £1,724 1 1 d e r apenses?'

75nGeneralDramatic, Equesaian and Musical Agency and Sick Fund Assodation,"Era,

13 July 1856,10.

"Geoffrey Crossick, An ArtLran E k e in Victorbz SbcWy: Kéntisb London, 1&40-2880

(London, 1978), 176.

""General Dramattic, Equestrian and Musical Fund," Era, 13 Juiy 18.56,10;op. dt., 21
Feb 1858; CFA, article, c.lû6û.
 121
Despite the Fund's apparent rlchness, Charlie =th cornplaineci that its money did

not reach mou@ of those members in need. In particulat, he said, "the Fund only
4
-
mder[s] assistance in cases of ihess and makes no ptwision for iifè in the mmt a
fi

member meeting with a serious acbdent...or becomùrg i n c a p a c i d by old age?

lndeeci, with respect to the elderly, the Fund never fealized one of its originsil goals: the

Small wonder
establishment of an almshouse b r the aged manbers of the pf~féssion.~

that the charitable ad boc schemes that have been erramineci in section one zemained a

valuable source of weifàre support within the drcus p r o h i o n - even arnong those who
paid to beIong to the fiiendly Society.

What did the Fund do with its money? One of its most important schemes was the

creation of a burial ground in Woking - a projea which was said to have mst £1 1,000.''

At the inaugural address o f the cemetery in June of 1855 Mr Anson boasted that it had the

capacity "to receive 2,000 bodies, aliowing each a space of nine fket by fOur feet never to

be opened agahP2 The Fund granteci £5 for fimeral benefits in 1855, a figure which

fidis below the one offered by GeoBh-ey C m i c k in his study of k t i s h London artisan

societied3 For example, in 1854, observes Crosside, Nelson's Cowt of Foresters gave

''Keith, 141. This was a published letter that Charlie Kath wrote ta the Era which
was ated in his memoirs.

BO"General,Dramatic,Equestnan and Musical Agency and Sick Fund Association,"Era,

13 July 1856, 10.

8Llnaugurationof the Buriai Ground of the D~amatic,Equcstrkm and Musical Si&

Fund in the Necmpolis Cemetery at Woking,"E m , 13 June 1858, 11.
 122
512 forthe dearh of a manber? Perhaps the Fund was iduenced by the amounts paid

by such socides since by 1859 it increased its death benefit allowance to f IO? This

increase may have k e n g r a n d because the burial, which the Fund o&rrd, might hise

otherwise been outside the financial reach of man? of its members. The cost of a first-

class buriai, according to the Fund's 1864 ALmanac,was £17-40;a thitdslass buria cost

a ûfkh-class burial was £3-154; and a sevaithclass burial amounaxi to S2-5-0, ail
S10-18-0;

of which induded a "privategrave"

If those who were buried at the cemetery refiect the manbership of the

organization, it is inte-ting to note that, by 1871,those buried there included the

tragedian, George Cooke; the actot-manager, J-Caple; the wmedian, Thomas Manders; the

pantaloon, T. Blanchard; the actor, S.Smith, brmedy of the S u m y and Adelphi Theatre;

the pianist, H.S. May and his wife, Manha ~ a y , "the equestrian, John Storeg; the English

impovisatore, Charles Slornan; the actor, R Sharmer, h e r l y of the Surrey and Sadier's

Wells Theaae; and the operatic v a a k t , H.Bedf;ord* In addition, one year lam,

Frederick Frimbley, "an inmate of the R e Drarnatic Cokge" which was set up in 1858 to

85TheGenerafDramatic, E p s t r f a n and Musicd Sfck F u d AsnxWitwz, 1859

Almnac.

86~umatic, Equestn'an and Musical S t d Fund 1864Ahwnac. It ofired no second,

fourth or sixth cIass burials.

anha ha May's appearance on the List of those buricd at W o h g o p up the

problem ofwomen and their relationship to mene societies, a point tbat is b r i e
consided in Crossick, Art2san ECfte, pp.175-7.
 123
provide homes and maintenance for the aged and MÙm, was buried at the Woking

site." Despite their diversity, these ariists prfmarity belonged to the dramatic and

musicai trade, suggesting that the circus was d

l underrepresented in the Fund's

memkrship in this pend and chat E[eith's observation was basicaiiy right.

The extent to which those Fund members belonging to the drcus Pade enjoged

the same degree of security with their thauid and musicai brethren - rathm than their
circus brethrai - is an interesting historicai prob1em. The question is also an important
one since the Fund served as more than just an insufance agency which provideci materiai

benefis. In an ideological sense, it serveci "toincrease a man's sense of security, and by

practice and ideals, his sense of superiority over other workers." In a relateci way, the

Fund a h Mfiiied an important social function which helped to tighten bonds of

friendship. Special occasions such as b d dinners pnrvided important opportuniries fbr

socialinng. At the Fund's first annuai meeting, Benjamin Webster, the president, spoke of

the Fund's "community,"acknowledging the support he had mœived during that year

from aii his "brother actors." One such "brother"was Mr Buckstone, one of the Trustees

of the Fund, whom "1 have known for twenty five years..and not an angry word has evex

passed between [us]...(Much applause)?' Such speeches were properly and respecdully

delivered by men decentiy attireci - h r s which couid not fbii to meet the sociaüy

respectable codes of conduct. Like the benefit night, the annuai dinner was an important

went in the W calendar. It was an occasion on which the orgmhîion's leadership

89GeneraIDrumatic, E p s t t f a n and Musical Si& F d and Assocfation 1872

ACmanac.

g°Crossick, "Labour ~ristocracy,"3 18.

""Gened Dzamatic, Equestrian and Musicai my and Sick Fund Association," Em,
c
13 JuIy 1856,lO.
 124

and benefiictors came together in a spirit of good wiii and on which money was niised.

The Fund's dinner was also W<e the beneflt night insohr as the speeches gh.en at it we!re

reporteci in the Era. Thfs average provided the Fund with an opportuNty to g&e the

public the impression of unity within a trade (wideiy ciefined) that was, in fàct, hi*

fkpented. That is, within the organization, some rnembers such as IGeitbi, klt that it did

not go far enough in its hancial provisions for its members. From his point of view, the

leadership laciceci either the abiiity or the willingness to help thœe meanbers who,

although nor stncken with disaster, needed help. Those who did not belmg to the Fund,

such as low clowns, trapezlsrs and others, had worse problems which e f f k d d yput them

in a dass apart from those who codd rely - in times of distress - on the hdp of the

friendly Society. Th& non-partiapation in kkndiy Society schemes, as we havc seen in

section one, resulted in theh l o s of respecüibility during d anerganaes.

-
ii. The Van Dwellers

By the late-nineteenth century, the aims offi trade assoaan'onhad changed. No

longer simply an iwurance Company, it emived into a polltical, social and eamomic body,

as the Van Dwellers Association, which was aeated in 1891, demonstrateci. It fiuictioned

as a protecrion agency against harmful legislation and thus rrJembled the mntemporary

trade union.* But it was diffèrent from the y p i d trade union o f this period in one

important respect: it bonded the mnagetial and Laboring darses together in its attexnpt to

challenge mfàir legislarion that emerged h m Parliament and local govemment. As such,

the Association amacted mcmbers h m ail quarters of the Kingdom and adopted the
 125
mono, "unityis strength? Uniike the midcaitury 6riendîy society which was elitlst in

charamer, the Association operateci much Lilre a missionary whereby its members

soughr to attraa a dive- body of convem -h m the lm performer to the wealthy

manager - into the organization. Accordhg to its chaiman, &e AssoaatItiods "missicma$

activity fatered " k t l y ,fiiendship; secondly, Wendship; and thlrdly, Men&hip?

This zeal was heiped by the fact that the Association had subammittets

throughout the country - notabfy in Salhrd, Liverpool, GIasgow, Newcastle-Upon- Tyne,

Birmingham, Hanley, Buslem, Manchestert Nottingham, Rotherham, Aston, Neath,

Swansea, Oxford, Cardifft Rochdale, Peterborough, and Wigan. Operating at a grassroots

level with zealous leaders,it mmmandad a bfiowing which the Fund never enjoyed.

Membership cost 5s per year, airhough contributions of iarger amounts were welcome

from rhose who could afford them. I t was thus popuiist in diaracrer and induded the

acrobat, Chevalier Blondin; the Lon ramer (and possibly the wifk of the Association's

secretary), Madame Salva; the menagerie proprietors, E.H. and Frank Bostock; and the

circus proprietor, George Sanger,in its mnks. The membezship grew h m 533 in 1891 to

680 in 1892 to "no b e r than 700"in 1893,and continucd to increase steadUy to 780

during the foliowing year." The number also induded members of the showground

world, such as steam engine drives and manage= of roundabouts who shared a similar

93"Vanb e i l e r s Association,"Era, 27 Jan- 1894, 7.

Dweiiers Association,"Era, 26 January 1895, 20.

""Van Dweliefi Association,"Era, 21 january 1893, 18; "Van m e r s Asmdation,"Era,

28 Jan- 1893, 8; "Van Dweiïers Association,"Era, 4 February 1893, 15;"Van Dweifers
Association," Era, 27 January 1894,7.
 126
-
political agenda wïth drcus people upon k i n g faced - in the 1880s with a movement to

reform craveHers and their nomadic tikstylcCS

In particular, the organization's raison d'Bh8 was to oppose the Moveable

DwelLings Bill that had gained support in Pariiament iargefy thugh the campaigning

efforts of George Smith (of Coahrille) whose working4ass background distinguished him

from the majority of social rtformem belonging to the middie or upper dassg* The

B U sought to regulate itïnerancy and make the asvcller subject to the Iwris and conpols

Mihg on the settled man, wornan and chiid. Regarding the àrcus world, the Biii was

concerned with the tenting c i r a s as opposeci to the resident one. That 13%and 14%of

dl "visiblecucuseSns t U tented during the summer seasons in 1 W and 1897 respectiveb,

as we have already seen, gave Smith pause to think about the e&co they - and that
-
indeterminate proportion of "invisiblecircusesn had on the mmmunity.

Smith's plan grew out of an earlier sucœssful campaign mgarchg canal people

which he wrote about in Our Canal Poputatiot~A Cryfra? tbe Borrt Ca6Irzs (1875) and

which ultimately bund expression in an act of Parliament in 1877 d e d the Canai Boas

Act, a statute that reqwred the registmtion of ail <'anal boats. It also demandeci that ail

canai boat fàmilies ensure that heir chüdren went to school accordhg to the provisions

of the Education A m of 1870 and 1876.%A resision in 1884 called b r local authorities

'"sec David Mayall, dvpsy TrnveZCets in Nineteetzfb C h t u r y Sobsly, (Cambridge, 1988),

130-1; simüarly, see George K. Behlmer, "TheGypsy Problem in Victorian ~ngland,"
Victotian Studies, 28.2 (Winter 1985): 231-253.

97hccordingto Smith's only biographer,Eciwin Hocider, Smith began iifè in a home of

"greatpovertf in 1831; see Edwin Hodder, George Smitb (of Coalvfllle): Z%e Story of An
Entbusiact (London, 1896),22; also see GBoge Smitb of Çoalviille: A Cbapter in
PbiCanthpy (bndon, 1880).

*"George Smith (1831-18%),"Dictiowry of NmfonalBiogruply, eds. Sir Leslie Smith

and Sir Sidney Lee ( f f i r d , 1921/2), miii, 449-50.
 127
to make annual reports on the conditions of the boat people to the local goverament, a

report that was to be passed on to Partianient. These local authotlties were aiso

where they were registered and an inspecter of canal boats was appointeci to -
instructed to enforce the attendance of the b a t children at the schools in the districts

end. In this period, Smith tumed his attention away h m canal boat people and towvds
this

the gypsy population, which he believed to be in need of simllar regufadon. He pubbhed

Gipsy Life k i n g an Aumunt of GipEes and tbplt Cbfcdrett in 1880 and iatu, ï"lirr &en A

Gipsytng in 1883 in an effort to draw the public's anendon to the 308ûûûgypsg, van and

other travelling people,"a number he derived h m bis independent study of this

population?

A Moveable Dwellings Bill was h e d in accordance with Smith's views and was

innoduceci in Parliament a s a private bül in July of 1885 by EH.T. Digby (Dorset-Cons.).

Although it never psseci into law, the B U was read eight îimes in the House k t w e e n

1885 and 1894. Like the Canal B o a s Act, it required that aii occupants regbter their

dwellings with the local authorities. As a mnsequenœ, it aimed to subject the van

dwellers to the Public Heaith Act of 1875 and clause 9 of the Housing of the W o r h g

Classes Act of 1885 which rekrred to oemporary dwellingdm In doing so,it pro@

to give local authorities the right of entry into the van dweiier's carman at any hour of the

&y berneen 6:00 am and 9 : O pm in order to inspect it for overcrowding, disease and

SC on tbe Temporary Dtc/efIfngsB U (1887),vol. 13,111.364,

99PP, 22.

'"''seePP,RC on tbe Horrrfng of tbe W m n g C h e s ((1 884-5), vol. xxxiq in.14,028

14,033; The Act which was based on the Royal Commission's Report, 48/49 Vic, c.72
empowered sanirary authorities to authorize the cl&g and painting of temporary
dwellings; see Behlmer, 248; also see Smith's comment on dus situation, George Smith, A
Lecture & Geoge SmftbPelfvemdsgfore tbe AsmdkMm of Public Siztzitary l n s p s c t ~
(1888).
 128
any other related public nuisance.'" Smith beiieved that tight reguiation mer the van
dweiiing mrnmunity (to which he thought drcus people belon@) was necessary because

it poMd a health risk to s o c i e t ~ . ' ~He assumeci van ciwefiem were unhdthy, undean,

prone to incestuous relationshîps and therefbre immoral. Furthermore, he believed th*

children were uneducated. He told the Select Committee on Temporary Dwei/in&s in

1887, a cornmittee set up in order to examine the merits of the proposeci BU, that "I have

..
bem brought in contact with th[e van dweiiem] aimost daUy since 1878 and...I should

not think that there would be 2%of them tbat could read or w r i t ~ . " ~ ~

In order to increase his biiowing and promote support for the BU,Smith bunded

the "George Smith Sodety and Band of Invenwhose aims were drirrn by an evangefical

mission. It required subscribers to pledge that t h 9 wouid "canyout to the best of ch&

ability and means the..spreading of love,sympathy and good works taking Jesus Christ as

[our] arample."'~&terial support, it was said, went hand in hand with religious

fellowship. Section five of the membership form stated that "each branch member is

expected to contribute monthly or after such intervals as the Branch Society s W think

Just how much financiai support Smith received h m this socierg is

de~irable."'~

undear. H e did sate however that over the years, he had Rceived "§130/per m u m ,

much of it for my own use," pointing to the fact that his personal and philanthropie

'"'PP,SC on tbe Temporary DweCZings Bill, (1887).vol. 13, ln.48,4.

L02RaphaelSamuel i n d i d y d u d a to this point in "Corners and Goers," in T68
Victorian City,eds. H.J.Dyas and M. W o H (London, 1973), i, 129-133.

LwPP,SC on tbe Temporaty Dweiiings Bill, (lm,vol. 13,h.366,22.

'O'BL, copy of application, "George Smith of Coatviiie Sodecg and Band of Loven
(1886); see aiso Behimer, 246253 Cor a discussion of Smith's baticism.
 129

interests overlapped at a time when his persona resources were saxe!' In addition ro these

yearly h d s , he claimed ro have a spiritua following that u r n e together 'every Sunday in a barn

adjoining my house" and amounred to an average of 80 village children and adults "whose woes and

hardships 1 became pncricdy and sorrowfuliy acq~ainted."'~'

Spreaduig the gospel and regulating die van dwelling community were, however, two

different things. And whiie Smith mi& have been a skiUed orator, he wu not an able lawmaker

and as a consequence, many in Parliament were quick to pick at the weakaesses in the Moveable

D w e h g s Bili. H.C. Srephens (Cons.-Homsey), whose incessant bill-blocking kept S d ' s BU off

the stamre book, expressed the view that, if passe& the Biu would hound 'poor and feeble"

travellen into leaving 'a h d t h y , humles country lifc' for the city slums!* Stephens view w u

representative of a larger lobby that advocated the protection of individual As such, he w u

comeaed to the Liberty and Property Defense League (LPDL),an organization which was

founded in 1882 in order to uphold the principles of free contram, self help and Lissez$zire and

which w u initidy responsible for organizing the Van Dwellers Association.'"

In general, Stephens and other memben of die League and the Association believed
that Smith's objectives - puùcularly widi respect to the inspection clause of his Bill -

IpBL, George S m i t h (of Coalville), George Smith ofCbafvdie a d HU Wovkfor the Ciildm
(Rugby, 1893).

'Wayall, 142-4; &O see Thomas Murphy, A NrSto7-y of theshowmen 's Gu& 1889-1948
(Oldham, 1949), 28.
 130
were founded on a deep prejudice regarding the migratory Expresshg this

sentiment the Assobation's soliutor, M c T.W. Wright, drew upon the lasons of history

and argueci that

the MagnaCarra passedso many hundreds ofyearsago byourhtefathers

protected Englishmen Cor centuries..against interkence by doxnidllarg
visits of the police or any other pason...Was this to be tfeateâ by the
Legislanue as...waste pQper?LL'

Like Wright, George Sanger was outraged by Smith's BU. From Sanger's perspectme, vans

simply provideci a home and a f h n of transportation for an itineranf popuiation that

o&red the cornmunity a rational brm of recreation. The Van I)wellers Association was

established in order to rnake this point dear, both inside and o u d e of Parllament. In so

doing, it was concemed that the pubiic should not confbse gypsies with showmen and

that the showmen dass of traveliers should not be brought under the restriction of the

BiLLL2

Within ten months of its establishment, the Association had drawn-up twenty

petitions with thousands of signatues which were forwarded to the Royal Household and

Members of Pariiament. I t also forwarded to them 20,000 copies of letters h m &ends of

the orpnhtion. One MP,James Eilis (Lib-Leicestershire), was m d to write to the

Association that

lLOInsome cases, these prejudices which were shrouded in mythology spurred a

missionary zed to evangelize this cfass of people. See Henry Guiiiame Schlesinger, Z%e
S t o h CbiLd (1861); Adiille Zo,FumfS, of V'aging Bobamiam (1861);Gusarve Courbert,
me Meeting (1854). For example, in Schleshger's book,the newbom, missing chiid is a
symbol of h o p , similar to depictions ofJesus Christ. see Mapall, chapm Ewr.

'''"Van DweUers Association,"Era, 30 January 1892,17.

 I have given such good rasons [for your case in the Commons] that 1 have
increased your frien& [at least among] the Radi~ak.'~

But his aatement wu conuadicted yevs later when the Association's solicitor stated at an m u a l

meeting that "amongst the Radical P ~ r r ywere to be found the greatest number of faddists

[opponent~].'"~ To be sure, one of the principal supporters of the Bill wu Thomas Burt, a Radical

representing Morpeth."' b e a d rheir nipponers in Parliament were said to be those

Consematives such as Richard Webster (Hampshire-hl. of Wight Div.) and Sir Stafford Northcote

(Exeter) who were among those who rejected Srnidi's Bill in 1894!16 Whatever help the

Association could get from such influentid leaders wu welcome since "no other dw was...under

the disability of the kind [the vandwelling clus wu].'" In soliciring support, the Association

claimed that poor and rich members of the o&tion were working

for posterity nther thui [for] themselves...It wodd be unbecoming of them as

parents to d o w f a d h to place the shackles of slavery upon rhe young.""

Since we will deal wirh the subject of children who were at the root of Smith'sBill in another

chapter, it is sufficient to Say that the Association fought for the vandwelien' children's rights as

well. And by 1894, due to the organization's efficient and effective

'""Van Dwellers Association," Era, 30 January 1892, 17.

"'"Van Dwellers Association," Era, 26 Jaauary 1895,20.

'"Bo& Webster and Northcote supported Smith in the mid-1880s when his Bill was firsr
presented. Northcote even contributed to the "George Smith Fund", see chapter five.

"'"Van Dwellers Association," Era, 30 January 1892, 17.

'"Ibid.
 132
campaigning and more impoftantiyTdue to the pzacticai problems assodateci with Smith's

plans lor regisuation,the proposed legislarion was not voteci up0dL9

In the meanthne, the Association provided other kirids of hdp k its members

which took place at the 1- of local goveniment. In 1893, fbr example, the Association

had been "instrumentaiin preserPing the Urmsani wakesnthrough a rigorous proces of

local petitionhg at a t h e when the town's w u n d thmiteneci to revoke themu The

Association's F.T. Salva.,deciared that the local munty counciïs posed an on-

going problem to the showman since rhey were composed of men "antagonisticto leisure

of any sort. They belonged to one or other of the 'isms'. They went about with long

black frodc coa=...and [belgnidgedm r y Little enjoymmt to othcrs."" One such man,

recalled Salva, "some time ago [said to me] that he did not see why workhg men alwags

This pious man, continued Saha, "[then addeci] if he wanted

wanted arn~sement."~~

amusement...he went to Bible readïngs, and if he wanted anything else he used to go for a

walknLa Such a man sat on the Essex Couny C o u d d e n it proposed a by-law t k t

prevented

any owner of land h m causing any such land within two hun- yards of
any highway, Street or house...[to bel accupied by a tentdweller, gypsy, or
any other person dwelling in a van?

y%' the Moveable Dweiiine B U did not p a s through Parliament whüe the Canal
Boats Act did remains an unanswered question, particuiariy since w o n was a
provision in each of them. I intend to calre this point up in a brthcoming article on
George Smith and the idea of the itinerant in Victorian sodety.

'""Van Dweliers Association,"Era, 21 January 1893,18.

L2'l'an
Dweliers Association,"Enz, 27 Jan- 1894,7.
 133
But, as Salva demandeci, 'Cwhere could they find a &e in Essar that was two h u n M

yards away h m any highway, meet or human habitationTm The by-law, if passai,

threatened to stop any owner h m giving petmission to showmen br the lease of his

land. The Assoaation then sought the help of the Home Secretarg, HH. Asquith, to

whom the Essex County C o d had aiso tu~nedfor the government's a p p d of îhis

measure. Upon receipt of the Association's cornplaint, Asquith reassured its members that

"he would never allow those laws to be used to interikm with the legitimate business of

the showman if carried on in a respectable mannecmmBut once the by-law was passe4

the van-dweihg community fOund that Asquith's promise was easiiy broken. According

to Salva, who spoke at the fDUfth annuai meeting of the Assodatin in 1895,

the Essex County Council made use of the law to obstrua two showmen
belonging to the Associsition in [their] business which had been legitimate4y
carried on for years?

The Association then found that "it could apecr nothing h m the Govemment in powu"

which was, according to Salva, composeci of men of "Nonambnnist and various other

conscientes... who went about [th& business] iike automatic praying inachines."lP At

the annual meeting, he pro- that the members of the organization "use ail their

influence at their shows to support the Conservatives at the n e t election.n18 nie cal1

was reitemted by other speakers. But of course the ring was not an election piathrm and

LBIbid.

DweUers Association,"Era,26 January 1895, 20.

L26"Van

LnIbid.

=Ibid,

' V a n DweUers Protection Association,"Times, 24 Jan- 1895,lO.

 134
circus-goers went to the cinsus to be entereained, not infùmed of the showman's

grievances or his poütical aifegiances. Showmen fomd that proper le@ channefs

provideci the best outlet br mping with their anxieties and p & d problems, although

such an approach was no parantee h r satisktion.

Severai years later when their interests were again thmateneci by ha& by-kws

respecting fàirgrounds where some companies continueci to perbrm, the Associatiticm -

under the guidance of the Rev. T. Horne - consulted with the members of the Liberty and
Property Def- League. (Whiie the idormation culleci in table 2.1 states that only 14%

of al1 troupes in Britain performed in m r s by 1897, the krwciation may have k e n

representing the uiterests of a îarger population of showmen who have not k e n

calculated in this figure; this suggests the extent to which the "invisiblecircusnmay have

been present.) The result of Home's inquiry, hawever, was that

it was impossible for the Association as such, according to the procedure of
the [HomeOffice and Lmzd Govemment M l , to enter a protest against
or even to inspect any proposeci by-h.UO

Rather, Home found that "individualshowmen k g in a particular area c d by the

proposed by-law would be allowed a> enter a b d protatnULThis gave strength a>
his position that showmen had to unite both regionally and nationaity, and furthermore

separate themselves kom "thequasi-Continentainovelties of a srnail order that have crept

into the otherwise healthy, moral and hearty amusements of our

'%. T. Horne, U X Sbowmen and Van D u i e l k ' s Dfgest ofAlrellCiy

Fristing BpLaws in tbe United Kingdm Mectiftg tbe BUSIttess of OpettAiir Amusement
Caterers, (Oldham, 1899),ii.

Uibid., viii.
 135
In order to give expression to afeicuiate legaf responses of its individual members,

the Association provideci aii with the -ces of its solidtor, Watson Wrighqwho was

retained at the annual k e of £15-lW.m Rule 10 of the Association's handbook said

that "any member may receive legal advice cm any subi- by adàressing a letter to him

[Watson] at 11 Bowlinggreenareet, Leicesfer..and by endoshg a shilling in postage

Not only did Wright give advice but he also went to court to defend the
starnpsNLY

In one case, Watson victoriously defendexi the

showmen's right of oaupancycyu5

interesa of thir<y showmen who wished to participate in a fair in Manch- h m which

they iiad been previously bennedu6

There was clearly saength in numbers, as Watson di- when he represented

the Association's members on another matter: the rise in d l w q raw in 1895.*'

Watson said that

individually [the van dweilers] would not k able to get the rora
altered...But when uniteci and banded together he had little doubt that the
railway companies would readjust tûem.-

This optirnism was common arnong artisan institutions of the nineteenth cennuy. It was

connected to an idealism that was founded on the Wef that "unityequals ~trength."~

In this case, the problem was that befixe 1895 showmen were charged 6d per truck per

L33"VanDweilers Association,"Era, 26 January 1895, 20.

'%"Van Dwellers Association,"Era, 27 January 1894, 7.

Dweilers Association,"Era, 4 February 1893, 15.

L3s"Vm

Dwellers Association,"Era, 26 January 1895, 20.

L36"Van

13'"Van Dweilers Association,"Era, 28 January 1893, 8.

-rbid.

l3Van Dweilers Association,"ha, 27 Jan- 1894, 7.

 136
mile. By 1895,the old Iiberal inaerpcetation of 6d per mile had been rem& and the

railway companies set a M t of 6d per 2 tons per d e e L 4

Since most t r u c k welghed

more than this,Watson pmtested the increase and proposeci i n s d tbat %&.ides
under

four tons be taken by all companies at a rate of 6d f i e the h d e r mes be cbarged Id

per ton per mile exadL" Thanks to Waison's n e g o t h t i n s with the dhway mmpanies

the proposal was accepteci. As an act of good hith, the Association promised the d h a y

companies that if it bund any of its members in breach of this new de,the @y parties

wodd be h e d £10. From the van d d e r ' s perspectme, such threats were t o l d l e since

the lower raiiway rates which the Association negotiated were cmerwhelmingly

advantageous. Furthemore, without membership in the Assoaation, the showman muld

not enjoy the benefit of these lower rates, and would thus be subject a> the r a h q

~ Association therehre made itseif indispaisabie in

companies' more costly ~ n e s . 'The

ce& key areas of the showman's livehhood, notably, the area of aavel.

The Assodation also ofireci help of a more personal cbaracoer. One of the

primary benefits it provided its rnembers was LIA insurance. Acmrding to Rule 21 of the

organization's prospectus, the Asswation provideci the deceased member's h d y a death

benefit amounting to a sum of 5 5 so long as he/she had k e n a member of it for at Ieast

six mon& previous to his/her death? And since the organization admitteci membas

over 16 in any state of health, it had the advantage of "not m g ] as parti& as some

"'"Van Dwellers Association,"Enz, 28 January 1893, 8.

World on Wheels," Era, 9 Nmember 1895, 18.

14LnThe

'*The World on Wheels,"Era, I l January 1896, 17.

"?Van Dweliers Assockation,"Era, 27 Jan. 18%,7.

 137
sodeties."'" This was made desu to Stephen Ethado, the ambat, who said that "I once

applied to a weil known [Life insurance] office and [after] they quoted such an d

premiwn 1 just waikeâ out o f the place.'1* To be sure, since acrobats and trapezists

encountered serious riskr h m their ciangemus pmkssicm, muiy insurance mmpanies

were wary o f subscribing them as members. The Association, however, meci the gap in

an a b r d a b i e rnanner - but only in times of death, not accident, much iike the mi&

nineteenth century fkiendiy Society. For accident insurance,c k u s people were compelied

to tum to the h d of Agency that Etbardo visïted. Those ludry enough to be accepteci as

members stood to recover IEalaries that would have otkmise k e n lost due a,sickness or

accident. Nellie Reid was one equestrian-acrobat who was b r t u ~ t to

e reaner f 18 h m

the Accidentai Insurance Company for three weeks after an accident in which she kll off

the back of a home.'% But when accident struck, the Association did make an effort to

raise a subscription h d for the injured party by soliciting help fimm its members in the

Era and elsewhere - a method which, as discussed, had been long employed by

independent perforrners and managers. For example, when Mr D'Osta's bootth was

destroyed by fire in 1898,the Association kgan the D'Ckta Pire Fund in order to help the

manager recover the £35 in capital he lost h m the desmxcti~n.'~

As in other cases,

such efforts effectively solidifieci or created anew bonds of bonhomie benmm the circus

and van-dweliing comrnunities.

'"Ibid.

'""The Ethardos At Home,"Eza, 8 April 1893, 16.

ld6"T0the Editor of the Era," E n , 26 September 1885 in CFA, scrapbook #603, 60.

14'"TheShowman Worid,"Enz, 18June 1898,16.

 138

With one or two exceptions, it would seem that the Assoaatïon's efforts were designed

primarily to help its manageriai consrituency. Seen from rhis perspective, the ownen of

roundabouts, steam engines and circuses were united in th& collective desire to protect their

capital interm. If the rhetoric dculated at lnnual meetings is to be takm ar face value, and if the

niccessfd actions taken by the Association are inrerpreted as collective victories over h o d e forces,

then it would seem that the bonds uniring the van-dwehg community as a whole (comprising

capiralias and performers) were nrengthened. The tension berween capitalists and performus

meuit M e in relation to the more irnporrant tension between them (as a group) and h o d e forces,

such as the railway magnates. The Aaoaation thus helped in the construction of a trade-centered

'community.'"' Ir was a rhetorical and real construction designed to countefact hostile l e e x c d

forces, nich Y Smith's Bi& and w u vriculated through the laquage of collecrivism. Without such

a politidy-motivated linguistic construcrion, the ciifferences underpinning the heterogenous world

of the van dweilen would have been made obvious. Identity wu fonned out of intemal and

extemal dernands. The pressure of groups such as the railway magnates or individu& nich as

George S m i t h helped to give N e to solidarity within the trade. Community arose from the feeling

that the van dwders, as members of a trade,were W e d together by a common set of inter&,

interests which were sparked by often hostile extemal dynamics. The exremal and interna1

dynamics of community were thus intricately c o ~ e c t e dThe effect was long rem, as showmen

gained increving selfconfidence over the period, and concentrated their organizational

efforts by creating their own mouthpiece, B e Sb-n, and by consolidaring their nippon & the

form of the Amalgamatcd Society of Showmen and

' T o r a theoretid discussion of this from a soaologid perspective, see P m Burke, History
and SoMI %ury (Oxford, 1992), 57.
 139
Amusement Caterers in 1901. By this time, the showmen's aims were made more dear

t the company, markhg an

and were distinguishable from those of the artist or s a ~ nof

important transition h m manager-workercooperation to m a q p i a l segregation. Seen

from one perspective, the manageriai c i a s derived its strength and s e l f d c i e n c e h m

their workers, rather than the reverse.LU Summaridng the showmen's feelings of

separation from the rest of the perfÙmance community at a meeting in Jarmw, the

chairman of the Amaigamated Society, George Grey, said that the society's raison d'etm

did not emerge out ofthe "interestsof capitai and labour, but..of capitai ody,as the

Cleariy, "helpnhad a dl&rent meaning for the late-

showmen were aii ~apitaiists."'~

nineteenth century showman than it did for his mid-nineteenth century predecesx>r.

V. Conclusion

The practice of help took many hrms over the course of the nineteenth century.

Since respectability was a cenual concem for those gnTing and reœivhg heip, it remains

to be asked, at what point did such help compromise or b l s t e r the individuai's

respectability? Franaska Flemnore, w e have seen, rejecæd any charity h m the

performance community whereas other disoessed wives of dmüased ciowns tmk it with

thanks. The gradua1 development of the hiendiy society, in contras, rekd on mutual ai4

not charity. New kinds of communities and identities amuse h m within the 6riendty

society and later, the uade-centered association where the language of bonbomfe was

spoken. The anent to which these groups promoted a m m m o n identity based on

cornradeship - effctively ovemming diEkrences of prokssion, s u , age, and to some

t4sThisis meant to complement some of Gareth Stedman Jones's ideas set out in
Working Class Culture and Working Class Polition, in Lfuzguogrssof Class, 179-238.
 140
extent, gender - remains a diBciCUIt ptobIem to s o k . What is ci-, hmvever, is that

m u d insurance through social identification was a auciai part of the seEhelp

movement. SeLfkonfidence biiowed from this association. The language of this

movement may have been based on platitudes that were directed at the a i t h

circus/pe&rmance world but the actions of its members were deariy motivateci by a

desire to pursue a policy of exciusion. Selfamûdence and respectability thus bred

superiority. Feelings of superiority na- pmduced cihision within the circus world

between those who were 'in' and those who were 'outside' the &hdp movement,

T h e who were outside it, such as W

ili
iam Mitchell and his peers had no choice but to

receive charity. By the end of the cemtury, therefore, the chus, lac h m k i n g stable,

consisteci of a solid core, composed of the consciously respecÉabIe managerial ciass and,

to varyïng degrees, their workers which was increasingiy distinct h m the periphery

whcre artists iike Mitchell pitifully iingered.

 1. introduction

The relationship between acrobatie display and the Vicoorians was a con-

one that embroiled moral reformers and those members of the pubiic who supported the

performances. Aaobatic display, defineci in temis of those who pdormed fèas at some

t of drcus rnattem that amacted regulators and drew

height.' was pan of a growing k

heavily on the inexhaustible resenroû of public fèehg about respecrability in the second

half of the nineteenth centwy. Perhaps this conawersg between the moral teformas and

the d e f h of the circus was never more h e l y than in the case of Seha Powell. In

July o f 1863 Selina Powell, otherwise known a s Madame Blondin, perfomed on a high

wire in front of thousands o f spectators at Aston Park, Birmingham with shackles on her

f e t , a bündfbid around her eyes, and a bag over h a head. In this condition,she carefully

took her baiancing pole in her hands, cautiously klt the rope with her feet and then,

according to one contempomry observer:

'For the purposes of this discussion, the terni "acrobatnwiii not be used in its strict
nineteenth£entury sense which implied performers "Who throw somersauis and do feas
on the groundnbut will be d e k e d in a wider sense to indude ggmnagts who accordhg to
contempomies, "did such vicks in the air." See "The Making of Acrobaû: an Intemiew
with Zaeo,"Dai& Crupbic, 13 Febniary 1892,5, for a contcmpzary look at the meaning
of aaobatics versus gyrnnastics. In addition, this discussion will not be restricϝ to the
acrokt's work in the circus but wiU also indude that in public parks and music halls
where they also performed. The reason b r this is that an isolatexi consideration of the
circus would create an imbalanced view of a trade that was fluid and h o s e perfbrmers
appeared in a variet-of popular venues.
 stepped upon the swaying cord...evexyeye in the immense multitude behg
-
fixed upon her....She had just walhd three shon seps when the rope
collapsed.'

The fàii, which resuited in her death, might not have stimed so much attention had it not

been for the Eact that the Performer was eight-months pfegnant3 Ha performance and

subsequent death horrifieci the nation and sparked a nationwide outay agauLpt

"dangernusperformances." The short-tem uproar over the Madame Blondin case

unravelied into many long-tem dilemmas that lasted for three d d e s and Linked

acrobatia to contempocary con- relating to ser, de&, the w,Mdhood, artistic

reguiation and commercialized leisure.

This chapter first examines the physidy and ecmnornically pre&ous nature of

the m b a t ' s trade and serond, the ways in which late-ninetcenthcentury fegislation, that

bllowed h m the 1863 accident, threatened this work. Third, it indgates the changing

tastes and public values that were cornmon to h d o n and the provinces.' In panicuiar,

this section,wiU consider issues m do with sanial pleasure, athleddsm and danger -

three quaiities that contemporaries aSSOQated with the femaie aanbat's art. MBed in the

circus ring, these three ingrediena seemed alarmingiy qlosive to certain segments of the

public who t m k their kais to die London County Council, the Ir,rd ChadxsIain's Office

and local newspaper columns. Fourth and M y , this chapter conmns the culture of

consumption and "spectacieRand particuiarly the way in which kmale m b a t s were

--

Shodcing Death of the Female Blondin,"Binningbmn JO&, 25 Juiy 1863,7.

'Hawrver, some accounts suggested that she was achially seven rnonths preghant. Her
husband stated at the coroner's inquest, that he was not sure h m long she had been "in
the fàmiiy way." See "TheAccident to the Female Blondin,' in BfnningbmJounral, 25
July 1863,5.

k f . the ment study of theater in the provinces and Ixnidon, sce, Scenesfiwn
PmVrlLCfCZC Stages ed. by Richard Foulkes (London,1994).
 144

viewed as both consumers and producers within the context of the market and its

"spectacularform."

By "speaaclen or "spccracUar bm,"diis discussion refeR not only to d i s p h but

rather the many rneanings underfying it. The tension between iik and death and between

the subversion of respectable codes of conduct and the heroic defiance of sodal

- -
conventions embodied in the acrobat's display was, in the context of commeràalized

leisure, a producc of a Victorian consumer demand Tor "sperracle." This is not to say tbat

acrobatics was the ody form of spectacle the Victonians sought out Otha examples, such

as the Great Exhibition of 1851, the opera, the theater and -g also contributeci to

the Victorians appetite for s p x t a m k culture.

Since the dates chosen h r this discussion begin with Madame Blondin's acrobatic

accident in July of 1863, which sparked a heated debate over what were ciassifieci as

"dangerousperformances,"and end with the rwised Dangerous Performances Act of 1897,

which pur legai iimits o n the right of young persans to perfbrrn mbatics, it would be

easy - and indeed misleadhg - to argue a soaal control perspective, suggesting that the
acrobatic uade was essentiaiiy controiied and restricteâ by bourgeois sensibilities. Rather

than trying to regdate a trade that was considered "outsidenthe culaire, h m , the

Victorians (as legiskators, newspaper colwnnisrs and obserpers) viewed "dangerous

performanceswin a variety of ways, hding agreement oniy regardhg the idea that

acrobatics was indeed controversiai. Thus, it is the aim of cfiir discussion to explore the

accident, the debate i t sparked and subsequent debates conœming acrobats within the

larger con- of Viaorian popular culture and the drive tuwads reguiation and

respecrability.
 145
II. A Hard T d e

In the wake of Madame Blondin's acddent, the Queen addressed the mapr of

Birmingham, Charles Snirge, in a letter that appeared publidy. She said it was horriac

that

-
one of her subjects a kmaie - shouId have k e n sacrificeci fbr the
gratification of the danonüPng taste unfortum&y p d e n t for
exhibitions attended with the greatest danger to the petformerL5

Aston Park, where the accident oanirred, had a speciaf si@cance for the Queen since

oniy a kw years earlier, in 1858, she was innted and a p p e d at the officiai œremony

held by the Aston Hall and Park Corporation rhat o p e d the park tn the people of

She therehe expressed h a hope to the Mayor that

~irmingham.~

in common with the rest of the twwnspeople of Birmingham, [pu]WUuse

p u r infiuence to prwent in the future the degradation m such
exhibitions..and...that [the park] wiii be made serviceable for the healthy
exeràse and rational recrieation of the peopleO7

According to the Mayor and other paaons of the exhibition whose support was soiicited

by the hors of the event, the M e n t Oder of Foresters, the fète was intendeci to be

dedicated to the public good. That is, the proaceds of the exhibition were a> go to the

urgently needed Aston Hall fund which was set-up in 1857 in order to aiiow the town to

buy the park h m a group of proprietors into whose han& the property, which had br

'"kaer k m the Queen to the Mayor of Birmingham,' Era, 2 August 1863, 11.

6BCR, mss. 744, "AstonPark: Propose!d Address h m the Mamgers to the Queen's
Most Excellent Majesry," Speech deiïvered on 15 June 1858.

'"Letter kom the Queen," Era, 1 August 1863,5.

 146
centuries belon@ to the welllescdbiished ~ o l h m i I yféll?
, Regardllenr of the benevolmt
A

circumstances, the result of the exhibition was of greater importance and agreement with

the Queen was widespread, as letfers to the editor and newspaper columns of various

local and national newspapers in July 1863 made GU. Many such opinions wndemned

managers of acrobatie performers and of parks and other places of public resort and,

hirrhermore, d e d for a stop to dangerous arhibitions in the ht~re.~

While the niry continueci in the press, Selina P&'s husband sat in the coroner's

pointed questions about his wifé's deged "murder." The coroner

inquest a n s w e ~ g

asked Mr Powell about his involvement in setting up the rope, which he had a k q s done

br his wifk, and about the degree a> which he was -a that bis wife's crossing I t might

be dangerous - particularly given her pregnant condition. To this he replied, "shewas

always smng at such t h e s , ' thus raising intereshg questions not only about the Eimüy's

financial necessity but also its views on pregnancy.'* Fudermore, he continued, th&

eamings h m such performances were greater than they muid expect by any other

means. When asked about their income,the husband replied that they eamed afm

expenses, such as radway costs, 58 or £9 per show. But a f k the accident, the distresseci

husband, now the breadwinner of the W y , which inciuded seven chiidren and an aged

'Histo~ of tbe Cbpmation of Birmfngbam (Birmingham, 1885), ~01.2,197;Aston

Hull: A A u C Guide (Birmingham,1987), chp. 1 "Hhtory, the Holtes and their
Successors."

9see "Sad kath of Madame Genieve, the Female Blondin,"Era, 26 July 1863, 11;
"Public Meeting at Town Hall,"~inningbamJO@, 25 Jdy 1863,7;"Shocldng-th of
the Female Blondin,"BfnnfngblunJO@, 25 July 1863, 7; " T eat Aston Park,"
BfnningbamJoumul, 25 JJul1863,5;"ShoclsngDeath of Another F e n d e Blondin,"
Times, 22 Jdy 1863, 12; "ShockjngDeath ofhother Female Blondin,"&II's Ufe in
httdon, 26 Jdy 1863, 3; "FatalAccident a> a Femde Blondin,"Stockton H e m 4 South
Durbarn and C&w&zttd A d v ~ L s e r 24
, July 1863,3.

' W e Accident to the Female Blondin,' Bhmit2gbamJournal, 25 Juiy 1863,5.

 147
mother-hiaw, had scarcefy any means of support; rope walbing was the hniky trade on

which he, his wik and even theh chiidren - a theme to which 1 WUreturn -
depended,

This cottage-like enterprise where d the h d y members were hvolved in some

aspect ofthe performance was not unusual, and indeed nperlenced grrJwth f h n the mid-

nineteenth cenniry onwarüs, as the foiiowing figures in table 4.1 suggest:

Table 4.1: I n c f i v K l d & m i î y kmûas, 1867-1878

Year Family TroupeU Individual

These troupes may have induded individuais who describeci themselves as brothers or

families, but were, in fkct, not reiated. Regardes9 the numbers do provide a broad

outline of the family-oriented nature of the Pade, particuiarly if they are collsidered in

proportion to individual players Cor the same set of Accordhg to a contemporary

of Powell's, who calleci hunself the manager of a troupe that consisad of bis wifk and two

daughters, aii of whom performed on a tight wire and sdla,

the Eunüy by itseif can give an entemainment that iass an hour and a haif
aitogether. 1 don't perfonn...but 1 go about making the arrangements and
engagements foi rhem. Managers write to me 6rom the country to get up
entertainments for them and to undertake ~pecuiation.~

"Ibid. It was not unusual for husbands to act as managem mer their wives'careers.
This may not have been the ody reason why Mr Powell did not take part in the
performances since the reporter Cor the BfnnfttgbamJoMial said that he was a "crippled
husband."

'mese figures are based on the reporfed n u m k of acmbats and ggmnast~that

appeared in the Era Alttzanuc9 (1867), 69;(1877),83; (1878). 84.
 148
Not only was the business family run, but it was also inherited h m previous himlly

membeis, as the manager continued, "rnyfàther was in the pmkssion f f i r e me,and m y

cornmonplace, a fàct which helped perpetuate the likeiihood that the chüdren of these

perfomers wouid participate in the made as weU.

Codirming the unhappy juxtaposition between financiai necessity and the lack of

alternatives, which Paweii duded to during the coroner's inquest, another contemporary

- aibeit l e s farnous - rope waIker insisted that t h e in the trade, like himseff, were

One day 1 may pick up 5s; that's a fhst rate riay fbr street W O In
~ bad
weather I can do nothing..A couldn't undertake to depend on 10s 6d a
week if 1 codned myseif to outdoor @rmances..and the jeweis and the
spangies wom by perhrmers like me are a sort of rnockeryockeryu

Not oniy was it difficult to e a m one's daiiy b d but so #M was it hard to remove oneself

from the made, apeciaiiy if the performer was train& b r nothing efseand furthemore

had a M y to support. And, when the acrobat reached old age, the contemporary

continued, "you are Lüre a wom out horse, eeckoned 6t for n~thing."'~
Hard w ~ ~ hardly
rk

ofirecl the hope that the acrobat's later years would end in materiai cornfort and SecuTity.

The General Dramatic, Equestrian and Musicai Agency and Sick Fund, created in 1855,

remaineci outside the reach of many tank and file perhrmers dose un~teadyincorne

offered littie chance of yearly contributions to such a society. Given theïr unsteady and

small incornes, any attempû at regdation, which aisued aCm the 1863 addent, were

141bid.

'>''A GGLimp~eof Law Lifé," Derby Merçury, June 5, 1850, 4.

I6Ibid.
existence.

S e a s o n a i changes aiso governed-theeconomy of the acrobat's trade. Accordhg to

one perfbtmer whom Henry Mayhew intemiewed,

in the winter the, w e genexaiiy goes [w a> the theatres. W e are almat
always engageci for the pantomimes to do the sprites. W e atwlgs reckon it
a good thirceen weeks job, but in the country it's onlp a month. If we dcm't
appiy f9r the job, they corne aftar u
s.'

Aibert Smith observed that th& appearanc$n the metropolis oarurrcd a f k race

meetings, such as at Epsom, were held." Complementing the comment d e by

Mayhew's interviewee, Smith addeci, that these tumblers also h d m r k M e n the

pantomime [season] begins [at Chrisnnas]."LpAnd, when they perfbrmed in the

pantomimes as "the Mexican Wonders or the Thornasi F d y...y ou wodd hardly rrcognize

~ the actobat who was fortunate enough

p u r old acquaintances at the race c ~ u r s e .But

ro get seasonai work in the pantomime s u f k f f d h m the stigma of being at the botînm of

the performance hierarchy. This status reflected the fact that there were many more

acrobats looking for work during the off seasons than the theaters and music halls muid

possibty employ. In order to pro- themseives h m the onslaught of itinezant zurobats

wishing to enter the music hall ranks, Charlie Keïth d e d in 1879 that "15 or 20 yeys

ago music haii [manageml ofkm had irtserted at the bottom of th& advertisements 'no
 150

m b a t s need apply'."' The aeatment which the acrobat and the sought-afkr music hall

performer encountered hthe manager could not be more stark W e the hmer was

eschewed, the latter commandeci engagements at more than one music hall in a single

evening and couid be seen crossing the Thames by cab p i n g h m an engagement in

Lambeth to one on Oxfôrci Street.D Lf the acrobat was fortunate enough to have secured

an engagement at a hall or theater, his employnient security was temporarg. Once the

winter season ended, he advertised in national aade papers, such as the Em, in order to

out of doors, in parks, fairgmunds, -

get other engagements. During the suIllIller months, he usualiy turned to employment

meetinp and cornmonspot merely because the

weather permitteci it but atso b u s r many prwinciai and London theaters closed

between Mar& and Seprember.

This itinerant &style meant that these perhrmers Iodged in dïikemt categories of

accommodation. If settled in Lnndon, they occupied residences such as the Hercuies

Buildings in Lambeth, which sheltered a variety of bndon performer~.~

Such a

community arguabiy helped secure common bonds of W y - l i k and professional loyaities

which were naturally intermineci for these people. If on the d as part of a troupe or

Company,
~ ~ C U S they were Uely to stay in boarding houses o r Law grade hoteh and inns

21CharlieKeith, C i r w Life and Amusements, (Derby, 1879), 24.

%e Peter Bailey, "Custom, Capital and Culture in the Vimrian Music Hall" in Popular
Culture and Custom in Nineteentb Century E n g w ed. by R D . Smrch (New York,
1982), 189-190.

"For example, the Hercules Buiidin&shoused various prominent pantomime artists,

such as Richard Usher who died there in 1843 and Richard Flexmore, wbo died at the
same -idaice in 1860.As wd,Amye Reade's Ruby mfkm to the Hercules Buildings as
the place where Ruby, the young, innocent M d , is taken and meas the cruel trainer,
Signor Enrico and his -y, with whom she spends her unhappy pus. see Amye Reade,
R b y : A Novel Founded on tbe Lfe of A C i m Girl (kmdon, 1889), 260.
 151
known within the pehnnance community. Alphonse Esquires, a joumaiist who travelled

with a àrcus troupe in the 1860s, recaUed that

we [amvcd at] a rather decent ho* which was situated off the hIgh
road and amaaed but fkw visitors. Here 1 Zound assembled a pu* a
conjurer,an acrobat and some orher individuais belonging 00 the numaous
fieemasonry of Engiish races and faim."

If they aavefled with carsvans, the troupe needed to h d a vacant lot whae they could

set up th& camps and there they lodged cornmunally. If a c o m m d identity e m a g g l

from their living and work arrangements, it raises problems about how this state of mind

was negotiated with respectable society in Victorian Britain whose value were inttiateiy

connecteci to property ownership as a means of dkiefinition and active politid

participation. Seai b m this perspective, an itinerant Ufessrle dto detach and

disenfranchise the perhrmer, partidarly the one belonging 00 the "invisibledrcus," h m

n1. Parliament and the De&ate Over Rietom

The legal challenges that a w e d 6rwi the 1863 accident intensifieci such fèelinp.

Nowhere <ian the entent of the change be more cleariy seen than in the h c t that the

matter now came to the attention of Parliarnent, From 1863 to 1897, the attention of

both Houses was repeatedly drawn to the pmblem of dangerous perf0rmanœs and an

examination of the debates that biiowed provides a useful miview of the state of the

public mind on the question. The issue transoe~dedparcg lines in Parliament and thus

the groupings are dif6cuit to tram Neverthdess the strcmg infiuenœ of the Evangelid

lobby is deady visible duoughout.

2AlphonseEsquires, EnglLrb Pt Home (London, 1861), i, 344.

 152
However strong the outrage within P a r b a t , the pTacdcal problem of reguiadon

fbr a govemment whose instincts were Ilafsserfafrewas also vay d.Regulation was

ofkm lefk to bacbenchers and d y in the climate of much greater intervention in the

1890s did the governent take steps towards direct i n v o h e n t in remedylng the

problem of "dangernusperfbfmances.' The history of atœmpts at legislaticm between

1863 and 1897 is thus a story of widespread public sentiment on the maaa behg

expressed in the newspapers and of how this opinion was taken up by a small group of

backbench MPs and reforming Peers in Parliament Against this movemmt was a a N -

organized employer's and perbmer's lobby perpenially arguing thQr right to pursue theif

IiveLihoods as they saw fit.

Several days d e r Seiina Poweii's M,the Home Secrerarg, Sir George Grey, k e d a

series of questions in the Commons regarding the responsibilitg of the manager to his

perfomer. In response, he said that in cases where the performer was in evident danger

of losing his or her lik, the Smetaty of State had addressed Qrculars to the occupiers

and owners of piaces of amusement warning them of the respomibility they incunred and

the consequences which might result to them in the case of loss of W. "In gened, he

was glad to say such remonstrances had been attended with the deslred efferrm

Of course, the Home Office and the b r d Chamberiain's Office,the latter of which

was responsible for licensing places of amusement in the meaopoüs, were in a betœr

position to police such activitia in London than in the provinces. Some days a f k the

matter was raïsed in the Cornons, Spencer Ponsonby Fane of the Lord Chamberlain's

Office directed an intemal memo to W.Bodham Donne, who was in charge of reguiating

the theater, stating,

 the Lord Chamberlain desires me to draw pour attention to the recmt
accident to the 'kmaie Blondin' at Aston Park and to the rema& made
upon it in Parliament and the Prrss..and [desires] me to request thiu p u
wiU add this prohibition [ofdangerous Perfotmances] to the Regutaticms
respecthg theatres."

Bodharn Donne responded that while he would addrrss the prohibition in the List of

regulations,he would also watch over the büls and pocstem of the theaters in the

But these measures depended heavily upon the cooperation of the theater
rnetrop~lis.~

managers and therefore providecf no alternative means of enforcement. Years later when

Sir Richard Mayne, the Chief Comrnissioner of the Metropditan Pouce?was ercamined

before the 1866 Select Committee on Theatriml Licenses and Reguiations, he recailecl two

cases at the Aüiambra and the Cremorne Gardens, which were both in London, where

there was obviously great potential danger:

w e were prepared to try the question [against the m e r ] by action or

indicanent if he persisteci [in ailowing the dangerous perf'ofmances to
continue]...the proprietor yielded in those cases... But if we had actuaily
been forced to proceed by law, 1 am afkid our powers would have beai
rather ineffetti~e.~

The inadequacy of legal authority and the heightened awa~enessabout the dangers

of the trade which Selina Powell's fall caused thus set in motion the Dangerous

Performances Act which. interestingly enough, was not aimed at temale acrobats, such as

Selina Powell, but at children,who during the debates becarne the prime subjscts But

*PRO, LC/1/128,LC Out lette=, Lener h m Spencer Ponsonby Fane to Wm. Bodham
Dome, 29 Jdy, 1863.

nPRO, LC/1/127,LC In lette=, ktter h m Wm. Bodham Donne tn Spencer Ponsonby

Fane, 1 August 1863.

T h i s is discussed at Iength in the forthcoming chap~er.

the concern duriiig the debares for both women and chilchen involved in dangerous performances

d the fact that these groups were often conflated in Parliamentary discussions on
was c o ~ e a e to

issues Ehat relared to work: the Royal Commission report on agriculniral work in 1868/9, for

example, similariy linked women and children? Thar Selina Powell's unbom baby died because of

the accident raised questions about parental responsibility and die state's right to interfere with

child-rearing. Furdiemore, the fact that children of acrobats were o h &ed ar a young age by

their parents for rhis vade alerted legislators to the family-oriented nature of the problern. Given

the interconnefüon benveen the acrobat's family Iife and work, any attempr at legislaùng the

former wodd have had an impact on the iatter. While rhe Dangerous Performances meanire was

clearly an outgrowrh of the legal and socid anivity concernirig ehildren's welfare since the Factory

AN, it was &O a harbinger of other legislation to corne. During the 1880s, a massive 1 4 change

conceming the rights of children occurred as the Prevenrion of Cruelty to Children Act served to

demonstrate.

The Dangerous Performances Bill w u introduced rhree times in Parliament as private

legislation, in 1872, 1873 and 1879, the latter being the year when it was passed. Its sixteen year

history - which began in die form of a question put before the House several &ys afrer Selina

Powell's f u l in 1863 - is large1y amibutable to the fact that some MPs and Lords were aware of the

delicate balance between legihate morai regdation and tyrannical interference with a worker's

right to eam a living. Therefore, they acted reluctantly. In 1873, Lord Buckhunr, a Conservarive

Peer and aily of Lord Shaftesbury on this issue, moved that the Dangerous Performances Bill be

read for a second tirne in the Lords, and said that while he did not wish

'%eePP, R C on the Empiqment of CkdYrren. Yoztng Personsand Womm in Apicultzîre (1868-9),

vol. xüi.
 m inferfere with legitimate athietic and ggmnastic acercises...he thought
these exhibitions by adult perbrmers tendeci to degnde the pubiic sense.
What then must be the case when they were arhibipd by goung boys and
girls? He knew that this should be met by the objection that uniess the
training commenced at a very cvly age, children could not @rm such
feat~.~~

Adding to th& a fèw days later, the Earl o f Shaftesbury,whose work in connecdon with

the Factory Acts made him an unsurprising supporter o f this BU, noted "that these

of age whm th& litde bodies

wretched chüdren were not more than two or three y e a ~

were subjected to the tortures necesary for the work in which they were to be

engageci? He argued that the k t remedy Cor these dLPgraceful prslctices wouid be

bund ultimateiy in the operation of the Educatim Act of 1870 since this would

necessitate th& attendance at school.

For Shaftesbury and others, the issue was reduced to the question, did the

acrobatie aade expose diüdren to meity? In a letter that he had receirred on the subject

Shafiesbury informeci the Lods of its contents which were written %y a lad
a year ea~lier~

of seventeen." The acrobat-boy said,

My hther...trained me m do it. He began by twisthg rny limbs and back

bone when I was a iinle baby. I used to s&r most drradful and 1
remember when I was h m tOur to nine years o f age he used to maLf m e
twist myseif and remain twisted up tiii m y bones seemed to w m e away
h m eadi other and 1 was often iil with pain.'

Condemning the author of diis letter for his "CO& and b d story," one observer said in an

editorial piece that appeared several days later in the Era that "some wag has been pLaying

3LHansard,3d ser., vol. cv (1873), c. 1242.

3"The J w d eAcrobat,"Era, June 29, 1873,7.

33Hunsard,3d series, vol. 282 (1872),c.1503.

 156
a joke at the expense of the pious Earl? Yet,according to other membem in the

acrobatie trade, cruelty was, in employed by

fkt, some managers in th& training of

children. One contemporary tight rope ttainer told Mayhew that

some people when they teach their chilchen for any entemainment, torture
the Little things most dreadhil...it's very siUy because it only aightens the
Little things and some children ohen WUdo much more by kïndness than
ül-usage?

This was a point u p n which George Sanger agce!ed. In a 1-r to the Times, he argueci

that there was an important dilkrence krweai cruel parent-- and responsible

ones,iike himseif. In order to curb cruelty, he came out in support of regdatory

if the Government would appoint some pason to inspect the entire

business of training acrobaa, 1 shodd be only coo pleased?

Clearly, in the minds of some within the circus establishment, regulation was seen to be a

w f u l way of stamping out bad pracâces adopteci by disreputable mmagexs. In die weeks

before the passage of the 6rst Dangerous Pehrmanœs Act, the Marquess of Salisbury

wamed about placing too much b h e upon the m e r of the circus - whose d e , in the
-
debates, was bang c o n f w d with that of the parent-manager fot putthg chiidrai

engaged in acrobaties at risk. Admirtîng his own mnnection to the circus world, he said,

that

every Easter a arcus was emcted in one of his fields and a great number of
people came into his neighborhood to see it..and therefbre [according to
the conditions of the Biii,] he was the owner of that drcrs, though he must

?krobats in Parliament,"Era, 28 Jiifv 1872,4.

35Mayhew,493.

*To The Editor of the Times," Times, 10July 1872,12.

 venture to d e e 00 be either responsible for the age of the chiidrem
employed or the perfbnnances in which th- were en&?

While the Lords disputeci the subject of responsihllity, t h q agreed - in g- *th

contemporary debares about chiidrai's welfare - that chiidrem ought not m be allowed to
engage in perfbcmances dangerous to Ufe and Limb.

The logic of creating a iaw that pertained a> childten was made dear: that is, bp

prohibithg perbrrners, such as S e h a Powd, h m Paining h a chilcimm to do the same

tri& as she did, the next grneration would be without its m b a a . As the Earl de la

Warr, brmerly Lord Buckhum, said: "if pmons did not commence the practœ

of such pefformances when they were chlldren, they would nor be able to accomplish

hem in [adult] fi.* The Dangernus PertOtmances Bill was passed in its inidai brm in

1879,prevmting chiidren under 14 h m king trained and h m perfotming feats "that

were injurious to Lik and W, in the opinion of a wurt of summary jurisdiction," and

hirther stated thac any "parentor guardian or any person having the custody of suc& a

child who s h d aid or abet the same, SMseverally be guiity of an ofhce apainst rhis Act

and shall k...liable for each o b c e to a penalty not atcecdlng &IO.* In the event of

an accident, the law stated that the court "SU

have the power of awarding compensation

not exceeding 520 to be paid by the employer [ofthe place of entertainment] to the

~hild."'~

37Hamurd,3d ser., vol. d v i , (1879),c. 1407.

~PubZicGeneral Statues, Chiidren's Dangerous Performanœs An, 1879,42/43 WC.,ch.

34, s.3.
 158
ui 1880 John Edward Jenkuis, an Evangelical and Radical MP for Dundee,

inaoduced a private Bili into the Gommons which threatened to increase the onus upon

employer responsibility. As the author of Ginx's Baty: His Birtb a d Otber Mtsfortunes

(1873), Jenkhs was a part of the child-welEue lobby in Parliament and, as such, he

proposai to extend the Dangerous Perfi,rmancesAct. Jenkins's B U set out to "imposea

penalty o f £50 fbr each exhibition on the fÙst conviction and, on the second SIûû...to

lessees or occupiers of places of public perhrmanœ...whether under the supemision of

"In the case of a Company being the o h d e r , "it

the Lord Chamberlain o r ~therwise."~~

continued, "the person to be punished W rhe manager and if there be none, the

the Times that rhe proposed BU %as stopped engagements ali over the country,"an
exaggerated comment that said more about the adsting dimate of anxiety among

performers than the reality of th& employment? It was rhe case, howwer, that some

managers were so unsure about the currient state of afhirs that they qressed reluctance

to hire acrobats of any age. O n 12 August 1880,Karl Rozel, who d e d himseif the

"ElectricStar Gymnast," wrote a letter to the Lord Chamberlain's Office nrlmitting to the

confusion which Jerikins's BU prwoked:

Sir, 1 take the liberty to write to you conceming the Phühamonic Palace of
Varieties, having appiied to that hall lbr a situation for m y performance...the
proprietor said that he thinks it wodd be the Lotd Chamberlain.
So therefore, 1 write to you to ask you br your m o n to perform at
the W in the perfbrrnance termeci, 'the leap b r iifè', an mtidy safè

"sec "Acrobatie Performances,"TimesT1 March 1880,7;cf., BUS, Public; etc, A Bill to

Prevent the Exhibition in Places of Amusement of Aaobatic Perfio1111i111ces, 1880,10
February 1ûûO.

""Acrob~ticPerîormances,"Times, 17 March 1880,8.

 pedormance... having nothing in view [ h mwhich to eam a Living] at the
present excepting the Philharmoni~.~

In response to Rozel, Spencer Ponsonby Fane mate that

the Lord Chamberlain desires me to say that he does not inadkm with
regard to the decails of the management of theatres. The niles furnished m
the managers forbid dangernus performances and the manage^ are held
responsibie in the matter?

Since the 1879 Act, to which Ponsonby Fane Rkrred, only applied to those under

the age of 14, the issue remaineci open-ended and unciear Lor adult perfotmers, such as

Rozel, who were technically not induded in the new legislation. Some managers, such as

those at the Philliannonic, had reason for adopting a prudent attitude, despite the public's

desire to see adults perform dangerous m. After d,the Aquarium was singleci out in

this period by the inrd Chamberlain's Office and Home Office as an eample h m which

other theaters were m a t to take a lesson. The Chief Commissioner of Police -te to

the manager of the Aquarium:

Mr. Secretary Cross directs m e to give you notice that if the performance of
Zazel,[the gymnast]...is continued, or [if any accident occurs]...it will be m y
duty to communicate with the Licehging ust tic es.'

Clearly there was a double standard involved in m n t 1 0 h gdangerous performances.

Whereas Ponsonby Fane sateci k t the b r d Chamberlain's Office did not license speci6c

performances, such a s Rozel's, fiis office was instructed by the Chief Commissioner of

h m Karl Rozel, 12 August, IWO.

"PRO, LC 1 370,LC In kt~s,

''PRO, LC 1 370,LC In ktters, Letter h m Mr. S.l?J?.of the hrd Chamberhin's Offiœ
to Mr S. Harwood, the Philharmonie Theatre, 22 Sepcanber 1880.

'?CC, Munby CoUection, 110.13 (21), Chief CommilEcioner of Poiice and W.W.
Robertson to E.Y. Haderson, 21 April1877. ~ntemstingiy,Munby bUowed the
Dangerous Performances debate as it appeared in the newspaper and he managed to get a
hoid of this p ~ t correspondence.
d
 160
Police to rike an active role in controhg the perfbrmance of fernale acrobats, Liloe &el.

When the manager of the Aquarium did nothing to stop Zazel and other f;emaleaaobats

fiom performing, rhe pressure mounted. At a meeting of the Middlesex Magismas, the

Hon. E.C. Curzon moved that

the Court disapproves of exhibitions dangerous to iife and Limb..andchat

the manager of the Aquarium WUbe informeci that performances simüar to
those given at that establishment by Zaeo and Zazel will undoubtedly cause
the [drinking] license of the Aquarium to be brfèited."

A result of this -tic suppression was a sense of panic among perhrmers who were

placed in an increasingly vulnerable economic position and who wete f o d to ded with

loopholes in exkahg licensing reguiations and rnenacing Biiis.

Jenkins's Bill was in many ways a l o g i d outcorne of the regdatory lmpholes

which the 1879 law created and the b r d Chamberlain and the Police were responsible for

applying to fernale acrobats. In part, Jenkins's B U aimed m revise the 1879 law so that it

induded both adult fernale and M d performexs acting, among other things, on the

"uapeze or on bars, ropes or swings in any hall, @en, theam, pavilion, public house, or

other place where money is taken h r achibition."ls The new Bill also laid down a

requirement for nets and other sakty equipment, which wiii be discussed in the final

section of this chapter, stating:

nothing contained shall be taken ta forbid...ordinary acrobatie

performances on the stage! provideci that women and children under 14

"t'DangerousExhibitions,"Times, 23 Febbniary 1880,7. I t is interesthg that it took

three years hm the t h e the h t waming was issueci h r the Aquarium's license to be
removed.

o Prevent the Exhibition in Piaces of Amusement of Anribatic

4sBii&s,Public etc A B U t
Performances Dangernus to Lifk and Limb, 10 Febniary 1880,66.
 SM in no case incur peril of a EiIl of more than 6 Ceet on any
insuffiaentty pro- by cushioas or nets?

Not surprisingly the BU, although dismisseci in P;iriiament, promiceci a wave of

heated response outside it. In another letter of mmplaint directeci to Edward Jenkins, a

group of "professionalgymnasts and acrobats,' numbering

upwards of 150..seved of d o m specificd8y came h m Liveqmo1,

Manchester, keds, Birmingham, etc. [in order] to take part in the
P--@,
argued that many of the "clauses [had to bel more spedicaiiy defined.m Other opinion

cowidered that Pariiammt's attempts to pass the Bill's provisions were a>o littie and tao

Iate for those who needed protection. One writer fw the P e m y Illicsru&d Paper,for

had Mr ~enkins'srational measure [oq restriction been in force, the young

woman who went by the name of the ' F d e Blondin' would not have
faiien from a tight rope at a giddy hdght in Aston Park, Birmingham in
i 863.='

Jenkins's Bill was not passed,but a decade iater, d e n a simiiar measure was

introduced in Parliameni, some groups outside Westminster argued against goveniment

controis, turning to the weii-esrabiished "Eur play and ike trade"debate that infOrmed

previous discussions of theaaicai regulationd2 The Dai& TeCegrapb, for example, ran

Sa"TheDangernus Pehrmances BU,"Times,3 March 1880,7. The meeting was

arranged in nsponse to the B U pro@ by Edward Jenkins, M.P. several weeks earlïer.

'*The fdi extent of this issue that relates to the long history of abokhing the
monopoiy which the Theatres Royal Dmry Lane and Covent Garden hdd mer the
theatrïcal trade. Standard works on the subject inciude Watson Nicholson, Shuggk forA
Fme Smge (New York, repr. 1966); AUardyce Nicoli, A History of EngZlfsb D r .
(Cambridge, repr. 1852-59); Dewey Ganzei, "PatentWrongs and Patent Theatres: Drama
and the Law in the Early Nineteenth Century," PMU, UMVI (1961): 3843%. For work
that de& with the complacity of d-g the h, and new theatrid genres thaf wac
 162
several opinion pieces on the subject in the Spring of 1891. Perhaps SUreeiing h m the

Middlesex Mag*trates' earlier opposition a> his house, G.M.F. Molesworth, the manager of

the R o y d Aquarium wrote:

it behows managers of theam for th& own professicmal reputation and

hancial success to keep up that high standard of art which meets with the
approvai of hndoners and visia>rs h m ail paro of the world. if anything
objectionable shouid creep in,such matters can be betrer dealt with by the
proprietors of the theahtes and the Lord ChamberLain in a Quiet,
gentlemanly way than by bodies inexperienced with theatrid
requirements?

Simiiarly, Robert Budianan of the LHc Club responded: "al gcmernment restrictions on

public amusernent are certain to becorne crass and tyrannical since good taste is not a

sentiment to be a-eated by an Act of Parliament?

Despite the outay, the revised Biii which was introduced by Jesse CoUinp Pb.-b;onaS?

Bumingham, Bordsley Div.) and the Secretary of Srate, Sir Matthew Whie Ridley, became

law in August 1897. Howwer, it took considerable a r t to bring MPs to agreement upon

various clauses wifhin it, particularly those conceming women and the age Mt for

training dùlciren and allowing thern to perfonn. The Attorney General, Sir Richard

Webster, wrote to the Home Office on 26 January 1897,to Say bt,if women were to be

left in the Bill, "such an enamnent would promote considerable opposition...[aldrough Il

have no particular objection to the prohibition of such performances by wornen?

d i f f i d t to categorize within it, pareiculariy before the 1843 revision, see Joseph Donohue,
"Burletta and the Early Nineteenth Century Engiish Theatre,"NttLeteentb Gmtzq Cenhayatm
Researcb 1(1)Spring 1973: 29-51.

53"Theaagand Music Halls,"Dai& Tekqp-upb,3 March 1891, 4.

-"To the Editor of the Dai& Telegapb,"Dai& Tekgmpb, 6 March 1891,3.

%PRO, Ho 45,10125/B 13853~itr., h m Attorney G e n d to Home O f B q 26 Jan-

1897.
Ultimately women were left out of this measure whose -p mœm was tn p m t

young persons under the age of 18 h m PerfOrnUlng dangerous hts. V[he Biii thus]

goes as Eir as public opinion will agree to for the moment," said Coiiinp in the wake of
an acadent involving an aaobat-giri at CardEY

Yet, many within the drcus esabiishment again Mt chat this regulation would

cause considerable damage to th& livelihoods. An imporent pressure group, the

including JesseCollings and White Ridley, in order to vent the amcerns of the

hsociation's members who induded performers, as weU as pmpnetom, despite the

organization's narne. Expressing the vulnerability holt by its members, Mr Rutland, the

solicitor o f the Association, stated that the

Act of 1879 is a pend measure...it makes us liable of a criminal o h c e and

the decision of the magistrate is to be baseci not upon evidence but upon
his opinion?'

Their concerns took o n an inaasingiy d o u s pitch when they were tied to practid

for the last five yeam w e have beai seriously harasdad by exrrane persans
and we want to prrvmt a repetition of that sgstem [since] [theAct noy]
&ives two kinds of punishments, one, a penalty off 10 and [two, the
obligation to] compensate any young p e m n who shall susîain acniaI
personal injury.'"

"PRO, Ho 45, 10125 B 13853/6,ln.,Jesse Collings to Sec of State, Home Office,17

February 1897.

"PRO, HO 45, 10125 B 135853J5, The Proprietor of Entermhmmts Asoc.,

represented by J.H. Jennings, chairman, Mr k Moal (Alhambra), Henri Gros
(Meuopolican), J.BrU @oyal), J-Chappai (Queens), Mr.Tozer (South London), and Philip
J. Rutland, solicitor, with Sir Matthew Ridley, Mr Jesse Cohgs, Mr Cunningham, Mr
Longley and Mr Guest. Notes on Deputation, 30 April 1897.
 164
Furthermore, R u h d pleaded, "we hope that you WUnot n d [the minimum age,

since] the proprietors think that would be a great hardship? He agued, dthough

erroneously, chat since there had been no prosecutions under the Act of 1879,the good-

will of managers to obey the legisfation has been b O l l S t r a f e d . hdeed, he contended

that the Bill was "adead letter.40 Sir Matthew White Ridley however took a dl&rent

view and argueci that "the purpose of the Act of ParliamentAs not intendeci oniy m

punish but to prevent."6L

Finding themsefves at a seiiemate at thig meeting, the m e r s of the Association

later issued a statement suggesting chat the exïshg law of 1879 mnœmhg "dangerous

performances" not be extendeci*but that if it were, then the minimum age for @nning

should be set at 16 years oid, rather than at 18 years, as the B U proposal. This request,

they believed, would complement a provision within the P-ion of Cmdy to Children

Act of 1894 which prevented childten under 16 from king trained as gymnasts,

contortionisa or other circus performersa In addition, the Association added that the

proposeci B U should "not apply to gymnasts, acrobats, contortionists or ckms

~ R OHo , 45, 10125 B 13853fi, leîter h m Phüip Rutland, solidtor forthe

Proprietors of Enterrainers Assoc., to the Rt Hon., Jesse C o h p , ME, 4 Mag 1897; cf.
Public General Statutes, A n Act fbr the Preventicm of Cmelty to C h i l b , 1894, 57/58 Vic.
27. The link between restrictions on emplogmenr, as provided by the Prevention of
Cruelty to Chiidren Act, and the creation of the school baard sptem was, as John Giiiis
argues, an important development in the creation of cbildhood and adolescent culture.,
see John Giiiis, Yoircb and History: T r d i f t m a d Cbange in Eutr,pem 4ge R e t a t i m
(New York, 1981).
 165
. ~ Association was not alone in wishlng for this. An e a r k letter h
p e h î ~ e r s The m

Mr Byme, MP,to Mr Digby, MP, had sirnilarly suggested that "exhibitionsof skifi and

suength not be considered dangerous exhibitions under the Act by a magbtrate?'' But

these proposed restrictions seemed r i d i d o u s to many concerneci with the pâssage of chir

piece of legislation. H A Taylor,MP, fOr example, replicd causticaity to Rudand's q u e s t :

if it is the intention of the govemment to exdude acrobats, contorîionists,

and circus performers..siay 1 ask..wfiat people are 00 be induded if these
are notPs

The dSEicuity of de8ning preaseiy what constituted a "ciangemusperhrmance,"

evidenced by Mr Byme's letter and Mr Tayior's comment, was dcmonstrated. There was

hrther inconsistency and confusion in the sense that the Prevention of Cmelty to

Children Act of 1894 prohibiteci childm under 16 h m king trained as acrobats while

the rwised Dangernus Perfbrmances Biil sought to prevemt those d e r 18 h m

perfiïrming as acrobats. Seen Erom o n e perspective, this proposed Iegislation was harmful

to many circus Eamilies in the sense that the two year intervai between 16 and 18,the

period during which rime children were bdng trained, also marked a time when families

could not reap the economic ben&= of the* chiidrens' practice.

The Proprietors of Enterminmens Association continueci to put pressure on

Parliament and to express its opposition to the BU. In the p r o a s , its members made

their professional unity and strength Mt Confirrning the strength of opposition to the

63PR0, Ho 45, 10125 B 13853c/5, letter h m Phihp Rutiand, soiiamr fOr the
Propnetors of Entertainers Assoc., to the Rt. Hon., Jesse CoIlings, MJ., 4 May 1897.

6sPR0, HO 45, 10125 B13853/6, letter h m H A Taylor, M.P., to Phiüp Rutiand, the
Proprietors of Entertainments Assoc., 2 May 1897. If thb date is correct, there appears to
be an inconsistency between this date and the pcevious letter daoed 4 Map 1897 h m
Phiiip Rutland.
BU h m within the perfi,~znanceestabiishrnent, Charles Gmingtm, the Lord

Chamberlain between 1892 and 1895,wrote to CoIlings mg,

i hope p u WUstand ânn with p u r Dangerou Perfbrmances BU. When 1

was Lord Charnberiain, 1 was m m anxious to get somediing done in dS
direction but the pmfkssional oppition is verg ~ t r o n g . ~ ~

H e then implied a distinction between managers of "visiblearcuseSlnwho he assumed

were respectable, and those of "invisiblecinrusesud o s e practces towmds children, he

beliwed, might be cruel in the sense that they involved instruction in a variety of

physidly demanding acts. Carrington stated:

no doubt in the great 'troupes'there is not much crudty. But [th- is

such treatment] in travelling citcuses,where the poor chiidfen are not
confineci to specialty a m , such as 'ridùig', 'rope dancing' etc. but have to
iearn werythlng?

young pesons. In its h a 1 hm,the Act raised the minimum age for performing

acrobaties "in piaces of public amusement"h m 14 to 18 Cor girls and h m 14 to 16 for

boys.' Predictably, these weifare laws - that of 1894 which reniaineci unchangeci and
that of 1897 - produceci a new set of eccmomic exigenties for circus hmiiies. At another

general meeting of acrobats and 8ymnasts on the eve of the revised Bifi's passage, the

Chairman, Mr. Richard Wamer, echoed the fears of many by anticipating that

if [it] passed, [it] wodd inflict cruel injhes upon the acrobats and
gymnasts of Engiand...rob[bing] many fàmiiies of th& üveiihood...ff the

"PRO, Ho 45, 10125/B13853c/5,lemer h m Charles Carrington to Jesse CoIlings, 50

Grosvernor Square, 3 May 1897.

671bid.

%&lic Genetal Statutes, Dangerous Perfbrmances Act, 1897,@/61 Vit, c52, S. 1.

 age iimit were increased to 18,it would be impossible to get acrobars at
dl."

Furthemore, he continued,

people liked this class of perfOrmers and it ought not be interkred with in
the manner proposeci. If it were stoppeci, gymnasïums should be stoppeci
also,and children shouid not be allowed to ride bicycles in the smxs."

Since the trade was a fiimily enterprise, any employment reguiations impinged on both the

Eamily incorne and the p a r e n t d d reiaticmship. From the acrobat's perspective, this

intervention, initiated in the name of sakty and morai impmvement, violateci a series of

rights which were at the mot of a fitee society, particulariy, the parents' rights to rear theh

children as they saw fit. That ParLiament could fiirthermore inter& with their ability ta

eam a living raised important questions, namelyyat what point would reguladon stop?

Many beiieved that once the door of regulation was opened, as it had been in 1879,it

would be impossible to shut it. Based on the fàct that the laws of 1894 and 1897 M e r

regulated the acrobat's trade, these fears were weii-Dunded. Acrobats had Me
r reason

to f w for their livelihoods. Under attack was not only tfieir emnomy and hmiiy

structure, but, as we will see, a system of aesthetic d u e s that made the acrobatie art

unique.

W . The Controversy over Aesthetics:

Sexuai Pleasure, Atfiteticism and Danger

Despite or perhaps because of the straigth of moral opinion which was set aaaihft

"dangerousperbrmances,"the public continued to paPonize these -dons idter Seiina

Powell's fail. The question ofwhat motivateci the popular impulse to see them was a
 168
cornplex one, driven by pop* interest in sexuaiity, athleticism and danger. As the

femaie acrobat provoked this interest, her work was seen as contnmeRial and, to m e

onlookers, as unrespectable- Catirming the public's desire for dangerous pedbrmanœs,

Charles Sturge, the Mayor of Birmingham,who was irnplicated in the S e h Powell a&ir

for having his name on the bills as a patron of the exhibition, publidy responded to the

Queen's protestations in July of1863 with the excuse that he had no idea thac a

dangerous performance would be attempted and as a result,

there is not in the kingdom an individual who lamen6 more sinœrely than
myseif not onfy the meiancholy accident to which pou refèr, but the
depraved taste for the barbarous s@es of amusement *ch unhappily
has becorne popular not oniy in the metroplis but in aii parts of her
Majesty's home dominion?'

Of course, the Selina PoweU case was doubly controvezsial given the fact that a woman -
and a pregnant woman, at chat - performed the h t s . But,whüe most opinion in

Birmingham agreed in horror that Selina Powell did not belong on a high wire whiie

pregnant, more generai opinion concerning the presence of women on high-whs was

highly fragmented. The distinction between her pregnant condition and her sex was

important as the latter fisa began to eclipse the debate sunrounding dangerous

performances.

Consistent with Birmingham's dvic ~ n i t ya, m

~ernorial was issued immediateiy

alter the accident,conraining 1,dl6 signatures drawn h m all classes including the "clergy,

magistrates, bankers, merchants, manufacturem and othm residing in Birniingham?

- -

''"The Femde Blondin Caolstrophe,,"Era, 2 August 1864, 11.

%ee Asa Briggs, "Birmingham: The Mahlng of a Civic Gaspei," in VictOtjCUt CfWs
(London, repr. 1968).

nPRO, Ho 45,7472, 1 August 1863, Memorial of the undersigneci Cl-, h&@rrates,

Bankers, Merchants, Manuhcmms, and 0th- r-esidingin Binninpham.
 169
The document stated that "such exhibitions [as the S e l i Powell
~ one] are in the highest

degree degrading and injurious to the wdl being of ~ociety."'~

Alpeeing with the

sentiment,W i Montague of the Thtzatre at Lewes,amdemned "suchexhibitions where

b a l e s are placed in jeopady" and, in a spirit of bottbomie, enciosed "2s.66 in stamps oo

the children of the late Mrs Powetl," adding that he hoped 'many 0th- will fbiiow my

example on behalf of the motherless children? While the exact ratio between men a>

women =bas is unknown, some specuiated that the latter outnumbenxl the former

and therdbre anracted wider attention. One gymnast said it was unfair that "them œ

celebrated Brothers Chillin-orie [sic] are ourmipped by the appearance of a

flying lady," adding that "anybody that understands the art of gpmnastIcs WUlook upon

these ladies as a mere decepcion? Another h d e contemporary, writing of the Ropal

Aquarium, remarked that managers evidencly prefèrred putting women's h e s in pail

eittier because they believed that there wexe too many women in the world or b u s e

they were cheaper and l e s troublesome to train tban men." What was dear, h m t ,

was that

women fai ofiener than men, are to be seen risking th& Lmes m g ,
pleasure to a crowd which is tao bmtaiized to c m br any l a s stimdating
a ~ n ~ r n t ~ ~ ~

Their performances were controversial not oniy due to the danger involved in

them but also b u s e of the sexuai messages they wnveyed to their audiences. One

"Ibid.

""To The Editor of the Era," Era, 2 August 1863,11.

" m e Gymnasts of the Period: To the Edimr of the Era," Era, 19 September 1869,7.
""A Cruel Sport,"Satwday Revfew, 7 Feb, 1880, 173-4. .
.

781bid.
 170
London County Cound inspecter remuked that the architecture of the gaiiery where

Zaeo performed necesitateci that she hover over the heads of the audience and he added

that, "itis not altogether desirable to place a fernale in this indelicate position, pfoviding

dl with a view of her f b m ~ S. i~

m h r b one commentatm -te to the Era, condemning

those "proprietorsand that certain dass" who "[are in- in m g ] the sen we

look...to for modesty and refinement instead [rah on] a brazen appearanœ.".o The

costumes that acrobao wore caused quite a controvemy in this regard, =me observing

that they lefi littie to the imagination. Simllar to the woman in BLm who is the objea of

the male spectator's "gaze"dexribed by Laura Mdvey, the f b d e -bat was

"isolateci...on display and Sexualized."' On one occasion Munby, who ftequented the

His idiosyncratic interest in the livg of "inkrior"women

a~robats."~
-
M o r d Music HaLl in London, noted that "a very pretty Engüsh girl, of 18 or 20,aim and

slight and shapely standing about 5'4" pedbrmed [one m g ] with male

made him acutely

sensitive ro the female acrobat's moral and physicai befng. He observeci h a perfi,tming

with her companions:

The only clothing she had on was a biue satin doublet fitting ci- to her
body and having very scantly truck hose below it. Her anns were aü bare;
her legs, cased in fleshing, were as good as bare, up to the hip?

79seeTracy C. Davis, "SB< in Public Places: the Zaeo Aquarium Scanda1 and the
Victotian Moral Majority,"Tbeatre Histoty Studfes, (1990): 1-14.

.OnTheGymnaso of the Period: To The Edimr of the Eru,"Era, 19 September 1869,7.

"For a psychoanalytic treatment of the voyeufisticapophiiic look that relates to
women in h, see ïaura Mulvey, Visual Pleasures and Narra* Cinema,. Serran 16.3
(Autumn 19751,13.

9 e m k Hudson, Munby: Man of T m Ww&, 182&29ûû Wndon, lm),285,

SaturdayJune 11, 1868 enrry.
Such dress - worn by lemale dancers as well - inspirrd the Lord Chamkriain to issue a
waming in 1869 to aii theaters and public plaas of amusement in the metropok whf&

stated,

the Lard Chamberiain has learned with regm that there is much rrason m
cornplain of the impropriety of cosnime of the ladies in the pandomimes,
burlesques, etc. whidi are now being perfOrmed..he has bem m a
unwilling to inte* in a matter which he considers ought more properly
be lefi to the disaetion and good ~ s t o
ef the managas... now hcmever, that
the question has been QIren up by the press and pubiïc opinion...he kek
himself compeIied to d it to the serious attention of the managersm

Of course, the munter-argument used by mamïgxs such atmcks by the Lord

Chamberlain and the press, was that "shortdresses, etc... [were] obviously worn to assist

rapidity of motion, ease and gras."-

Reinforcing the memorandum of 1869,the Lord Chamberlain issueci another

urgmtiy repeat[ing] the a p p d made to than to assist in abating die then

growing scanda1 which has now reached a dimax [regading]...the indecent
dances and the immodest dresses which now form so prominent a pan of
the aitertainmeno at some theaters..and o n e more [asking] th&
assisrance and cooptation in putting a stop to it.'

No doubt many perceiveci that the fernaie atmbat's costume enhanceci the erotic appeal of

her display, parricuiarly when she Performed with men. Munby d o s e views, althou@

extreme, were likely shared, aibeit in a Iess intense way, by that "certain class" of

spectators to which the editorialist in the Era reférred, witnessed Madame StemenbSLch at

rhe St. James Hail, and made diagrams of her in his diary of, "ha body and loins [which]

&PRO, LC 7 16,lener h m V i i u n t Sidney to the Managem of the Theatres in the

Jurisdiction of the Inrd Chamberlain, 28 Jan- 1869.

""Music Halls," GGounuorm a d Emning Nws,2 Feb~ary1868,2.

&PRO, LC 7 16 (1873-1881me), Lprd Chamberlain's Memorial, 21 December 1874.

 172
were cased ui close fiaing spangles, and her l w , up to the very hips were naked?

Perfbnning with her husband, the latter

held her out or upwardsÜpon her head [as she lay on his back]...he tossecl
her about h m side to side, placing the sole of his fbot actually in the fOrk
between her thighs...he chen flung her b d m a d s mer into a somersauit."

"The pretty Engiish girl" about whom he wrote at the -rd Music Hall, also insplred

eroticism fbr Munby:

[She slid] d m headfimmost mer the body of one of the men, and then
catching her feet under his armpits and mming upon again by gnsping his
body between her knees and his I e g with her han&, whIlst she brought her
head and shouiders up by a s-g muscuiar efféct?

Yet, while the ambat's performances may have given rise to sexuai interpretation,

her "strongmuscular conditionnspoke to the ways in which contemporay discousse

concerning physical development aanslated into a sgstem of discipline, order,and

neatness, partidarly among boys and giris.'O Besides schools where 'pou wiil find in

the tecfeational grounds, gymnastic apparatus etc.," working men's ciubs provideci such

Cragg, who unüke most aaobats, was not born into the
equipment? kcording to J.W.

trade and initialiy worked in the machinery department of a p ~ t i n office

g in Manchester,

"TCC, Munby Diaries, ~01.33,25 April 1865.

900nthis point,see John Springhall, Youtb, E+ and Socfety: BHtfsb Youtb

Movements, 1883-1340 (London,l977), ch. 3 "PIaying the Garne" and ch. 4 "Dutyand
Dkcipüne"; cf. Raphael Samuel, ed. FaMo- t h Mùking and U d n g of
Identfty,ml. 2 Minoritia and Outsiders -don: 1989) tbr a COZtSideration of the
negotiation berween Britishnesr and imperhi c u l m .

the Editor of the Times,"Times, 10 Jufy 1872, 12.

9LwTo
 1 practiced everydq, almg with my mate, on the bars and handles and
levers and such Wre in the machine room...[lam joining] the Working
Men's Club where there was a gpmnasium, fitœd up with trapezes, rings,
parailel bars and the usual W t u r e in such a place?

The eiusive marter about the extent to which the fimale aaobat saw hem& as an

object of sanial or of athietic interest was a d d d in a defedve smement by one

h a l e acrobat called Zaeo. Dismisshg the daim of impropriety in her displags, she

instead focused on the healthfulness of her work. When asked a question in an inmview

with the Dai& GmpMc about whether she thought that sewe muscular training was bad

Ior girls' health, she stated,

Bad! Why [acrobatie training] is the very best thing in the word fOr them.
Look at me. I was a P r , slender, prreakly chilci and now 1 weigh 12s. 2ib.
1 never have a cold, a cou*, a day's iiiness of any sort!1 cmly eat two meais
-
a &y, very simple and susraining in m y early breakfast and late suppa
and never eat or drink between the mm. Some day I may open a ggmnartic
class for girls myself, as 1 have a k i i n g that it would help to make young
women h o w how vaiuable such training is to di& hture health. But 1 am
@ad to see, both on the Continent and in England, much more attention is
now king paid to the physid training of o u sex!'?

Her desire to teach gymnastics was consistent with contemporary trends,such as the

Swedish D d i , which were designed to promore physid de~elopmentfor girls in Britain.

Indeed, girls' gymnastic schools, such as the Orion Gymnastic Club on Cadeton

St., Hadaiey that ofireci "a ladies dass [which] meets for practice on Saturday moTningsn

mushrwmed in the lare-nineteenth cencury and chereby complemented the d d o p m m t

in boys' and men's physical training?" Aomrding to the (iynoiasr, a mnoemporary

*CFA scrapbook, Robert Machray, "The Greatest of Acrobat~:The Mandous Craggs,"

W i d o r Magazine, n-y.,198-90.

grThe Makuig of krobats: An Interview of Zam," Dut& Grapbic 13 Pebniary 1892,5.

%F.Graf(ofOrion Gymnasiurn), Hints to Ciyrnnasts: Beîng hrgsound Advfœ und Hints to

Leuders a d Teaders in Gymnustics and Scbook (Lundon, 1898).
exercise magazine, which had a dub direc#,ry of gymnasiullls throughout Iandon and the

Provinces, thex were ten such plaas rhroughout the rnepopolis that o&rrd ladies

dasses" with speciai lady instructors. Subsaiptions Yaried, but cust 7/6 per e w q six
mondis with an entrance fèe of 2/6" at Wdthamstcnn Gymnastïc Sodetg in North East

London and "1% per am." at Northampton and County Amateur Athletic Club in

Northampton. While men had more clubs to ch- h m in b d o n than women,many

of the Iargest clubs catered to both sexes, such as the Orion Gymnastic Society,

Walthamstow and others. Basexi on the listings in the dymnast, Croydon's Frauiein

Will<e*sGymnasium catered ody to women and giris, pmviciing "ggmnarticclasses fw

ladies of the Church Institute on Wednesday and Sa- afkmoons...with speciai classes

for married ladies on Saturday momings?

In addition to indoor sports activities, women and giris besme involmi in outside

activities. The appearance and popularity of the bicycle plpvided the Orion Gymnasium in

Hackney with another way of attraceing new members and they advwtised that "a cycluig

school has been opened here...for the teaching of cycIïng a> Ladies and ûentiema."%

Remarking on this trend, Punch ran three illustrations

which have for their subjects the now khionable sport of cycling and
go1f...this shows the grip that outdoor sports has obrained upon
iàshionable society and when in addition to this we îhd upon the
bookstaiis half a dozen weekiies and monthlies devoted to Ladies' cycling,
we reaiize t h the stmng tide of athletidsm is sweeping a c ~ a ythe long
dierished prejudicer [about women and sport] of our forefithers?

G y m m , 1 April 1894, 2(33), 193-4.

% dymnast, 1 December 1896,(64), 2.

h Sport," dymnaFt, 1 June 1896, v(59): 505.

9 7 n P ~ cand
 175
The appearance of the Gymnast rxqpzine and a host of gpmnastic manuab, such

as William Blaüde's Sound Bodiesfor Bgys and Girk (1884) and FJ. Harvey's PbysfcaC

Enercfsesfor GfrLF (1896)attested to the growth of sports for giris. These and othes

man& were dear in distinguishing the gender cüvide, suggcsting the kinds of actmities

suitable for each sat Accordhg to the 1898 pamphlet, H i e to Gymnass: m g Sound

Advice and Hfnts to LeQders a d Teucbers,

the weaker sex aill nanirally not require such difBCU(t or hard work as
boys; it should never be the object of the tPiICher to maloe girls under him
m u d a r or 'stmng women' but rather sound, heaithy women...Jt is best a>
avoid for girl's ciasses such exmcbes as wide saaddling or wide lunging
movemen~.~'

For f b d e acrobats and other such Performers engageci in kars of strength? it was

important to create an image of kmininity, on one hand, and athletidsm, on the o u .

According to Madame Vicrorina, who carrieci a cannon weighing 300ibs,with 56 ib

weighs artacheci to it at the Trocadero in London befOm a ci^^^ who iived next dmr

put pressure on the management to withdraw the act: " . . . t h is only what 1 cal1 playing at

the business, as 1 do not want to make m y show look d i s p d d . " Ha husband

interjected, "Madame means that to put f h h her full strength entaiis snaining and e h n

and would look ungracehil. pomen] must not [simpiy] lin heayr weights, but Lift them

with apparent esse? Thus, the comection benmm gracefulness and kminhity, so

Pg"Heminesof the Hour: Madame Victorina,"Lioensed Victudém' M i m , 17 Deoembkr

1889, 5, ciipping hund in Munby D i q , 110.13 (14).
apparent withui Victorian advertising, Cound its place within the dnw ring, music hall

and pleasure ground.'"O

The very basis of the aaobat's succes depended upon the ptxhrmer negotïating

various atshetic codes chat werr sometimes in d m 1 0 1The won,fbr o r p I e ,

between the public's approd of her "lady-likenathletic exhibitions, on the one han4 and

the controversy surrounding her sexuaiiy-ploy0cative and costume, on the other,

made her task of aesthetic negotiation inherently problematic and compler in the course

of her display, the acrobat confused respectable and unrespectable d e t i c coâes,

paradoxidy creating market demand. hporcurtdy, the negotiation pmœss in which she

was engageci meant rhat she abandoned both aesthetic extrema and, in exchange, played

a garne with the audience in which it appeared thar she might aansgrss behavioral

boudaries but, in k t , stoppeci short of doing so? For example, although Zaeo and

others wore costumes that made thern appear nude, they we!re not nude on cioser

inspection and rhey did not mnwe any articles during th& performance, as in ppuiar

burlesque, to M e r excite or alarm the audience. The point hem is that the =bat was

lWFor a recent treatment of women and changing cultural ideas, parti&@ with
respect to kmininity, in the context of late-Victorian adveftising, see Lori Anw Loeb,
Connrming Angek: Ad~enirfng and VidOrfatt Women (NewYork, 1994).

'''For a discussion about the compromise between respectable d u e s and leisure

among the middle dass,see Peter Bdey's " A Mingled Mass of P a f s d y Legitimate
Pleasures': The Victorian Middle Class and the Problem of Leisure," Vict-tt Srudies 1977
(22) no.1. For music hall audienas see, Dagmar Hoher's "The Composition of Music Hall
Audiences, 1850-1900,"in Music Ha& %BUSfness of Pbasure ed. Peter Baitep @fikm
Keynes, 1986), chap. 4.

'020n transgression see Sdiybrass and White, Politta and POetfcs of Tratt~gressim
(London, 1986), 21-33; c.f. Mikhail Bakhrin, Rabehis mid HLr W d ,trans. H&e
IswoLksky (Bloomington, 19û4). See ch.3. "PopularFestive Forms and Imslgesnand chp.5
"TheGrotesque Image of the Body and Its Sources"; on wider issues of interpredng frrahte
behavior in which the acrobat might be seen a1 be engaged, see P e m Phiherty, "Rradiag
Carnival: Towards a Semiotics of History," Clio 15.4 (1986): 411-428.
 177
engaged in symboüc play arising b m opposing aesthetic impulses wWui the pubiîc

domain that stemmed h m community ssandards as well as hiiman intesest and desire. It

was a g m e that was uitimately conditicmeci by nuieheanth centurg values conceming the

human body?"

Despite the partial sublimation of her sttength to her gender identity, the essenœ

o f the acrobat (and other athietic performers) was her superhuman dexterity. Her

anempn at defying gcavity placecf her in the mle of a culairal figure rebelling against

static forces, eaectively dniorcing herseif h m the outside world. The Éunlliar Past-

Impressionist image of Miss La La at tbe CfrqueFernatZdO1wpainted by Edgar ï k g a s

( c o i n t i d e n a ~in~ the same year that the Brst Dangerous Performances Act was passedl

suggests this view. Above the spectators's heads appears Miss La La who strains herseif

upwards by clutching a rope in her mouth until she &es the high wire. Not ody does

she divorce herself ternporarily h m the outside world but she furthet detaches herseif

from her vieweis - a point to which 1 wiii rerum - in diis elevated state. The culturaUy-
coded reasons for the audience's attraction to these b t s raises some larger questions

conceming the society's relationship to nature (ie: are heights something a,be fèared?)

and the relationship between people generaiiy (ie: dws it matter if she Eillsl) during this

period. The issue of danger thereby takes on an interesting dimension which the legal

evidence conceming acrobats, described in the second seccion, ody touches.

- - - - - - - - - - - --

'"%ctor Turner, F m Ritual to Tbeatrie: î?w Huntcuz Serjolcstzess of PCixy (New York
1982). Turner places particular importance cm the d e that leisure plaged in the
industrial world in order to invert, parody, satirize, lampooril burlesque or subdy put
down the central values of the basic work sphere society- a aeed, he would agre!e with
-
Bakhtin whidi is prcsait in all societies. CC. Saven Marcus?Tbe O t k VicïOtfattS
(London, 1966) for a nineteenth century view of the body and h m this rrlates a> Turner's
inversion thesis conceming "piay"in the industrial period.

'"1 am hoping that its f h i b r i t y will excuse its non-reproduction here.

 I t is worth mentiorhg parenthetidly that other gravity-g amusements such

as ballcmning gained incrasing popdaritg in this period. Perœived as dangerous on one

band, but scienaficaiiy innovative on the other, balloons could be scen asclendhg

regularly h m Vawhall and Cremome M e n s in London. Combining acrobaties with

ballooning, G A Farini inaoduced a leap h m a balloon in the Alexandra Park. Reporting

on this one commmtator said that

several members of the House of Lords seem ferribîy mubled by the

announcement that the feat would be atmnpted and since its
accomplishment it has been descrikd in ait sorts of opprobrious
te= ,...Weff, some terrible things have been said about most inventicms
and discoveries...the taik about trainways befbre railwags came hto use
gave rise to ail sorts of alarmist feats.'"

O n e important aspect which sgmed to provoke outrage and dIsapproML was the

blurred meaning of these high wire or balloon acts, an ambiguity which could only be

resoived by darifying the situation in which they were performed. That is, acmrding to

one viewer who watched Mdm. Blondin at the Alhanibn Paiace in 1861,

if a poor needle woman worn out with care and Eatigue, becornes wearied
of her hard Life [and] throws herseif into the Thames, she is taken behre
the Magistrates and perhaps imprisoned...[whezea~] a poor litîie woman
who assumes the name of the Female Blondin ascends [for rnoney] h m
the stage to the top of the Alhambra upon a wire which is of a verg
ciangemus chafacter [and is applauded by her audience]

in a relateci way, Munby d e d a fémaie anobat at the Oxford Music Hall and said that if

she had not been a perfomer, "every man present would have rushed m the rescue or

asist her; as it was, she had hired h e d to d o such a thing, and they sat to see her

do it."'07 In the c o n t a of the commercial market Zor Leisure, audiences paid for the

'-CFA, scrapbook #604,%.

, 1, LC In-ktters, 20 July 1861,Ltr. to the Lord Chamkrlain fiom W.Gare*

L 0 6 P ~ 0LC

'07H~dson,
287.
 179
uncerrainty that lay behind the resuls of these dangerous acts, a fact which -y

inside and ouside Parliament pause to think.

Thus, looking beyond the aiterCainet. the question conceming the Qu- and

other disapproving observers was, what made popuiar taste amaned 00 these acîs?

According to Aiderman Lloyd at a meeting of the Town Council of Birmingham

imrnediately after the Seha Poweii accident

[aimost]...eveqwhere and in every description of public entertainment there

was a morbid craving for sensational excitement.'"

In Oldham, fbr example. at the Adelphi Music Hall in 1871."the Brothers Ban-

arecuted sorne daring hts on the trapeze thxi at a height of 20-30 -.and one of the

three men kU into the orchestta hPiidfDtem0st." The response of audiences, accordhg to

the report, was a single one of "panic"where 'men yeiied and women saeamcd''O)

Another writer suggested that

[evenwhen the act is performed pmperiy] and the actor only l o o k as

though he would slip h m the Pape, as if he were fàüing head f o ~ e m o s t
on the people beneath him and then catches hirnself with his feet on the
horizontai bar..xrcams [are generally eliated] 6rom the femaie portion of
the audience, and kquently h m the s t e m m sar a l s ~ . ' ~ ~

But for performers such as Blondin, the h o u s Yero of Niagara, (Incidentaiiy fimm

whom Madame Blondin derived her name) such ans were denised ta give the iIIuson of

danger. For him, the tension was not between lifk and death, but between illusion and

reaîity. In an interview he recalled the only time in his career when he met an accident

LmVublicMeeting at the Town HA,"BimingbamJoMial25 J d y 1863,7.

Serious Trapeze Accident," Abytwytb Obsetwr, 4 Febmary. 1181,2.

L'%orrifying Acadent in a Music Hall,"E a ,12 February 1871,12.

 at the CrystaiPalace [ d e n ] the man who was Ietting the &eworIs did not
understand his business and [as a d t ] he knoclred me off m y rope...[but]
1 caught the rope with m y legs and 1 did it so that the public thought it was
part of the performance and criecl 'Doit again'.LLL

He added b t in contrast to arnateur @mers, never Iose m y presence of mind...no

"I

matter what takes p l a ~ e . "Codirming

'~ his molness, one obsemer who -mess&

Blondin said, 'concem for the pgfomer's safccy is d e p i d on the iàœs of the

spectators....Blondin shows n ~ n e . " However

'~ great Blondin's talents, there was

nothing iiiusionary about the ptactical dangers that were invorved in these am.

Responding to the attack made on his "dangernusprokssion," he -te

immediately afrer the Çelina Powell inadenf that "e!veryaccident which has befülai mpe-

walkers is amibutable entireiy to th& want of knowledge and experience of the

profwion they were engageci in."'" The comment, however, fàïied a> address the
practical problems asscxiated with fàulty equipment, as in the Selina Poweii case. Even

so,the prolikration of "amateurs"within the aade p e Performerq such as Blondin,

reason for repmf. Munby noted in a visit to the Cambridge Music Hall near Shoreditch

Station that

the boxkeeper idbrmed m e that 'Zuleiiah', [the acrobat perfbrming] is a

Miss Foster, a publian's daughter of the neighborhood; that she only
became an acrobat two or three months ago, stimulateci Like the rat of
them by the success of La Pereira [a b o u s wntemporary a m ~ b a t ] . ~ ~

Theatre Saapbook, 'Blondin Intemiewed,"10 September 1873.

lLLBCR,

Luanon.W o d e @ U Won&&U W-tI Ibe Lfe and lWnw~dinaryC a m of

Blondin, tbe Ascerztionfst (London, n.d.), 10.

LL4"Hi@
Rope Performances," &a, 16 August 1863,11.
 181

Following fhis Wit on the same d g at around 10:00,Munby stoppeci into the

Temperance Music Hall, where admission was one penny in order to see '
a Jewess"by the

name of ütde Azella who "is only nine year old." Standing next to the perfbrmer's sLPm,

the latter infOrmed Munby that "LittieAz& [ d o s e real name is I3eisy Asher] ...bas o d y

beem at this three weeb, besides 8 days and that she practices at home.""

For Blondin and others, the respectabiliy of their sade, which was constantiy in

question, depended on their physical safiety. Despite Blondin's deknse, t h e is h i e

doubt that the built-tension between life and death represented the very essence of the

acrobatie art, particularly where there was no net - a h c ~ s which,

r some contempoTaTies

assumeci, attfacted audiences. This observation, made by Alderman Lloyd and others,

raises interesting questions about the tension betweai spectacie for the of hin and

spectacle for the sake of danger and the uisson arising h m rhis t d o n for the spectator.

Remarking on the crowds which went to see Blondin at the Crgsral Palace in 1861 "Tor a
W P
cost of one shilling,"just years before the Sellna Powell accident, Munby recorded,

the Palace was crowded with holiday folk [on account of the Queen's
Binhday]. Dense rnasses of working people wae stn~ggiingout of the
gardens as I suuggled in. 1 stood... next to a robust servant girl.'"

And, obseming Blondin at the Crysal Palace one year later, he -te,

The...banks and terraces were covered f b m end to end with people some -
50,000, 1 conjecture - standing or sitting rapt in contemplation of the
melancholy business aiof<...the whole aowd belonging to the comfbrtable
artisan cl as^.^'^

Beyond artisans and semant girls, the upper dasscs enjoyed this

lL61bid.,254-255-

lL7TCC,M u b y Diaries, vol. 9, 19 July 1861.

lLTCC,Munby Diaries, vol. 14,4 August 1862.

 182
brand of amusement. According to one antempozary, who obsemed the audience which

was waiting to see Blondin perform at the Crystal Palace,

al1 the reserved seats are taken and look a6y with handsome dresses.
Gentlemen are b u s e polishing th& opera glasses with fine silk
handkerchiefs and others are looking at theh watches.lW

Munby also noted an elite audience at the Cryscal Palace a decade later when he wrote

that

it was m d e d and it being half aown &y e1-t toilettes pr;evailed

eyerywhere. Most of the foUr seexneci to belong to the wealthy and more or
les dtivated upper middle classes.

H e noted imnically that, "these exhibitions [ofRichiurtcon's Travelling Theatre, a sham

cirque and other such travesties] enable us at once m gr

a w the same low castes which

[our infériors] e n j ~ y . " kcording

'~ to a report about another fémale Blondin at

Leamingmn in 1862,who "waiked on a rope stretched across the river Avon at a height of

100 k t h m the surfaceof the water,"the frat was witnessed "by severai hundred

persons...including several carriage persans who contributeci most liberaiiy to the expense

of the Linle daring heroine."*' But, there was arguably no irony in the upperclasses'

appreciation of this d e d degenerate "lowtaste." The acrobatie "woman on top"

helped to -te a multiclass entertainment which sharply contramci with other more

socially exclusive ones, such as the opera.

WoIZd@d* passim, 10.

L9anon.,

'-CC, Munby Diaties, vol. 14, 19 Augu% 1861,98-

Blondin at -gmn,"
UL"Female Era, 16 March 1862,12.
 183
V. The Culture of Consumption: Women on Top

nie culture of consumption represents an important index againsr which to

measure popuiar taste given that the nineteenth-cemturyIeisure economy was increasinslp.

dnven by cornpetitive capitaîist market forces hq@y govemed by amsumer ciunand.=

Acrobas occupied two corinicting d e s witiiin this culture as both ccmsumers and

producers. k consumers, succumbing to changes in populat gste regarding danger, theg

entered into a market of safety equipment which wodd ocstensibiy make the&

enterrainment safer and raise th& reputation in the eyes o f legai authorides (speciûcaliy)

and respectable society (in generai). In contrast, as p d u œ r s , they stiii occupied an

equivoçal space where the debate about sexuaüty and the fernale actobat entered onto a

new level of discussion based on the evüs of cornmodification - in an age which saw the
regdation of prostitution through the enacement of the Contagious Diseases Arts. The

dangerous performances agitation was triggered not only out of con- for the welEare of

fernale pehrmers but also in response to a refOrmist deire linked to the anti-sensuaiist

movement that sought to reverse the changing heterwanial moralitp which emerged in

the late-nineteenth century. The movement, which had many strands, was, in generai,

hostile to liberaiized sexual codes, birth control and s&@e agitation and emphasized,

particularly in die han& of "bourgeois-mindeduwomen, sexuai purity.* In addition to

system of iicensing was liberaiiy revised in 1843 and removed the monopoly over
spoken dcama enjoyed by the Theanes R q d . This meant that Iesser theaters, including
circuses. in London and elsewhere could perfbrm pl- if they had a L-i h m the Lord
Chamberlain in London, o r h m the Local JPin the provinces. see Vicent J. Liesenfield,
T6e L i d n g Ad of 1737 (Madison, 1984); Robert D. Hume, ed., Ibs h d b n Ibe-
WorM,11660800 (Carbondde, 1980); Watson N i c h o h , passim; AUardgce Nimu,
Developmenr of tbe %atm (London, reps. 1948); idem, A H i ~ t ~ rpassim;
y, Marc Baer,
ïkatre and Disocder in hate Gewgimr Lon&n (Oxbrd, 1992).
 184

concems strongiy ailied to the promitution question, many of the vestiges of the Selina

Powell ocse SUfYived and Uiformed the debate about acrobats as collsumem and producers

in the hte-nineteenth century.

i, Consumers

A n important question with market impliations tfiat emerged from this csise was:

wlio had responsibility for the rope's b&g? The coroner's decision that Powell's
dench was "acadentai"ultimately ended the case but sparked a wave of ccmsciousness

about nets and other sakty apparatus which became the responsibiïiy of both the

manager and anist. This shift symbolized a concession of prindple b e e n the manager

and artist whose livelihoods depended on s e h g 'danger." As the head waiter at the

Oxford Music Haii on M o r d Street in 1862 said:

the rage of the public for [acrobatie] kars of saiseless daring was so grrat
that the managers were obiiged to give in [despite their desire]...to provide
good music and refined amusement?

In accordance with this observation, a contemporary criticized an eariy use of nets at

Dniry ïane in 1853 when Mr. Sands, a h o u s A m d a rope d e r , performed. An

artide in the Sunday Times sated that

whiie a net is nxed undemeath in which he must kli if the..apparatus

EUls...[ it] rather taka away the fiawur of the a&air...[ andl the public will
scucely care to see it when they h d out that it is not even danger ou^.^

Sometirne d e r the early 60s, the display of "senseless dangerwbecame more sensibie as

awarmess about d e t y equipment becarne widespread, Gymnastic goods manufacturersa

such as Snoxell and Spencer, of 35 Old Street, London suppiied the German Gymnasium

- -

'^rCC, Munby Diaries, 14 August 1862, 189.

'?l'My Drury Lane Production Files, Sundrzy Timesa 16 Mardi 1853, n.p., dipping.
 185
at King's C m , University Coliege, Crgsral Paiace's south gaüery, and severai ofthe

rnilitary stations and headquarters throughout London, with "mutnsesmade to any

dimension of smng materiai for jumping purposes, etc. at per bot for W.""

Remarking on this shift in the d e , Cragk who as mentioned eariier, startd practidng

gymnastio on mechanical equipment in a Manchesfef factoy where he workexi, o k m &

that

there were no luxuries for the acrobat thai [in 1862 when I fi.rst went into
rhe business]. Now, you sec these c hi
n e such as easy sniffed mattresses
[which cushioned the performer's làil], and mmfOrtab1e stage carpets
everywhere..xxen a stage carpet was &own in the sixtiestw

A columnist for the Binningbarn Dai& Post applauded Day's CrystaI Paiaœ Concert Hd

for king "oneof the k t [places]...in the Kingdom [in 18701 to adopt measmes fot

thoroughly minimizing the danger to life and limb in these so-calleci sensational

performances." The Hadon Brothers, the aapeze arriso, were responsible for instilling in

the hall gymnastic safety apparatus in the form of a "large meshed net."- Arrr>rding to

one obsemer

the net is composeci of twisted cotton...[and] is seventy k t long and about

forty k t wide, kasteneci by says and guides so as to secure the ends,sides
and corners?

'%ee advertisements in the back of Charles Spencer's Modtrrn ~ (London,c

~
1866) and F.Graf, idem; a saiking £éatureabout the advertisements is thar there are many
more gymnasiums and manuihures of ggmnastc equipment btured in the 1898 volume
than in the 1866 one.

New Feature in Gymnastic Applianœs,"Blnningbm Dai& Post, 5 December

1870; reprinted in Era, 18 December 1870,7.
I t was said that the idea fbr its instailation came f b m France, wfrere the Hadons had

performed earlier and where the same appliance was adoptexi "by buildas for guarding

agaînst accidents to workrrien fàüing h m a great height when at work [under

Haussmann's massive rebuilding projectj ."-

How much did the apparatus cost? Arcording to a 1891 no= in the Enz, s a k t y

equipment ktured in the entire package "forsale":

A double uapeze. Entirely new, with twenty four patent spring bandles,
two iarge n a , and portable money boa Ev-g complete. 525 to an
immediate purchaser. Reason for seiling, no t h e to attend to it. A big
Living for anyone that can depote his t h e to it. H;me takn 518 a da^^.^'

Yet officiais such as Col.E.Y. Henderson, C h i d Commissioner of Police, were Ioath

to change their views on "dangernus pedormances"despite the use of safetg equipment in

some entertainment places. In 1877, Henderson threaened to contact the Lord

Chamberlain's Office in order to have the Aquarium's drinking iicense reyoked in spite o f

the theater's use o f nets during its acrobatie performances. in response, the Aquarium's

manager, W.W.Robertson wrote to the Chief Commissirnier with a tesdmonial firom the

Assistant surgeon o f the Westminster Hospital and Surgeon of the A Division Metmpoiitan

Police who d e h d e d the theater by saying,

during the entire performance, the girl PerfOflILing [who is 17 or 181 is

protected by a net 40 feet wide, and extendhg aanss the building; the net
is very eiastic, and gives h m 4 -6 k t , and is so stmng that it is capable of
sustaining a very heavy stiain; so that no ma- how heaPity she may îàii
uito it, she could susain no serious injury.-

L3L"For
Sale," Era, 22 March 1890, 17.

" r C C , Munby Diaries, 110.12 (21), 23 April 1877 letter to Chief Commbsioner of
Police Col. Henderson h m Thomas Bond, F X C A and B.S. Univ. Assisoint Surgeon ho
Westminster Hospital, lemuer on medical jurisprudenœ and surgam to A M o n
Metroplitan Police.
 187
Wre arrobats, aeronauts or balloonists wimaaed the grcjwth of a d k t y apparatus

market which catered to their needs and also found that le@ opinion was s l m to change

despite their use of parachutes and 0th- such equipment, In a suit in which Miss

Frances Burdett sought to mmver 58/19s h r SeTcrices rendered, "itwas mentioned that In

her contract she agreed to supply the baiioon, parachute and access~ries."" But, in the

incident, she was unable to ascend since a gale wind blew her balloon awsiy due, she said,

to the mrelessness of the def'endant. F o c u s h g l e s on the reccnmy of damages, and more

on the dreadfulness of allowing a woman to parochute h m a height of 1,000 fieet, the

judge condemned the defendant - as in the Seiina Poweli case d e n Mr. Powell was
criticized by the coroner - by saying

it was the greatest mercy in the world there was a gale. If this young Iady
had gone up and been kiiied you might hamz been charged with
rnan~laughter.~

With the increased employment of saCety apparatus, the manager and artist

incorporated into the "sensationaldisplay" a new set of safffy standards chat were broadfy

accepted and appiied to a number of activities but which were not yet m h e m d y applied

to the acrobat's nade. But the purchase of s a k t y apparatus hardly pmvided the acrobat

with the assurance that her reputation within the commerciahed entertainment market

would be elevated and made more respectable. While sakty apparatus ostensibly

presented a mdy-made answer to concems about the 1ogisticai dangers involvexi in t&e

acrobatic trade, the volade issue of sexuality and the M e aaobat did not.
 188
ii. Producers

The acrobat's role within the "s- form quite literally raised her abope the
heads of the specrators, a juxolposition dudeci a> in the 1879 painting Mfss h Lù at tba

Cirqze Fersando. Her positioning was not unlikt the Victorian barmaid who, as Peter
cg
Bailey has discussed,stood behind the bar counter and was therehre out of reach .

~ ~ unlüIe the barmaid, who was an agent invoived in a larger process

the c u ~ t o m e r .But

of consumption (e-g. selling drink), the acrobat's display was the object of amsumption

par excelllence as she posed both in h n r and on top o f the platf'orrn or ring for dI to

observe ar a @ce. That her costume was ~cant,as discussed in the sewnd section,

f ù d e r brought attention to her already conspicuous role and added to her controvecsiai

repucation. The significance of the fernale's public visibility was not just that she

provoked sanial messages but that she was a b , as Bailey has argue4 the "bearer of

@amour, arguably a distinctiveiy modem visuai propertg and central to orthodox

bourgeois notions of sexuaiity thar were hugbt with imperatives of reiease and

s u p p r e ~ s i o n . "Baiiey's
~ analysis associates giam0u.rwith "magicalor fictitiow beautf as

i n d u c e d by the poetic vocabulary of Sir Walm Scott and can thereby be identifieci with

other dewtions concerned with distance to which the acfobgt's art obviousiy mnf;ormed.

Distance thus helped to perpetuate the "magicalnqudties that surromdeci the acrobat

and also created an important division between her and her audiena, the expression and

consummation of whose desire was necessarily stymied by her elusiveness. In the min&

of some opponents of anobatic displays, the connection berweai the -bat and

sexuality tmk on an added meaning in the con- of consumeriSm, rendering the art as a

?i3ailey, "PafaSexuajity and Glamour,"148172.

lSIbid., 149,152.
 189
brrn of fémaie solicitation, disering h m prostitution parity because ofits more pubiic

orientation. This viiew was perhaps no where more d a i y expresseci than in a letter by

Laura Ormiston Chant to the Theatre and Music Halls Cornmittee which was set up in

1889 by the ne* created London County Councii. She said,

we the women of England, in wh- name 1 speak today..say that

[although] these poor [acrobaq giiis...[who] are shamelessly eKposed do
not mind it, 1 say that a gvilized comrnunity is not to take its standard of
decency h m those *o..- not in a position to hold [it at its]
highest...the amusements of our great city shaU be such diat young men can
go to them without king entrappeci and seduceci by these sad, paor
~ornen.~'

In a sense, the acrobat was unfkvorably associateci with the actress, on the one hand, who

was traditionaiiy connecteci to the "low"(aibeit increasingly axnmetcialized) culture of the

theater and the prostitute, on the other, at a time when the inspection of both these

uades effected legai change and muniapai reguiati~n.~

By "entrapping"and "seducingnyoung men br a price, such kmale performers

were thought by some to cater b r a market that was aimed principally at male

Given this view, they sometirnes encountered criticism h m other ( d e )

audiences.L39

patrons when they attendeci these displays. Reflecting on this double standard, O d t o n

Chant r d e d that

'"J. Donohue, The Empire Theater of Varieties Liœming Contmvemy of 1894,

"NineteentbCentury TbeaterResearcb 15.1 (Summer l987), 59.

-sec Trac y C.Davis, Actresses; cf. Judith R Wallrowie, PIDstiltutlon and VictOrjCUC
Society (Cambridge, 1980).

'*~ee Thomas Richards, 2Be - d i @ of Culture itz VictOtfCUt E1lt8h-d:A d m g

a d Spectack, 1851-194 (Scanford, 1990).
 Two Frenchmen stood behind the scalls [at the Empire Theatre] behind my
sister and myself and wondered [how] any pirtuous woman wdd look
upon such a performance as that upon the stage'.'*

As late-nineteenth centwy British and American historians have argued, sexual p d œ s

and their meanin= were becoming increasingîy disengagexi h m procreation, at leas

among the white rniddle dass, rendering sex a more inrimate and non-reproductive

practice - a c u l d shifi which enabled some male spemators, to defight in the acrob~t's

perfOrmance, perhaps as the two Frenchmen intended to do (pretiecably without the

Mvertising became another m u e of contestation which opponents of 'dangerous

performancesnpursueci. This was paniculaTly enlivened by the "indecent"poster of Zaeo

of the Royal Aquarium. Upraised arms, smiiing and wearing a tight bodice with apparently

no tights, Zaeo, the Human Cannon-bd, appeared on a poster which distributeci

throughout London in 1890 and which was the fbcus of a ansoring campaign by the

National Vigilance Association (NVA), as Tracy Davis has already describeci.'* For Chant

and others, " r d ladies"did not 81aunt their physique either in the temporary space of the

ring o r the more pefmanent realm of advertising. Whether people paid to see Zaeo at the

Aquarium or not, the force o f her advertisement propeiied a wave of opinion that

pressureci the managers of the Aquarium to adjust the poster so that Zaeo's apparently

bare legs were coiored blue and her ch& Eace was made serious. Attempts at

censorship only backfkd since the adjustments added nothing to the moral improvement

'7.Donohue, "TheEmpire Th- licensing ContMrnersJIIn59.

L4vudithR Walkowitt's City of DneCICifirl Delfgbtr Narrutims of S&mdDanger in ïute

Victorian London (London, 1992), 5-6.

'UTracy C. Davis, 'Sex in Public Plaresu; idem, A ~ ~ ~ s s120.

Bs,
 191
of the poster which s a fèammd Zaeo's muscular body and which became a commerciai

opportunity, as the managers ironicaiiy advertised, "wmein and see Zïeo in her modest

attire."lU The p r d e n c e of the poster in the day-ta-day hfk of the Lcmdoner, or city

and town dweller in generai, should not be und- or taken for & r a n d . As

Munby m k e d in 1868,

the streets are phcadeci with postws announcing F W Troupe of Femde

Acmbats [which] has hem mgaged at an 'enoous expense' and 'tonight
they appear for the k t tirne at the London Paviii~n.'~

The degree to which such visual images, as Zaeo's poster and others, BLtered into the s u b

conscious of the passerby poses some interesthg questions. Seen in terms of an imagineci

community, these posters created a highiy democratic culture through mass advertking in

which the important comection b e e n sex and mmmodification carried highiydmrged

cultural codes for aii rnembers of urbgn society who did not have to attend the music hall,

circus or pleasure ground, in order to observe th=, but who merety needed to wallc

down the ~ t r e e t .Without

~~ even wishing to panaLe of it, the passerby was nec-

integrated into the performance world through his wnscious or unconsdous observation

of Street advertking in the form of the poster-biu - a notion which meant that the
commerciaiized performance world was engaged in performance outside the music h d ,

park o r circus and inside the imaginations of the wider public.

That biii-posters were also distributed and plaranled in shopwindows and on

shopwaiis reinfOrced the messages h m the sidewaik. According to the testimony of one

"'TCC, Munby Diaries, vo1.36, 9 November 1868.

'*sec Benedict Anderson's Imagined Comrnrrniries (New York, 1983) fOr a discussion
about the culturai construction of difhent h m of consciousness.
of the witnesses ar the coroners' inquest on S e h a Powell's death, posters were put up a f o h g h t in

advance vloouncing 'the Female Blondin, Mdm. Geneive, the o d y r d , legitimate performer of

Blondin's great fats."" He conrinued, "thousandsof these were [posted] and put up in shop

windows within a radius of 40-50 miles of A S ~ O I I ? In

~ ~Lancashire, the zookeeper of the Preston

Pkasure Gudens, commenting on the menu of advertking, said that

these gay bills [announcing new animais such as the pigrail monkey and the newly
acquired armadillo] are pmed up inside the tramcars [and] in public houses, coffee
taverns, and barber's mansions, and [other such places] where gossip is rife.'48

In theu discussion of early modem EngIish consusnption spaces, Nigel Thrift and Paul Glennie

have righdy pointed out that the social practices of shopping induded more than just the exchange

of items but exrended to social interaction between the shopkeeper and his lient te le!'^ Thus,
wi& the culture of commodification, the bill-poster played an important role as the focus for

conversation or casual observation. Given the uncontrollable nature of this sort of interaction,

groups such as die NVA found both a moral imperative and cause for immediate action in their

drive to censor bu-posters, such as that of Zaeo, specifically, and to pnvenr sex from being made

into a commodity, in genenl.

"'The t the Female Blondin,' in BiminghamJoumal, Juiy 25, 1863,5.

~ c c i d e nto

"'Ibid.

14'LR0, DDCm box 26, mss. HeadkeeperPsReport, 24 August 1884.

l4?ad Glemie and Nigel T M ,'Consumers, Identities and Consumption Spaces in Early
Modem England,' Hisroncal Geography Seminar, Institute of Hinorical Research, 14Juiuary
1995.
 193
In the market of specede, more than just the act of commercial exchange (e-g.

money for aesthetic enjoymait) occumd. The proccss of creating meanhg and

represeritation of the thhg which was being archangeci - the acrobat and her art - was
also raking place. As both a COlSUmer and producer, her rok was m p 1 a r . The reasons

for this stemmeci h m the underlining tension beraPn her succumbing to safey

precautions, on one hand, and her embodying d t y , on the other. CemiMy, the

growth of the gymnastic industry - both in tems of equipmait and training schools -
prwided the context in which the acrobat codd justilp the popularity and perhapE even

the respeccability of her trade- Yet, given the heights at which she pedbrmed, she

symboiized the "spectade,"hovering above the public sphere and chailenging atabiished

- -
sanial codes whiîe encouraging in the eyes of opponents new ones m be formeci.

Like d l other types of entertainers d o arperienced the pressure of cornpetition, she

bund herself forceci to obqr the standards which popuiar taste dictateci chrough market

pressure in Victorian society - standards which were beyond the control of legai bodies or
moral pressure groups.

VI. Conclusion

What was of interest about the Selina Powell case of 1863, b i d e s its basic

gniesomengs, was the range of issues and con- which grew h m it. The accident set

in motion a series of parliamentary debates that l a d for thrre decades and diat d t e d

in two parliamencuy statutes conceming the acrobatie aade and it prompteci many to

pause and ash, why were such exhibitions popular? The question was a cornplex one that

highlighted the pubfic's appetite br and interest in sex, athleticism, and danger. The

tension between what constituted innocent amusement and what de5ed saiacious

degradation effectively made the acrobat's trade equivocal in the iate-ninetgenth century.
 194
Issues concerning crueIty, sexuai immor;itityt danger and comnmdifition provideci che

against aaoktic àisplags, hught thdr banle. If

fuel with which cunpaigners, s a ~ g g h g

the banle was between a moral mhority and kmate acrobatst then the war was between

an impotent legal - and kqd - authority and a vibrant CoIlSuIIIer w r l d controiied by

public taste.
 1. Inaoduction

The Victorians lived in a world where attitudes a&xting chiidren took an

increasingiy interventionist character.' Like children who worked in codmines and

agriculture, those who worked in the circmi attraaed the attention of Parliamentarians

and moral ceformers. In 1879,a s we have seen in the previous chape, these attitudes

gaineci srpression in an act of Parliament: the Dangernus Performances Act. Sime the

passage of the statute, however, it became evident a, xnany concemeci with the welfaff of

the circus child that there was stiii much that needed to be done. Priecisely how much

remaineci an unanswerable question for many observem.

In 1887, during the inquiries of the Royal CommiiPcion on the Education Acs,

Millicent Fawcett of the National Vigilance Association. suggested that there were about

1,000 iondon children employai as s u p e m u m ~ i e sduring the London Christmas

''ïhere is a large litemture on the history of chüdhood. Standard texts that relate to
the relationship between childrwi and the industrial revolution indude Ivy
Pinchbeck and Margaret Hewitt, Cbicdtien in Engltsb Socfsly (London,1969-73)vol.2; C.
Nardinelli, C b W L h r and tbs Ittdusttfal Rewfzdfotz (Bloornington,1990); also see J.S.
Branon, Tbe Impaa of VfctorianCbfUm'sFiction (Ix>ndon, 1981) and John SomerPille,
Tbe Rise and Fall of CbfMbood (London, 1982); dong the same hes of "dedine" which
characterizes Somerville's work, see L Rosi=, Tbs Ension of C & U b d : CbfCd Oppression
in Btjtain, I&29-2918 <London, 1991) which has a chapter on theaaical, drcus and
fairground children, see ch.7. More reœnt work focuscr on chil* engaged in cotfage
indusnies at home, see Anna Davin, @muing CY> Poor, a text which takes the
historiography one step hrrther by focusing on chiidsen rather than the idea of childhood
which had k e n the focus of his#,rians of the 1 s t gaieration. For a historiographicai
overview,see Hugh Cunningham,CbfCdmrz and CbfCdbood In West- Soc&4 Sfnoe 1500
(London,1995), ch.1.
 197
pantomime season, rnany of whom performed in the circusl In Pmtomime Waifs,an

scample of waif fiction, EUen Barlee estimateci that between 4,000 and 12,000girfs were

employed acms the country "in traveuiing theam, drcuses, and the fow kind of music

hall..for dancing and gymnastic exhibitions? Ghren their desire to heighten public

awareness about these nurnbers, it might be assumeci thac both women OvereStimated the

number of chiidren engaged in perfbrmance- Neverthefess, more recent computatiom

have tended to confhn the larger figure. Tracy Davis, the theater historian, fbr example,

has suggested that there were perhaps 5,000 chiidren mipfoyed throughout the country in

the theater alone.' In marked contrast t c ~aii these observations, the cemus report for

1881 suggested that a mere 444 children d e r 15 @med pmksionally thtoughout

the Kingdom.'

While circus children remaineci an anonpous figure in these dcuiations, or

perhaps men completely uncounted, t k y were incongruously the fausof much attention

among Pariiammtarians, noveists and philanthropists. This chapter asks why, given their

marked anonymity within the contemporary statistics and given their numerical

negligibiüty in relation to other trades in wbich children more commonly labomi, such as

manufacnuing, agriculture o r domestic service, did children of the ring provoke a range of

*PP,Tbird Report of tbe Royal CommissionAppointed to Iiquim into tbs W&izg of

tbe ECemet~taryEducatfonActs, rwr, 1887,30, 310.

3EllenBarlee, Puntomime Wu& Or, A Piea for Our C i e CbfCdm (bndon, lût%$),57.

'Tracy C. Davis, "TheEmployment of Chifdren in Victorian Theatre: Tr;tining,

Exploitation and the Movemenr for Rebm,"Nav îk&m Qzuzer~&, ~01.2,no.6, M a y
1986, 117-35.

of Engiùd and WaCes,(Lundon, 1904), 257 "Appmdix 3 4 Tabie 3 4 England

and Wales Occupations of Males and Females at each of the Thee Censuses, 1881, 1891,
1901."
responses h r n 1879,when ParLiament passed the fim piece of legislation that arpiiatfy

related to circus chiidsen, to 1897 when it revised the statute?

The h t section of this chapter wiii develop our examination of the debates in

Parliament p d i n g the circus child, an Bicaminatim which provides a whil mmview of

the state of the public mind on the subject. Section cwo explores the adult - pardcularfy
male - patronage of child-acrobat exhibitions and the conflicts which thw9as spectators,
arperïend. F W y poised against this interest was a moral minoriy of novelisa and

phüanrhropists which became increasingiy vocal h m the earfy 187Qs,ushaing in a new

era within a pre-BtiSting "childsaving" campaign.

Borrowing h m the recent work of Judith WaLkowitz, it is assumeci that the

patronage of child exhibitions helped to construct a reformer's and spectator's gaze mer

the circus child? In general, soda1 rebrmers hund chiid displays d i f f i d t to control,

parcicularly @en the strength of the market for them and the ambivalent fkdngs

contempoLafies had towards them. Some patrons todr pity on these c h i i h while

others ma~veIiedat the abüities of those "amazingprodigies." Othgs adopted both, albeit

6A few comments about ter-ology and the distinction drawn between chiidren and
youths in this smdy are necessary. This is ùifDrmed by the ciifkences drawn betweai the
two categories in the legislation beginning with the ChiIdren's Dangernus P 6 r m a n c e s
-
Bill in the 1870s. The latter in its initial Bill b r m in 1872 -was d e d "An Act to frevent
the Employment of Young Pemns As Acrobats...,"but the mm 'poung personsuwas later
supplanteci by that of "children,"a category taken to indude those under 12 yeacs of age,
and was rwised under the 1879 statute to include those under 14. By 1897, as we have
seen in the last chapter, the Dangerora Performances Act had been cevised and
disringuished between boys who were under 16 and girls who wae under 18. The term
"youngpersans," therefore, which was indudeci in the initial debates of the 1870s had
k e n dropped, and replaced by the wider term,"CbLldren." Thus, for the sah ofthis
dirussion the t e m "young pnsons" and "diildrennWUbe mkpsed into the atteg~ryof
"children,"in keeping with the spirit of the iaw, but distinctions between age groups will
be made where the historid evidence allows.

'see Judith Walkowitz, City of D r e d f C Deligbt: Nurra&es of &xzd Danger in me-

VictOrfan & d o n (London, 1992), ch. 34.
 199
confiicting, views. Adult-constructed notions of the drcus chlld and his/her imagineci

existence behind the scenes were at rhe very core of the discoume sufzounding

welfare, a view which is in agreement with Carolyn Steedman's ana- of the child

-bat? The chiid perfonner and M e r display occupied an equisoQl mie, as did the

frniale acrobat, in the second haif of the nineteenth œntury and thus intorms us not only

about circus life but also about the conflicting d u e s chat &hed the age.

II. Pariiament and the Circus Child

i. The Key-Note

When the Dangerous Perfhnances B U was inttoduced in the Lords br its h t

reading in 1812, Lord Shaksbury said tbat it did not go fu enough: "It only prohibitcd

dangerous performances of chiidren as acmbats,' he sai4 "anddid not deal with the[ir]

training...where m a t of the mischidlay? The probiem a> which he painted was not

remedied with the passage of the Dangerous Performances Act, as we have seen, since the

statute only prohibiteci the performances of child acrobats under the age of fourteen. Not

only was the law hadequate but, as time passed, it bsame dear to Shaftesbury and other

concemed onlookers that it was not k i n g obeyed. in 1883 he told the Peers that the

provisions of the 1879 Dangerous Performances Act were, in k t , king "almgether

ignoreci." At this tirne, he said, the eviis of dangerous exhibitions perfimned by children

"prevailedto a greater e ~ e nthan

t [they] ever did before."'o He drew their hrdships'

'Carolyn Steedman, Stnmge DfsCocatiotts: CbiCdbood and the I&a of hum^

Inten*ortty,I78M93O (bndon, 1995) see ch.6 "StrangeDis1o~ations:Chiid As Acmbat-"

9Hancard, 3rd series, vo1.212 (1872), c.1502.

, series, ~ 1 . 2 8 2(18831, c. 1462.

' O W u ~ a r d3rd
 200

d the editorial column of the Times h m

attention to a letter of the previous &y p ~ t e in

a vicar in Bmon-on-Trent which stated,

some weeks previously 1 drrw the attention of die H a w Sarerarg to a

perfofmance in Eastbourne of what was d e d the 'Human Serpent' [do]
is a lide girl and is made to thmw her head b d m d s and to bend her
spine so that her head not touches the pund, but is bent completdy
under her x, thar her face looks out 6rom berwca h a 1 e p . d tb.is i m p k
a long previous training.''

The response of the Home Secrecary, W

ill
iam Harcourt, according to the vicar, was that
"sudi t o m is perknly legalnaccording a> the mnis of the 1879 statute which did not

allow any interference in children's training but onEy in petformance. The vicar then

appealed to the h l of Shaftesbury 'who[se chamam],if he does not move his hand and

voice, 1 shall have v t l y mistaken."* The problem was hirther dismssing because of

the duration of the training, claimed Shaftesbury, and he rrad to the Lords a letter wri-

by another correspondent who claimed to be a member of the p r o h i o n :

-
thex wretched diüdren..are taken at a very tender age the eariier the
-
better under the guise of apprentices, and the rnasters daim mntrol over
them until [they are] 21 gcars [ ~ l d ] . ~

These observations led Shaftesbuy to suggest that "the training for such perhnnances

was cruel and dangerous in the exareme.""

Shaftesbury proposed that the help of the school boards k e n h e d in order to

help solve the p r ~ b l e m ."School

~~ and acrobat training couid never go on together," he

lL"TheTorture of Chiidren Not Illegai,"Times, 2 August 1883, 2.

Lq
bid.

3rd sefies, vol. 282 (1883), c.1463.

L3Hanrard,

"Ibid., c.1464.

'%id.
 201

believed.'%j. Mundek, the Vice President of the Cound on Educatim said he was

optimistic about the e&rc that the Educational Acis would have on this group of 'pe~ais

of wandering habits who attend races, him and simiiar placg of res0dt7 Spealdng in

J a n w of 1881 when the Education Act of 1880 first came into hîce, he said,

the local authorities [now] can proaed . a@nst parens h r a simple

absence so if the local authorities do their duty, this class of chiidrem can
be much more easily xached than hrmeriy.'8

However,in assuming, as they did, that eicher the Education Act of 1880 would bring

arcus children under the authority of the school system, Shaftesbury and Mundella d e

an emneous Ieap of Caith. Beionging a,an idnerant body, the chiidren of drcus hmiiies

typically traveiled and were not permanent residents in any mmmunity long enough to

warrant th& registration in a local school district. Even if they and/or their parents cca

trainers perfonned in a resident cimus, th& engagements were u s d k y no longer than

several w e e b or possibly one or two months. In cases where the chiid was pan of a

travelling brcus, the problem of uuancy was made worse since hekhe movcd fimm tcmm

to tom on a more kequent basis than the child belonging to the resident citcus.

O n this point, Mundella added that if anything more were to be done, such as

registering "travellingcarts, vans, etc., it must be done, as is the case of the canai boatts, by

Whether
the Local Govemment ~ o a r d . " ~~ he reaüzed it or not, Mundella had predictecl

the future campaign of one concemed observer, George Smith, d o s e pian to bring the

lqbid.; for a background on MundWs work as Vice President of the Coundl on

Education, see W.H.G.Armytage, AJ MuttdeICa, 2 8 2 ) I 8 ' 7 : ï?w L i b e m l B r r a b g n d to tbe
Lcz6our Moventetzf (London,1951), ch.11.
 202

van d w e h g population within the grasp of the settied population was a> be introduced

in Pariiammt rime and again over the next decade.

ii. Smith's Solution

The arguments containeci in Smith's proposai legisfatin were not just tied to

z d o u s moral crusading but to more mahmem ideas about the contamination of min&

and bodies. That is, Smith's ausade United the traditional anti-vagnmt p-udice of nual

magistrates and constabularies 6 t h a late-Victorian version of the hthat vagrancy was

infecrious." But it was the weahess in the speditity of Srnidi's proposais - particularly
with regard to supervision and enfbrœrnent - that ultimateiy leci to the BU'S defieat,

Still, the idea of rehrrn enableci Smith to get the attention of Muential people,

including W.T. Stead. Stead went so far as as set up the 'George Smith Fund" and gave

hancial support to Smith personally, a geshrre which was particuiarly needed since the

latter had been unemployed since 1874 when his bosses at the Whitwortb Coliiery in

Coalville grew tireci of his ausading.2' As editor of the faClMcJi Gazette, Stead d its

pages in order to issue a notice fbr contributions for this fund which was said to ime

yielded £800 in 1884, Lord ShaftesburyySir S&rd Northcote, Lord Fortescue and Sir

Frederidc Leighton were among those who made o h of help. Stead made sure that

"everypenny subsaibed shodd be handed mer without any deductiom Tor

SO gratefiil was Smith that

advertisements" to Smith for him and his f k d f s securit~~.~

he wrote in his diary in 1884: "We are betœr off [now] than we have been b r manyymany
 203
years? An aify of Smith's, Stead had his own moral r e h campaign *ch h d

expression in a senstionalized aposé that appeared in the P d M d Guze#e in J d y of

1885 and fevealed the problem of chiid prostitution in I X K L ~ O C I . ~

Although Smith's campaign was aimed at the larger population of van cfwelle~s,

who induded not oniy circus people and th& children but aiso gypsies and other van

dweflers, the Moveable DweIlings B U that he inspireci offieffd a cure EDr the ptoblem that

Shaftesbury describeci and which Mundelia assumed would take care of itself under the

existing education legislation. In part, the Bill, which was first introduced in the

Commons in juiy of 1885 by E.H.T. Digby (Cons.-Dorset), demandeci that the child of a

inoveable dwelling be considered as a cesident in the school disana where he/she

camped? A system of regisaation was proposed whaeby the van In which the M y

dwelied was required to be registered with the county authorities Thtough the process

of regismtion, the van would be connected to the school district. It was propœed thaz a

passbook system be introcluceci so that in the event the Eimily m& barn one school

district to another, the child's passbook would fUrnish the new school authorities with

hisher record of attendances and progress* But the Select Cornmittee cm Tcmporary

DweLiings Bill, which was set up in 2887 to examine the merits of the BU,questioned just

how usehl it was for the child to be shifred h m one school m another.' in pracaice,

"sec Waikowia, City of DreadfiC Lkligbt, 81-170;a b , VI. Jones,Saint w

Sen~acionafkct?:me Story of W.I:Stsad (Fst W1ttefiDg, 1988), 22-34; CS.Deborah
Gorham, "TheMaiden Tribute of Modern Babylon Rearamined: Child Prostitution and the
Idea of Childhood in Lare Victorian Engiand,"VictmfianS u i e s 21.3 (Spring 1978): 353-
379.

=PP,SC on tbe T e m p a r y DtmIIings B U , xiii (1887),In. 479, 27.

 204

then, the only way of ensuring that the children of van dweiiers attendeci school h r the

minimum number of days (and profiteci h m the experiarce) was by brcïng them to

senfe in a parti& district and by preventing them firom travelling with their parents

until they had satisfied the School Inspecter.

The way in which George Smith conceived the BU was not in terms of antiuuelty

legislation, as Shaftesbury would have it, but in terms of an educationai m e a s w tbat

would cure the problem of ateracy within the van dwelling mmmunity. The was, he

toid the Select Cornmittee,"thereare about 30,000 tramhg children living in mns and

other temporary d w e b g s and going without educaton to an almost alarming extent.""

Of this number, he estimateci that a q m , or 7,500, belonged to showmen's families -a

figure that approximates the average figure of travelling child performers estimateci by

~ findings were based on selective observation that took on a highly

ELlen B a ~ l e e .His

emotive, melodrarnatic tone? H e persuadeci one of the mernbers of the Select

Cornmittee, John Richards Kelly (Cons.-Camberwell), that "notone in a thousand of these

diüdren [has] any reiigious education or wouid attend Sunday s c h ~ l Religious

. ~

education, Smith believed,was a panacea for curing odier problems mmected with their

lifestyle, narnely illegithacy. But in cases where births from mamiages tesulted, t h e

were still problems. he believed, that had to be addressed. At diis moment in the, he

told the Cornmittee, "thereis scarcely a camp..mithout an idiot or an Unbaile.m' Givai

"Ibid., In. 365, 21.

-Ibid., In. 365, 22; cf. h.2.

=sec Mayafi, Qpsy TraveICers, 130-1;simiIarly, see George K Behlmer, "Ihe Gypsy
Problem,"231-253.

, m rbe T m p o r a r y DweIZings BfU, xiü, (1887),

w P ~SC In. 389, 23.
 205
their tradition of intermarrying, he b e l i d that the chiidrerr of these people, if left alone,

would inherit the same characteristics as their predecessors. Thus, he argue4 somahiag

had to be done immediately to stamp out the "infrcton"that the currrnt gerieration was

assurned to carry. In surn, his goal was to "elevate"them, through religion and education,

"into respectable citizens of society"and he klt sure that they would one day thanL him

fbr his efforts.

Smith's attempts to evoke a positive response h m Parliiunent met with

disappointing resuis. Henry C. Stephens (Cons-Hormey), who was an outspokn

opponent of the BU,was moved to ask during the debates when the B U was

reintroduced in the Comrnons in 1893,

what good can a M d receive h m being brced to attend a school for the
&y, or the Limiteci cime during which a mmeable van may be passing
through a district?..suchpowem would injure the school, retard school
work, and dis& and dishear~enthe school management, wihout [any]
compensating benefit to moveable dwelluip chilcirera."

Besides this, the notion of enforcing mmpulsory schoohg on a nomadic population

ofknded notions of individual liberty which Stephens defknded vehmently.

Strüàng its own ernotional pitch, in mponse 00 Smith, the Van M e r s

Association, which was set up in 1891 in order to oppose the Ba,launchad a counter-

crusade which helped in the eventual dekat of the proposeci legishtion-%One member

calleci Mary Tyler argued that Smith's assumption that drcus children received no

education was mistaken:

1 myseif was one o f a W y of seven girls and two boys, aii of whom haw
been brought up in the trayelling business, and every one reœived a good

3mMoveableDwehgs Bill,"Era, 4 Febniarg 1893, 16.

"Murphy, who quotes the lerters connecfed with this c o u n t e r d e , does not
speafy where they were printed, see 19-27.
 education....He calls them 'poor van children' Lez him take back his
sgmpath~-~
Outrage was met with action by the Association which designed an educational scheme to

help srave off Smith's accusations of ignorance. Hadng previously bunded the National

Union of Total Abstainers in 1880,a group wh- mission was to bring the gospei oo

travelling communities of fkiqpund performers, Miss E. Billington helped in the

development of the Association's school scheme? She said at the Van DweIIers

Association annual general meeting in 1833 that

the school scheme which the organization had brought hrth...was bringing
to them sympathy and help [from] all over the country. There were now
about brty attendances every morning at the school in th(e Agricuftural
Hall in Inndon] and they had a grand school where there were a number
of boys and girls who muld read and write exeedingty -6

Furthermore, plans were being made to anend the program throughout the country and

Billington called on her fellow h a l e supporters to help in the *rt. To this end, the
Association proposed to send out four school vans at a cast of El50 each in order to

provide some education to the children of van dwellers? As a consequence, the

Association's minister, Thomas Home, argued at the same meeting that "itwas not

Undertying his argument was

necessary to 'rescue' the showmen [and his cbild~en].~

an important distinction between showmen and the "wretcheddrink-besotten gypsy?

3m Fenwick, "At Work Among the Van Dwellers," Tbe ~ i mSeptember

, 1899, in
944/655 Road Show and Circus Cunings, September 1899-January1903.

"Van Dwellers Association,"Era, 28 January 1893,8.

"Hodder, George Smitb, 228.

""The Van Dwellers Association,"Era,21 January 1893, 18.

 207

Whatever the différences, many MPs and Peers wcre not ccmvinced that the cirnis

child - whether he/she belonged to "-liloe" camps or not - should be left aime. As a
consequenœ, many in Parliament began a> think of new wags, quite apart fian Smith's

Bill, of d&g with the chiid of the ring.

ui. The Anti-Cruelty Lobby

In the late 18805,Pariiamentary saategia Cor putring an end to circus training

h m education to the more direct m

pmctices for children SM m of pfosecuting

the parent or guardian. S h c e b r d Shaftesbury'sdeath in 1885,the child protection

ouse was taken up in Parliament by kJ. M u n e (Lib.-ShefEeld), who,as Gladstone's

former Education Secreeuy, had enough arperience to know that Smith's bill was

impracticable. As one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society for the Pierrntion of Cmelty to

Children. he also had the intereses of this extra-pariiamentarypressure group in mind.

Although it grew into something more fàr-reaching the biiowing year, Mundella's Cmelty

to Childm B U of 1888allbrded Pariiammt with an opportunity for dealing with the

problem of chiid training in the same period that Smith's bill was initiared. The B U

aimed to make pemns Iiable to the charge of a misdemeanor and stated,

any person who treats, neglects, or exposes any chiici under the age of 14,
or causes or procures such a chiid to be treated, neglected or arposed in a
mariner cuicuhted to cause unnecessary su&ring [shall be &ty of such
an olfence].'O

This aUowed for a broad interpretation of "crueltj+'b d on the notion of perœived

intent of the accused. In order to estabiish "perceivedintent"the character of the accused

no doubt had to be taken into account by the court. Such information opened the

'OBfICs,Public, etc, "A Bill Cor the better prevention of cruelty to chiidren,' (2) 1888,
Siii 378.
 208

fioodgates to hearsay. That is,since the= was no need fw an acnial act of crudty to have

k e n cornmineci but only an act that might be "caiculated" m cause such injury, the

problem of disproving an accusation was d e even more difficult. Çome MPs o b j e d

to the harshness of the Bill, es- since it aimed to Impose "the heaviest of peoalties -
six months imprisonment o r a possible fine o f f IOO.ML

Since the Bill served to protiect ail chiidren, Mundeiia ciaimeci that no group of

guardians or parents, whatever th& dass or occupation,muid be above the law. The

B U also containeci more spedfic ciauses that singied out any p e ~ o n.who causes any

child under the age of ten to sin& p e h m or play in any p u b k place* During the

debates of 1889 when the Bill was b e h g read, some MPs believed that this meastue did

not go as far as they would have iiked. In the spirit of Shafksbury's eariier comments,

WH James said: " p u have arcludeci h m the operation of this clause chiidrrn...cmployed

in painhi exhibitions...in places of public amusement in our large towns.- W h n

Noble (Cons-Hastin@) raised a similar concern severai days iater when the bill was read

the B U alluded to performances in any street...[and] 1 cannot help beiieving

that under those circwnstances [it] will not prohibit pedbrmances of
chiidren in àrcuses... 1 thhk some provision should at all eoentts be made
for the prevention of aaobatic performances by chiidien at cireuses and
similar placesM

O n Noble's urging, the terms of place were made more explicit in the statute of the

following year calteci the Act for the Prevention of Cmeity to Chiidren o f 1889 which

%i&, Public, etc, "A B U for the beaer pievention of cnieity to chifdren,"(2) 1888,
B U 378.
 209
prohibited any "child under the age of ten to be at any rlme...in any circus or other place

of public amusement for the purpose of singing or playing? The only mitigating

provision was one that dowed a chiid befween the ages of 7 and 10 the rfght to pedbrm

if he/she had a iicense h m a pettg sessional court or,if in Scotiand, h m a School

Board? In arguing for the indusion of the drnrs in the Bu's pdbrmance restrictions,

Noble stated,

whatever may be said of the unplopment of c h i i h in w d

theatres and places of that kind [wbich were aiso discussed in the debcms],
there surely m o t be any doubt that it is undesirable to aiiow chiidren to
perform as aaobao in Pavelüng c i r c ~ s e s . ~

This represented a sleight- of- hand on Noble's part as he urgexi that all dtcus

perjiormances 6y cbiIdretz undor IO be deemed iUsgai and yet argued his case by dixring

only to the chiid-acrobat: the child acrobat, who was already prohibited h m dangerous

performances until hisher buneenth birthday according m the 1û79 statute, was a bad

scample for Noble's argument. SigniScantly, no one in Parliament seemed to object to

Noble's understanding of the law and, i n d d support for his view grew. The expression

of this support was embodied in Lord Herscheii's amendment duMg the lare summer,

which was incorporateci into the Bill. It calleci for

circuses and travelling shows [to bel placed on the sarne footing as theatres
[which was brought under the Bill's restrictions] with regard to the
employment of children?

i 5 ~ ~G bem ~C Starutes, An Act for the Prevention of Cruelg

l iwu Children, 1889,
52/53 Vic. c. 4, sec.3, dause c.

161bid.

"~unsard, 3rd series, ~01.337,(1889),c.819; He repeated the argument on 8 August

1889, see Hansard, 3rd senes, vo1.339 (1889)c.718.

"Stage inhnts," Era, 10 August 1889, 9.

 210
The coiiapsing of theaters and drrxcses symbolized another steight-of-hand apinst

which the theatrical community continued to rage: Herschd's amendment, by making the

comection befween cimuses and theaters within the con- of an anti-auelty law, made

the latter seem guiiîy, by association, of licensing cnieiîy. But this was mi unhir, said
y

"theatricaipeople were very kindiy.

Henry Labouchere (Radical-Northampton) 1~1usticaUy

The oniy injury to the children was injury to th& stomachs from too man? sugar plums

and cakes."* Furthermore, where there were probiems with chiidren's perhrmance, the

anti-cruelty measure was the wrong pface to deal with the matter, argueci the Earl of

Dunraven. "If there is to be any legiskative interkence, it ought to be in the hm of an

amendment to the Factory A m ? While those supporters of a nomintederence poiicy

fàiied in 1889 to oppose successîüiiy the antiauelty lobby, they fbund that in the 18%

the situation had changed siightly as their own lobby grew.

At no rime was this expressed more clearly than in 1894 when the 1889 P m t i c m

of Cruelty $0Children Act was revised. According to the new statute, the parent of the

circus chiid was rernoved h m legal liability.'L Curiousiy, whiie paremts escaped this

provision, managers did not. Furthermore, managers were required to obtain licences if

they trained children who were under the age of sixteen.52

r d series,
4 9 ~ ~ u 3rd , ; "Chilcimm on the Stage," Era, 13 July
vol.338 (1889)~ 1 9c-f.
1889, 16-

m ~ a ~ u r3rd
d ,series, vol.338 (1889),c.958.
sLPublfcGenerafStatutes, An Act for the Prevention of Cmeity to Chilcifa, 1894,
57/58 Via., c. 27.

'qbid., 98-99, see seccion 2 (c), 2(d) and 2(iii), 2(iv).

 The division list for the amendment aiiowing parents the nght rn min th&
chiidren wifhout a iiœnse shows that no dear party lines were drawn in the CommonsR

The vote r e f i e d a dmersity of ages, nrmi 6rontbenc.h MPs: HH.Asquith, AHD. Artand?J.
Bryce, G.O. Trevelyan, and H.Campkil-Bannefman, among the Liberals,and M. White-

Ridley, J. Sr. John B d c k , JhChamberlain, AE. F d o w e s v and M ~ ~ B e a carnong

h,

the Tories, joined togethes Ï n support of this measure- Table 5.1 shows the party s p d

on this issue:

Tocal Vote: 305 (AF) 107 (Noes)

Breakdawn:
Liberal :
Tory:
Irish Nationalists:
Other

If a distinction can be drawn between the ayes and noes, it may be said that an

overwhelming number of Irish MPs voted in h r of hap.ing parents rakr out a license in

order to ûain their chüdren and this was reflected in the Parlïamentacy debates - a fàct

any deliberate policy on the part of the lrish MPs mwids the brcus. Howfter, if the Irish
did have strong feeüngs about the circu~,these map have emerged h m the faa thaf many

of the major circus troupes were indeed Irish, such as Fosett's and Ginnett's, or were

English but performed in Ireland, such as Hengk's. These Irish MPs map have seen or

53Dfvfsf00n List, 57/58V i n , (London,1899,187-189.

-%id.
heard about cruelties in training and wished to put a stop to th-, particularly if the Irish

Church expresseci concern about the issue.

Many MPs hrther hesitated to interfixe in c i r a s a f k h d e n another amendment

calling for the nght ofinspection o f private training was proposeci. nK division iîst fa

this measure suggested again no dear party split, as cable 5 2 d:

Breakdown:
Liberal:
Tory:
Irish Nationaiists.:
Other:

Despite the work he did in this p e n d to promote more stringent Eactory inspection laws,

especidly for women, Herbert Asquith voted a@mt this amaiciment.' Whüe he agreed

with the idea that children w h o were aained br pedormances in pubiic should not be

subjected to cruelty in private, he chought the proposed amendment was bad law.
Expressing doubt about the eEèctiveness of such an amendment, he said, %en we are

making changes of this kind, w e shouid be very carefül not to carry the Iaw m d the

point to which it can legitimately be carrîed."n Such an argument rerninded MPs that

there were clear practical limits ofenforcement that ought m be dected in ParIiamentary

Iaw. Given Asquith's prominence within the Party) orher Liberals - particuiariy those
representing London constituenaes who knew that the pehrmer's hdihood w a a~

List, 57/58 Vict., 184-6.

ssDi~*sion

"H.H. Asquith, F@y Yeart of ParZfament (London,1926), 214.

nHansard, 4th series, vo1.24 (1894), c.1673-4.

North, argueci that,

to give an inspecter the absolute right to visit at ail times the homes of
these poor pemcms..such as -bars and people of that sor~underthe
pretext that children were king iM treabed was at once a n d and
ciangemus thing to do,

a view that was reminiscent of the one taken by Henry C. Stephens years earfier when the

Moveabie Dwellings Bill threatened to institute the same kùid of praœdure on the van-

dwelling population." Sir. J. Goldsmid m.Uni& S.) addecl, =the

StPan~~as

tendency of such legislation was to divide the English pubiic im bpectors and

Inspectecl? J. Lowther (Cons- Kent Thanet) fimher argueci, "Parliamentought to

hesitate before it created further obstacies in the path of those who sought to earn an

honest Iivelih~od."~~

In addition to training clauses, performanœ ciauses were also addd to the 1894

statute, apparently dowing the circus community more freedorn h m legiskative

infingement Whereas the 1889 Act only aiiowed the chiid aged between seven and ten

to perform if a license was granteci to the parent or manager, the 1894 revision offiereda

less restrictive poiicy. Accordingly, c h u s children under the age of eleven who were

aained by th& parena or guardians were exempred h m the prohibition that removeci

them from the ring. The manager, in cocontrast, was dowed this right if he had a license

kom a JTfor the child (no age restriction pending) to perfi,rm.

The distinction between the parent and manager within both the pesfbrmance and

training dauses was important insofk as it dected Parliament's reluctance to inrerfere

YIbid.,c.1666-7; see chapter 3, 2425.

Tbid., c.1670.

qbid.
 214
with M y affairs, and yet represented an acknowledgement that the profession needed

to be put under suLYeiflance in some .-nr Establishing such contmls was also aimed

at prohibiting diose novice chiidren who were not bom in- the drcus profession, who

were susceptible to accidents, and who, acmrding to some contemporaries, were the

cause of ail the bad publiaty that surrounded the trade. One gymnast argued many pars

earlier,

if [circus] proprietors were to engage proper talent...it wodd panty be the

meam of saving accidents, which gen- arur through a i g i n g
inexperiend boys, who understand as much about gymnastics as a
wooden monkey on a stick6'

Rather than Parliament making the law aEecthg training and perfOf~nancemore

stringent, it became more lax with the 1894 amendment - at least with qpd to the bona
pde Ncus W y . Whüe the new system of liceming for uaining and performance may

have seemed relatively restrictive fiom the manager's point of view, it was a better option

than the total prohibition of chiid labor h m his troupe which the law othawise

promised. Whiie the ciausg in the 1894 Act relating to training and performances were

apparenrly straight-forward and lenient, the question of auelty remained, in 1894 as ir

had in 1889, arnbiguous and m>ublesome. niat is, either of these faws mdd affst at

random trainers whatever th& le@ right to nain or exhibit child perbrmers until the

latter were 16 years of age.

iv. The Law Further Extendeci: 1897

The randomness was in large measure a d d o n of the haphazard way in which

infomers, or so d e d "faddists,'took the laws a&ccing children performers into theV

own hands and went "amundthe country maücious[iy] and annoying[ly] persecut[lng]

''"~r.Editor," Ern, 11 Juiy 1869, 11.

 215
[managers]? Perhaps no group complained more about the "fiiddise" than aaobats

and others engaged in dangerous performances. Acmrdingly, Pariiammt sought to revise

the 1879 Dangerous Puformances Act in 1897 by imposing a clearkd&ed procedure for

enforcing the law. The revised law proYideci that

srcept where accident causing bodüy barm arurs to any chüd or pung
person, no prosecution or other pro<?eeding shaii be instituted for an
ofkwe a&ainst the 1879 Act without the consait in writing of the chief
officer of police of the police arra in which the o£knseis ~ m m i t t e d . ~

The Act, while seemingiy deknding the interests of the circus amununitg, wao rrally a

mixed blessing, It not ody c r e z ~ a

d p o k y of enforcement but it revised the minimum

age required for chüdren perfonnlng in dangemus exhibitions?prohibiting any boy unda

the age of 16 and girl under the age of 18 h m partiapation in such displays. Fmm this

dause, not even the bmis fàmiiy was exempt*

During the s p ~ when

g Parliament debated the measure, members of the acrobatie

trade, as well as allied trades, made their cornplaints known, The Em, which was their

principal mouthpiece, condernned the Dangemus Performances Bill as "another of those

ignorant and offiaous pieces of siiiy meddling."uIrs editors predicted that "onethlng is

certain: if this B U becornes law, acrobatism [sic] is at an end." The kt was, said James

Kellino, an aaobat, "many of the combinations who are now so popular on the Yariety

stage [and drcus] would be prevented entirely h m cuning a iivh~g."~

On this point b

Elliotc, another acrobat, continuai "my famiiy and 1 consfitute a troupe. Take away my

62Hunsard,4th series, vol. 57 (1897), c220.

CeneraI Statutes, Dangzous Performances Act, 1897,6û/61V i c t c. 52, s.2.

63P~bifc

&"DangerousPerformances Bill,"Em, 1 May 1897,17.

63bid.

&"A Mischievous BU,"Era, 17 A p d 1897, 16,

 216
y Living and th&.-
children from my instruction and you take a c ~ n my Nor was Fdiiott's

family alone. The Ern stated that "thereare hundreds of gomg performers 00 whom the

passing of this Bill would mean starvation or the workhouse [for them and theh

fh.~niLies].'~However strong these cornplaints *ch were arricuiated by the Proprietors

of Entertainments Association in several meetings with the MPs that fiameci the BU,

Parliament was unwilling to yield. After d,the Se<retary of Staîe,Sir Matthew White

Ridley, stated befbre the Association's members, this new law, which he helped to

introduce, was meant to prevent accidents such as the one that invoived the dPath of a

young girl who was mgaged in a dangerou perfbrmance in Cardiff the year befwePB

The case to which he referred involved a giri calleci Mdlle. A b e r h a , aged humen,

-
who fktally kli h m a parachute. She had previousiy worked as a semant behre she

joined Hancock's Circus in Bristol. At this circus, she met M. August Gaudron, the

ballwnist, who later had her perf'orm at the lkte in Aamrding to him, "the giri

begged that she might be taught the profission. 'It had k e n her ambition' she said fbr

the last four y e a d 7 * What is signiecant is that although Mdlle. Aiberfina was not a

professional circus performer, the Iaw which her case triggered afkcted chiid novices and

professionals alike. Parkament was obviousfy taking a serious - and intezventionist -

stance on the heedom to perform dangernus stunû for a i i chiid perfDrmers.

--

67nDangerousPerformances B a : To the Editor of the Era," Era, 8 May 1897, 19.

Performances Bi&" Era, 1 May 1897, 17.

68"~angerous

@PRO, HO 45, 10125 B 135853~5,The Proprietors of Entertainments Assodation,

represented by J.H. Jennings, chainnan, Mr. h M d (AUiambra), Henri Gros,
(Meuopoütan),J B d , CRoyal), J-Chappd (Queens), Mr Tozer (South London) and Phïiip
Rutland, soliator, with Sir Matthew Ridley, Mr Jesse CoUings, Mr Cunningham, Mr Irnigley
and Mr Guest, Notes on Deputation, 30 Aprif 1897.

'"PRO, Ho 45/10124/ B13853/29Pm-KewKew A Pamphlet on the Fatal M u î e Ascent of

a girl called Mdlle. Alberiina, Cardiff, 1896. Many thanki to Anna Dzvin for this r e h c e *
 217
Whüe the new Dangerous P e d k n a n c e s Act of 1û97 ammsibly helped raise

standards in the circus profession by prepenting novices, such as Mdlle. Alberlina, h m

risking their livies, it also had the unwelome e&ct of preventing prokssional chüdren

h m earning a king, as the cornplaints raised by W U n o and others su- As w e have

seen in the previous chapter, the Proprietors of Encertainmens Associatiticm vesteci that

if the Bill was to p a s then gymnasfs, acrobats and ~tortionistsbe made exempt fkom it,

This request was to no aMil. Ferformers of dangerous acts were specifically targeîd by

the legislarion dthough, to the relief of rnany, equeStriazLS, clowns, jugglem and conjurers,

were untoucheci by it. However, as one member of the Music Hall Proprietors'

Assodation said at a meeting held by the organizaticm at the Canterbury Music Hall during

the debates in 1897:

it was necesSay chat [we] unite in what [is]a common cause...this matter
affected not o d y acrokts and g y ~but,indirrcrty the whole of the
music hall [and drcus] proksion ...the billhad rekrence only to acrobas,
but tomorrow another branch of the proCPiscm might be aaadrcd?

The collapsing of divisions within the music hall and circus community was in this

p e n d a sign of fellowship which the establishment of such bodies as the Van M e r s

Association, Proprietors of Entereainmeents Association,the Music Hall Proprietors'

Association served to support. Whiie the relationship among the three organizati~llsis

undear, they acted separately to unite large and small showmen and performers withïn

the performance community in a common stniggie against what they perceived to be

mecidlesorne legislation which k t e n e d their Livefihoods~* I t would be a mistake

however to think of the eeOm of Parliamentirians as entirely proscriptme. The ~ u c of

e

George Smith's Bill and the willingness of Parliament to d m drais Eimllies to Pain and

Performances BU,"Era,24 Apd 1897, 20.

7tnDangemus

mDangetous Performances BU,"E m , 1 May 1897,17.

 218

d b i t their chiîdren for ârms sas, as permitted by the Preventicm of Cruelty to Children

Act of 1894, represented a reluctance on the part ofmany potitidans #> intervene in the

livelihoods of perfbnning fiunilies. Of w m 1the lide acfobat was the excepdon to the

d e as of1897 when the revised Dangerous Performances Act incfeaSed the minimum age

for chiidren engageci in Perfornning ciangefous exhibitions.

III. Public Concem fior the Chiid

As ParLiament increased its statutory control over the cllcus chil4 organized

publicity about the Eate of these waifs increased. Pressures mounted h m various

quarters outside Pariiament and they hideci a campaign that challenged those adult

aesthetic codes which popularized chiid exhibitions. The diversity of objections CO the

child performer was cornpiementeci by a diversitg ofchannels through which these

opinions were heard which induded novels, newspaper columns, vigilance groups, law

cours, nonconformist chapels, and as we have seen, Parliament and govenunent &

cornminees. The effetn of rhis social pressure on the manager and his famüy or troupe

prompted many to search for solutions without compmmising th& liveiihood and that of

their dependents.

i. The CMd as Spectacle

One of the key questions undertying the problem of the ütde m b a t ' s popularitty

was. what attracted audiences to physicdly demanding kats perhrmed by chüdrrn?

Carolyn Steedrnan has argueci that the atmachzness of the chüd--bat 'had much to do

with a deep and pleasurable uncertainty about what was n a d in [hhher] oontorti~ll~
 219
and what was the product of auel training? In this way, the Uttie acrobat

simultaneously created an impression of na-- and unnaniratness, of brœd and

unforceci childhood, an image c o n s r n i d around the chiid's physidty.

In a relateci way, the appeal of the child acrobat stemmed, one reporter ohmeci,

h m his/her "strangeness"" as he/she embocüed both "humanand animai spirits,' a point

which refiected the connection contemporaries made between chiidren and animais.

Furthemore, the training process for animais and children, said one circus performer,

was simiiar: "an animal and a child must have a proper sense of discipline...[but]p u can

get nothing out of an animal or a chiid that is in terrot? The extent to which the

cestilts of this training were impressive or mereiy grotesque was entkIy in the eyes of the

who perfDrmed witb Sinciair and Croueste's

kholder. Regarding a boy calleci G u ~ e n

Circus in 1870,one observer noted that

he srecuted fèats of bending in a way *ch made the beholders imagine

that he m u t have in his body more joints and flrwer bones than ordinary
human beings have. His flexibiiity is amazing."

Another spectator said on the eve of the k t debate over the Dangerous Performances Bill

that

I con& I am not disgusteci widi the performance of a ciever child

[acrobat], neither do I think that 1 am isoiated in the matter, b r 1 have seen
enrapnired thousands enjoy the performances."

73Steedman,1 1 1.

""The Circus Apprentice,"Pull Mal! Gazette, 8 April 1885,2.

nwTwentyY- in the CircustW
B a ,1 June 1895,16.

and Croueste's Circus," Era, 11 Deamber 1870,7.

76wSindair

nwJuvenïleAcrobat's BU,"Era, 21 July 1872,12.

 220

Typifying the view which so many reviewem espoused a f k r w i m e . g child acrobats, one

reporter made the c o ~ e c t i o nbetween devemess and beauty when he saw the

performance of "twoiittie girls who deveriy balance themseks d e gracehilly bending

and attitudinizing on the tops of revolving pedesrals?

specta.dewas a famillar
These viewers h e c i in an age when co~ll~~lercialized

property characterized by a cornplex p r o a s of exchange and negotiation brrcReen the

viewer and the object under observation." Distance, of course?was a key dement in this

process.lo nie M d ' s role within the specracular form of the circus quite literally ralsed

h u e r above the heads of the audience - a Ein which helped to heighten the magical
qualities that surrounded the a c r o W s work,as we have seen in the previous chapter.

Distance between the m b a t in the air and the spectator on the ground also

as the former negotiated between Lik and death.

seiveci to heighten the latter's "W"

This bisson o k e d by the Littie -bat provoked no single set of responses - either in
fiction or reality. Charles Dickens's "In the Ring," which appcarsd in Ail Year Round in

1865. is a story involving a Scottish doctor who takes his smali niaes to an acrobatie

exhibition of Signor Uberto, la mere boy." They compel him to Ieave. Hawever he

reflecs d e r the incident,

1 did not wish to leave. That strange exciternent which impels us so often
to stop and see the end of a thing, dmadfbi though it may be, or else some
feeling for whidi 1 was utteriy unable to account, kept me firm in my
place.8L

'"'Sinclair and Croueste's Circus," Era, 11 Deastbr 1870,7.

79fora contamial trearment of why this was so, see Thomas Richards, ibe C o r n d i @
of Culture.

"ln the Ring,"AU tbe Year R o u e 28 January 1865,7.

 221
Quite apart h m the attitudes arpressed by his smali nieces which bear some M e r

consideration if we are to examine the interesting qyestion of chilcisen warching other

chüdren in fiction, Dickens's account of the doctor's commmts is si@mt for its seE

reflecting quality- The dcxxor's observation suggem codicts within this individuai tbat

resulted in his inertia, an inertia that reflected reai contemporary confiicts about such

displays.

While mnsfixed by the pzfbrmances, spec~atorsneverthekss showed that they

were nwer hiyr prepared for the worst And in situations that produd fixai or ncar-

-
Estai results the speaator's "gazenwas accompanied by the spectator's " p p R a kture

which distinguished acrobatie displays h m 0th- spccracular oms duMg this period. As

the Era reporteci in Mar& of 1869,during a perfbnnance of Irs Frrres Trevannion, one of

the boys "slippedfiom the grasp of [his brother] and kii..adistance of 3540 k t , amidst

the shrieks of men, women and chiidren."* I t was the tension becweai morbid curiosity,

on the one hami, and aesthetic interest, on the other, which amunteci for the culturaUy-

coded reasons for the individual's attraction to these exhibitions.

It might be argueci that this frisson eqerienœd by viewers reveaied that was what

was k i n g wa&ed was not quite separate h m the watcher. The concept of "spectatorial

sympathy,"discussed most recently by I(arrn Halttunena, suggests that the viewer in

some measure mtered into what he/she percemed as the same mentai world of t&e

of the spcxtator may therebre explain the

performer. The s d e d "pleasinganguishW

reason why Dickens's doctor was held W y in his seat for a reason which, as he said, he

"was unable to account." The moral repeicussions of such arpaiences, remarked Lord

-- -

Trapeze Accident,"Era, 2 1 March 1869,5.

B2nAlacming

-Karen Haltnuien, "Humanitarianism and the Pornography of Pain in Angi~~American

Culture," Ameriuzn H i s t O r f d Review, 100.2 (Aprii 19%): 3û3-334.
 222

Buckhurst during the Pariiamentary debates of 1872,would Lead to the "demoralizationof

the public sense? Without regdation, moral rebrmers guessed that the public's

appetite for danger would dtimateiy require, for satisfacaicm, an ever incfeasing leirel of

real danger. For example, afrer wimessing Blondin perform at a hdghr of eighty feet h m

the ground in 1861, one reporter noted that "instead of admiration, we heard many

persons say they were disappointeci that he had not done more? This ccmkmed

Shaftesbury's worst fkar rhat "this appetite [for danger] seems to hast been sbarpened

rather than satisfied"years later when he articulateci this kju before the many

wondered where the line that separated daring h m iife-threateningstupidity would be

drawn. 'This was a disgrace to the progress of our rehement," he added. Given this, we

rnight ask, did the s p m a d e of the child anobat teach important lessons,in a Fouaddian

sense, about power and domination,hrces which were driven by a vibrant amsumer

market?

The working together of the spectator and trainer within the contua of the

commercial market helped shape the meaning of chiidhood for the acrobat, and indced

adds a real-üfe elemmr to Stccdman's ms of the Literary repfesentatiom of diildhood.

i

As Steedman has pointed out, chiidsen under 15 at the mid-centwy point mmprised

approximately 3040% of the population and were "highlyvisible on the street..mmning,

playing, muched in the gutter, dancing and begging."" The wretcbedness and large

numericai presence of so many Iowerslass wai6 about whom Mayfiew and other

e5%10ndinat Margate," Era,2 1 July 1861,12;cf. Hamard, 3rd sefies, 2 12 (1872),

c.621.
 223
contemporary observers commenteci raiseci many questjcms about theh unçrable fritures:

were they to die an early death or continue existing in a world of presumed cruely and

poverty? Or wodd they find "sahation"through the help of rescuers? As the object of the

adult "gaze,"the Little ambat symboiidy compeiied sodety to amsider these questions

in a symbolic sense.

ii. SavYig the Circus W d Befbre 1889

As thousands enjoyed such displays, a s d rninority sought to remove children

h m them. Frustrateci by the lack of Iegal authority rn "swen

drcus chilcirem, who wese!

seen to be in n d of hdp, some tumeci to poiiticians, as we have seen. But untii the

antiiruelty act was passed in 1889,th- was no law upon which they codd d y in orcier

to Save chiidren fiom the ailegedly cruel treatment they underwent in th& Paining and,

sometimes, their performances.

At no tirne was such help more dernanded than when a chiid @mer was

a d y seen to sufkr on stage, as in the case in 1882 when "a Linle boy [who was later

reported to be a girl]" of two and a haif years old feil hom the slip at Astiws

Amphitheauen in Lambethm,a house which at that th& time was under the management

of the prominent circus entrepreneurs, the Sanger Brothers. Cleariy, the display was

illegal under the Dangernus PerfPrmances Act of 1879. The Lord ChamberMn was

consequently made aware of this breach by several members of the audience who wmte

letters to him after the chiid's fidi. But the only measure that the b r d C h m b d a h took

against the Sanger Brothers was the addition of an amendment to th& annual stage pkiy

'"Fatal Accident at a Theatre,"M m i n g Poe, 1 March 1882,7.

VRO, LC 1 398, LC In Letters, letter, fkom Thos. Verily to S. PoriJonby F- Lord

Chamberlain, 3 March 1882.
 224

iicense. The amendment prohibiteci "exhibitionsof...ciangemus perfOrmances...[and]

women and chiidren to be swung from the fiers, [or]lÎxed positions h m whi& they

cannot release t h e m s e l v e ~ .It~ was reponed in the Mornhrg Post chat the accident arose

h m the "dessnessof the fâther, who was not Iooking a k r his chüd..."rather than any

flaw in the theater's management? But whüe the Sangers were given a warnizLg, the

Either went unpunished. W1th the oncoming tide of legd change, the onus of

responsibility was securely fàstened to the parent and/or trainex who put his/her chiid at

risk. That is, accidents were thought to h a p p more often in dangerous environments

and, as such, it was cruel for the p a r e n m e r to put chüdren in such placcs.

Even rarer, although no les important, were those reports by contemporafies who

wiaiessed behind-the-mes cruelty. Complainlng of an instance in which an acfobatic

equesrrian was whipped by eight men whiie galloping around the ring during a reheafsal,

one wimgs lamenteci several years before the passage of the antiuveity act, "if 1 could

have got hirn away, 1 am sure 1 muld have made somethuig of him."" Rieleasing these

children from their apprenticeship,as the comment sugges- was no easy matter.

Cornplaints about the problem were not only articuiated by c a s d witneses whose sense

of nght and wrong promptecl them to write l e m to local and national newspapers.

Even parents of ciras children, whose respectability was held in question by zdots,

involved themselves in s-g their children; and they bund the resuis of t&is work were

not always Eavorable. For instance, two apprentices who cornplaineci that they had

encountered "hardtimesnand were not king taught the equestrian business by Pablo

-- ... . - -

VRO, LC 401, LC Licenses, Amendment to N e y ' s Liœnse, September 1882.

9LPR0,LC 1 398, 3 Mar& 1882.

92"Tothe Editor,"Pal1 M d Gazette, 7 April 1885,2.

 225

Fanque retumed home to Liverpool and had th& hther apply for the r e m d of th&

indentures. The Liverpool Police Court found it muid do nothing however since "the

indenture, it was discovered, was drawn up according to the Scotch Law..and the [court
The inabiliy of the sate to conpol potentiai abuses
therefbre] had no jurisdicti~n.~

that might a c t c i m s chiidren was perœhd by moral reComers and other rnembem of

the public as a serious weakness. In the w r l d of popular waif ficrion, however, the g d t y
were punished and the innocent - in the form of the chiid - sanded.

iii. Waif Fiction

From the 1870s moral opinion about the trieaanent of the Qrcus chüd found

expression in waif fiction - a genre which dected a wider concem for chiidren's welfare.
The theme of the circus chiid's piight that was "fictionalizedW
in the n d reyealed

Victorian &ety on the subject of ciass, childhood, and crudty and emp1oged standard

melodramatic conventions.Yn doing so,these noveis d e d hto question the operation

of justice and the plot overwhelmingty emphasized the theme of "destinyout of control"

since, most of the tirne, the diain temaineci in totai cornmand of hisiher victim."

In 1872, the year in which Shaftesbury uiaoduced the -bat Bill into the Lords,

the Religious Tract Society @T.S.) published ï k Little A m 6 a t and nfs MotLwt. The

novel, a part of a wider body of campaigning literature about parental cruelty, concerneci

an acrobat boy "who is in the se- of travelling gpmnasts [and mld a story about] his
advenmres, hatdships and subsequent deberance nr>m an evif course of fi-"%The

child, who Suffers fimm physicd neglect by his mother, is looked upon witb pity and

revuision by a merchant and his fnend, Mr Werner, the director of an asyium, both of

whom have seen the boy p e h r m .

'How old do p u suppose the boy is?'said Mr W m e r -

'1 shouid say about 10 years old', replieci his fiend.
'1 think he is more than that; children who Iead that sort of Lik
seldom g m . 1 shouid iike m get him in m y a s y i ~ m . ~

The imagineci etfecr that institutionalizatiion wodd have on his body couid k

desirable fkom Mr. Werner's point of view. In the min& of Mr. Wenier and his

cornpanion,this world to which the acrobat-boy beionged was deeply aoubling. At the

root of the boy's problems was his mother. "She was so dirty and ide? It was not

only her physicai neglect of her son,but also her inreiiectuai one that resulted in his eady

dedine. Her son was iiiiterate, knowing not even his real name when Mr. Werner asks

'What is p u r name?'
'Acrobat'.
'1 know p u r profission is that of an acrobat, but what is pour
Christian name?
'rabat*'99

Physicai and intellanial negiect translated into moral degmeracy. %cm many sins this

poor boy must have cornmitted, and seen cornmitteci wirhout even howing that th-

were sins," Mr. Werner lamens.'" Upon bang "rescuednby him and brought into the

%Steedman,103.

97anon.,?Be Little A m b u t and bis Motber (London,1872), 20,

981bid.,7.

Tbid., 21.

'"OIbid.,21.
convention would have it, h m his suange ways.

In both thjs n d and Darcy, tbe Young M a ,pubiished by the RT.S., over a

decade iater in 1884, the young acrobat who beiieves in Jesus Christ m p t s to change

the immoral ways of his parent - but to no d.

When Dprcg's Eirha, for emiunple,

begins to drink afier his wik's death, the puth ponders while & h g his gate on his

M e r , "was praying needful for women and chüdren onî~T"' The question came too
t or
late one evening when Darcy perfbrms, the rope break due to an oversight on his
/ rr

f i e r ' s part. When a docror in the audience attempts to corne to Darcy's ai4 he asks the

fàther, "whathave you...k e n doing to let such a chiid as this corne to harm?..A almapt

seems a pity to b g badr to M e and to this world of care~."'~

~ him

Containing dear religious conœms, both Tbe Youtzg A d u t and Damy reflected

the attitudes of the publisher, the RT.S. For the next two decades as the exhibitions of

child acrobaa continued to anract w i d e s p d patronage despite the legislation that

restricted them, these themes continued to edio in waif fiction. Lord Shahbury, a

prominent m g e l i d , sctended his rehrmist actiyity bepnd Westminsoer by getting

involved in extra-parliarnentarycampaigns for chiid wehre &m. Acmrding to Edwin

Hodder, his biographer, the period immediately before his death in 1885,"was spent In

labour and payer for young ~hildren."'~

He wroa the introduction in EUen Barke's

Pantomime Wuifs ((1ûû4) and opined,

'"Darcy [Helen J. Easfwcmd), Darcy, Tbe YoungAn0ba.t (London, 18&f),36.

lmEdwinHodder, Tbe Life a d Wonk of t&e-1 of Sbambry, Wndon, 1886), tli,

512-513.
 our civilization, it seems* permits us to hand o v u or hire our chiidren to a
course of sin,sunering and xmow, and so,by the agency of these helpless
cfeatures, thrive on the profits of th& moral degmdad~n.~

Sg
- out specincaüy against the "career of sin,miseq and min" that 'intuit gymmsts,

and acrobats, and...groups of childi& dancezs"engage in, Shaffesbury added, *to'to thisform

of slavery the English people have not, as yet, shown any great rep~gnance.~"

Uwuprisingiy, he was deeply afffftcd by the arpose on chiid prostitution that W.T. Stead

published in the P d M d G a z e H e in 1885- And despite his dedining heath,

[Il went to the Home Offiœ to see CKWs on those fearfid remdations in the
PaCl M d Gazette...( and] out last night to House of Lards* fw haif an
h o u , to see Salisbury on the same subject,'&

he noted in his diary on 25 Juiy 1885. Slavery was a theme that continueci to r e ~ ~ n aitne

waif fiction.

Like Stead, these waif fiction writers elmteâ the scandai within their narratives to

a social drama b t exposed social divisions and hrced theh audiences to rake sides.lo7

Several years later, Hesba Stretton focused on the piight of the d d Who turned to the

circus out of econornic necessity. In An Ambat's Girlbood (1889),she tells a s t o y of

Trixy, a beautifid, smng young girl whose mother has died and who is dius E o d to find

work since her hther, now a widower, only makes chirrg-seven shülings and m m support

her three ~ i b l i n g s . 'A~ breign circus owner and his wifé then see Trixy on a Margate

'"Ellen Barlee, Pantomime Waffs (London,1884), r

Lo.Uthough 37/,equnalent to LlOO a year, was not a bad rate, Trixg's father may have
wished greediiy for more money. Altemathdy, if Stretton did not know the d u e of this
rate, she simply overstated his need. It is undeu *ch of the rwo ideas she Eaw,red.
beach running races with her sister and lifring the i-t onto her shouldas. The

husband approaches Trixy's father and sirys,

'she couid make a bmme if she was in oui- han& fbr a year or two. In a
year's time, she could be m a h g cwo pounds a week.' "ïhat's more than 1
get myseLf , said EithererLOg

But, her sister, Ruth, who is the narrator intetjects, "theyseemed to look at Trixy as if she

was nothing but a beautifid animal they wanted to ~ U ~ . " ~ ' O The promise of money

prompts her hther to give permission to the coupie to take Tdxy away. But as a member

of their troupe, Trixy soon experiences brutal beatin&s, hungu and isoktion (as the

troupe pehrms on the Continent) that render her weak and si*, she dies.

"[This] was murder, though the law could not punish it."'LL

For both Bariee and Stretton, the child aczobgt mms like a slave to her masters,

unable to d e h d herseif because of the economic daims her trainerlrnanager had over her

body. Simiiarly, Amye Reade's Slavss of tbe S a w d pubiished

~ in 1892,stated f O r d d @

"it is no aoiggeration to say opertiy that the maser who thus trains is nothing less than a

Her keiings on the subject may have k e n pady influenced

dealer in human fie~h.""~

by the idw of IQLiandiüdren whose labot was being marketed cheaply by so-calied

-
pudmnes or chüd-seiiers and by the conventions adopted in campaignhg h f ~ t u r e

agaïnst child-seliing of the 1870s and 1880s,as demmaratd bp the novel, Master and

'".)CresbaSaetton, An Acrobat's GfrI;bood(bnàcm, 1889),12.

LLIbid.,
12, 17.

lLLIbid.,
66.

'12Amye Reade, S l a w s of tbe Sawdust (hndon, 1892), 307-8.

 230
Man, as well as Stead's expose.LL3Like the pdmme sgsttm, the s e b g of atmbats was a

fûnction of the ~lliifket,argued Reade:

it is the morbid taste of an inamsiderate public which is the cause of the

evii [regardhg the c i r a s chüd]..so long as there is a demand for the
market, the suppiy WUbe forthcoming as sureiy as in other
mmmodities..all my effort d be dirsced at the emar?cipationof these
white slaves."'

There were also earlier aamples of "the drcus chiid in captivitf lïterary motif,

such as that hund in the 1838 nm~efby Charlotte Adams,ïBe S t o h CMU, or laura's

Adventures wilb tbe T r a d f i n g Sbowmutl, in which hum, a dancing gid, is abducbed by a

showman and his f h d y . She is forceci to leam the acrobatie business, and conEorrn a,

the ways of this "lawlesstribe."'" The child blames herself for her abduaion: were it

not for her vanity and desire to have rhe public see her perform, the drcus troupe would

never have known of her dents nor wished her to be among them. The lesson which the

book ofkrs is not only that itinerant blks should be distnisted (inadentaüy one that

appecrrs in other Literature such as the 1871 children's book,jmny and tbe

Sbowman)'16, but also that children should act modedy in public.

The secondary point articulated in Xbe Stolen CbiCd andJenrry and tbe Sboumran

that the cücus prof-ion encourageci girls to perform irnmodest acts in public also

L''Reade,Slaves, vi, 309.

Adams, 7?w Stolen CbW, or hura's Admntums wttb tbe T r e U f n g

LLsCharlotte
Shotwnan and His F a m e (London, 1838), 16.

lL6SAG.,jemry and tbe Sboruman (London, 1871). In this book Jenny, who is tnisoed
tolook afkr her infint brother, fOUows an itinerant peep showman and loses 6er way
home. Her mother specifically mld her not to stray h m the house. Jennfs wayward
behavîor is implicitly ~ ~ ~ e ctot the
e dbad erample set by the showman.
 23 1
surfaced in An Amobat s' GirIhood. Trixy's sister, Ruth, hnds rhat the feats she does in the ring are

indecent. Wh?r makes thun wone is the public's approval of hem:

1 could not sleep soundly for the sight of Trbcy looking so bold and bazui and the
people chpping and shouthg at the sight. I wondered how decent men and women
can delight in nich shows...which seem only fit for heathens and hottentot^.''^

God, however, rewards those who believe in him,these waif novels demonstrare. Charamers such

as Nan, in Frances Stratcon's novel, Um, the C i m Girl (1898) offer the reader hope. One night

Nan,who is an equestrian for Mr Johnson's Travehg Circus and who hu secretly been taught to
believe in the gospel by a respectable young lady, is given nich a violent beaUng by the ciras

owner that he abandons her in a field while she Lies unconscious. She is later found by a farmer

who sen& her to the local hospitai where she is cared for!" Both Nan and TNry m m f
d ill
before they are able to escape their unhappy fate. Trixy however dies and presumably goes to

heaven, while Nui is able to enjoy the rest of her H e as a servant working for the same Christian

lady who originally raught her the gospel. Throughout these novels, physid abuse is often

accompanied by mental dimess which is only miugated by the child's belief in Jenis C k whose

concept of "cruelty" in the novel was taken to mean, in a colloquial sense, harsh veaunent as

defined by social convention. This is different from the contunporary legal definition of "cruelty"

which was taken to mean behavior or neglect thac w u dculated to cause suffering although the

two meanings were not incompatible.

By stereotyping the circus and senrimenr;rlizing the child within the conventions of

literary melodnma, these novelisrî shupened the monl concern mounding the litde

'"Suetton, 37.

"Trauces Stratton, Nan, 7 k Cirm Girl (London, 1898).

 232
acrobat while they blunted the culturai düemmas which pre-occupied the public.

Inadverten*, by drawing the public's attention to the v e q auelties and obsœnities they

wished to tepress, these writers imposeci a kind of spectacle within the waif novei and

added another specEacuIar dimension to the problem of chüd acrobaties.

iv. Reactions

Pfedictably, the circus mmmunity tmk serious@the bad pubiïcity generated by the

waif fiction novelists and tried to defend themsehres, partinilarly in the wake of the

publication of Reade's SIaves of tbe Sizwdust in 1892. Also emploging the miioquiai

definition of "cruelty"employed by the waif nadists, criticp, such as George Sanger,

argued in the Era that far fiam behg victims sold into slavery, "circuschildren are

generdy the chiidren of circus people, and not of the parenrage that Miss Amye Reade

The argument was an important one which re-Cocused the debate about
s~ggests."'~~

control mer diildren's weifare. Reade's "misapprehdon,"as Sanger muid have it, was

intentionally designeci to appeai to the broader public, infi,rming them that their own

respectable childm might go as- and 6nd th- abducted by the circus. This

literary ploy effectively sharpened and dgidiEied the boundary between the boMj?&

circus child and that of the novice "slave."

The comrnunity took the position, contrary to what Reade argueci, that

alrnost never were chiidrai - whether boni into the proksslon or not - taught by cruel
methods. And, men if rhey were, common sense dictateci that these children muid make

th& compiainrs heard or run away.

 Do you not suppose that a girl of hurteen woddn't report her su&ringi
the same as any domestic
to the fim stranger or fnend she came acro6s [O]
servant who had been snubbed by her mistress?,

argueci Sanger?" The prokssion aied out for the names of the chiidrem's persecumrs.

"If Miss Reade would submit to m e &[el trainer's namc [about whom she speaks] 1 think
the p r o h i o n would very much know how to deal with hirn,"said Maurice Fi-d, the

managing director of the Royal Equestrian Society.*' Indeed, supporthg the notion of

professionaüsm in the circus,Sanger argued with respect to the "chilci [do]is erka into

apprenticeship" that "articles of apprenticeship are legaiiy drawn up, and are signed by the

parents and the equestrian or gymnastic managerfnLPin any case,Fiagerald addeû, as a

practical matter, cruel training acted against the interems of the manager: "[as with

horses] ...once you lafe your temper...y0 ur morning's work is lost.""

To be sure, there were rnany parallels between animal and chiid training in the

arcus. and for that reason the uneven dwelopment of legiskitive controls between the

rwo groups made some cry out, particulariy in the pre-1879 period, that "animatS are

protected by the law; is there no protection for...children when they are thus

e x p ~ s e d ? Several
~~' years lacer. one country d ~who taztended an elderly circiis man,

recalled that the man told him that "animalswere now and then taught by kindness but

there was always the altemaave of cruelty behind this kind of regime if [it] p m d a

12"1 bid.

the Editor,"Era, 20 Febniary 1892, 17.

L21nTo

mnTo the Editor,"Era, 20 February 1892,17.

L2inToThe Editor of the Era: Perilous Exhibitions," Era, 10Juiy 1870, 11. The issue of
animais and legiskitive convols wiii be dealt with in the n m chapter.
 234
~ the secretive and shifeing boundary that separared auelty h m strict
f a i l ~ r e . "Thus,

but humane teaching made it impossible to argue against the &mers. The situation
was more worrisome in cases where the drcus appeared "in a smaii English country place"

the doctor continued by quoting his eider, khere the process of artiiniag success [unltlre
London where success has bacorne a habit] is attained in ali i î s bitter[est] f a m [ ~ ] . " ~

This view was reiterated yeats later when the newiy formed national defknder of

chiidren's rights, the National Society for the Presention of Cruelty to C h i l h (NSPCC),

took practid steps to ptoseCute crimes against inhumane managers.

v. The Role of the NSPCC

Novels and newspapers hefped publicized the antilcruelty moyement and the

NSPCC was in a good position to benefit h m this increased pubk scmtiny and

awareness. Mer the anticnielty act of 1889,the Society hoped that it would be able to

end the catalogue of abuses that a8nicted chiidren, incIuding those in the circus. Its

investigations, which were reporteci in the SOaety's annual report, o k r a systematic

picture ofits work, a piccure which di8érs h m the pre-1889period which involved the

sporadic actmties of individuais. It is significant that dong with neglect, abandonment, UL

treatment, etc., the Society indudeci the categoy of "dangerousperfOfmancesnin its

annual report of cases investigated between 1889-94.

';""Circus Children,"Pal1 M d Gazette, 31 March 1885, 6.

L261bid.
 Considering table 5.3, in conjunction with complementary data rrlaping t~

geographic locations where these cases were investigated, it is possible a> maire wme

summary observations. In 1889-90, for example, of the f%&-five cases investigated, seven

occurred in Brighton, which had its own branch of the NSPCC. It is o f some interest that

in 1890 Brighton had no permanent c h u s , housing only the Oxford Theatre of Variedes

and the Aîhambra where acrobas and aeriai @rmers muid be seen? in HaWix,
where again the NSPCC had a locai branch, eight cases ofdangerous performances weff

investigated, and again no permanent arnises seemed to be prrsait in the aty. In al1

iikelihood, the displays took place either at the Drill Hall which was used as a d e t y

theater or in open-air tmts o r other such venues. Two pars later, in 1891-2, the NSPCC

tabulated in findings according to county division, and c o d h e d that 19 cases beionged

to the Norrhern Counties Division, 12 to the Midlands and E a m Counties, and only 4

to the South and West o f England Divisions." [n 1892-3,a Wod which acperienced a

rapid rise in investigations of dangerous perti,tmances, ody one case was reporteci in

'"NSPCC, Table Ur, "Table o f cases of the soâecg in its nine p u s work," tzttegory
"dangerousperEormancesnfor 1889-1893, in Tbe WorCd of F w t t s n Cbicdimn h g a
NSPCC Report fm1833-3(London, 1893), 76. National Society fbr the Prevendon of
Cruelty to Children's Archives, National Centre, -don. Tha& to Nicholas M a l m fbr
his help.

LPNSPCC,Unwanted und IIIused CbfIdren,lVSPCC Report Pmsmtted M q 13,1890,

Appendix D,"Surnmary o f Aid Cornmittee's Cases, 69.

'BNSPCC, ïBe Cmwn and tbe CMM: Being A RBport for 189-2,msented May I I ,
1832 (London, l892), "Summary of the Society's Aid Cornmittee Cases," 82-3.
 236
London,whereas Derby and Ipswich had the highegt number of investigations in the

provinces, totalling 12 and 17 respectivelyYuoIt is of some interest that Fred GInnett

received approval h m the Derby Town Councii to build a permanent c h u s in that dty

during the 1892-3winter season and m q have been the hocus for the Sodety's

~ ~ 1893-4, there omirred a hiccup in the Society's recordeci cases

i n v a t i g a t i ~ n s . 'By

which dropped from seventy-five to Eorty-eight, as indicad in &le 5.3. Derby was

notably overlwked by the Society in this year and Ginnett's circus seems #> have never

been built. The largest concenaation of cases reporteci in this year occurred in Preston

and its Dismct, an area noted for its concentration of music halls*drcusa and variet-

theaters. These cases amounted to eight, a rise h m nil the year beEi,re?

Although the spaise nwnber of pre-1889 cases already discusscd probably

underestimates the extent to which investigations of drcuscs took p h , they almost

cereinly became more numerous afkr 1889. This was, at least p a d y , because the

Society for the Ptevention of Cruelty to Chiidren evolved into a comprehensive naticmai

organization with estabLished bases tbroughout the kingdom in 1889." Most of the

provincial areas mentioned above - Brighton, HaliEag Preston, and Ipswich - containeci a
National Swety Aid Cornmittee with a paid inspectortlw

L3PNSPCC, Table 1:Analysis of Aid CoIlllIUtteetsCases," Rsport for May 9,1893,me

World of Forgotm CbiMrerz, Being a Report for 18923 (iondon, 1893), 202-205-

Nir~cus h r Derby,"Era,24 December 1892,12.

L 3 L "C

L3%SPCC,"AppendixC: Anaiysis of Aid Cornmittee's Cases,"Presented May 7, 1894,

Justice to Cbicilren: A T m Years Revfew: Mrzg a Report of 1893-4(London, 1894), 70-73.

luGeorge Behlmer, C M Abuse and M d Rejonn in EngCad 187û-1908 (Stadord,

1982), 109.
LsDerbywas an exception since it did not have an impector; see "MapShowing
Present Development of the Society,"Report fOr May 9, 1893,Tbe World of F v # m
CbfCdmq Befng a Report fm 1-3 @ndon, 1893),210.
 237
Given the numemus dangerous performances investigations, h m s u c a s f u l was

the or&anizationat putthg a stop a> these disphys - either through legai prosecution or
private intervention? Of course, there were major difl6iCUIdes associatexi with trging to

"discipline"a manager ofa n;nrelhg troupe and a manager of a permanent vaiw. 'AU

that an owner of a Little perf0rmer need do w save himsc?lf h m prosecution,"the Landon

SPCC report Cor 1888 stated, "isto give the offier a frise name and addnss..a d...iong
* .
bebre the neœssary pteliminary legal procgdings...he is off."" On the osher han4

"proprietors [ofpermanrnt places] cannot dford to have p u against chemlub

While the problem of the itinerant manager's Bfght oanirred in the post-1889

period as well, it was worse in the pre-1889 p e r i d when the Society on& had offices in

Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham and London. Withfcw panais on the ground and priithout

the force of an anti-crueltylaw behuid it, the Society couid ody empfoy moral pressure

on the cruel manager. In one instance of successfuI moral pressure, in 1888,

a lady subscriber of the Society [inf;ormed us of the action she todr a k r

witnessing the dangerous performance of two M d acrobats]...[A ]fm
watching the performance [she] inte~ewedthe managermanageT In the result,
two boys were withdrawn?

But whiie some of the Society's subscribers may liave been brthcoming in di&

enthusiasm to take the impresario to task, its o ~ e f lamenteci

s that the rest of the

public was not and "these persons...who aiieged cruelaes practiced by certain c h u s

proprietors...d
write letters to the papus" which, in k t , do more harm than good.

"[They] ohen have the mischievous effecc of putting the guilty perscms on th& guard,

L3%SPCC,Tbe London Socfetyfor tbe P r i a r e n É f ~ t lof Che@ to C b i C d m A Fourtb

Year's Wonh Report hsented 8 Mrry 1888 (London, 1888), 22.
 238
beseteing all M e r independent inquiry with new and bnnidable dif]6idties,"staoed the

annuai report of the Society in 1885."

vi. A bophole

-
The mere threat of the antiuudty movement rathm than any direct enmunter

with the NSPCC - motivated many circus hndies to look br alternative solutions b&re
t h q found themsefves at the mercy of the inspeccor. T&atis, they searcheci for ways of

coping with the law which afkr 1889 prevented aU children under ten h m perfbfnilng.

The only mitigating provision between 1889 and 1894, as we have seen, was one which

ailmeci parents or managers to take out a license for performance. This, h-, only

applied to those diildren between seven and ten years old, a ciause rhat produceci much

confusion. Furthemore, afkr 1894 w h the mdsed law ostensibiy libemted parents and

managers from many of the presumed h d e perfi,rmance restrictions of the anti-cnïely

law, the efkas of this new law did not ensure the chiid's (aged seven a> ten) W o m to

perform. Confuseci and ill-idorrned, managers and parents often found t f i d v e s

struggiing to understand and acmrnmodate a set of statues that were riddled with

confusing loopholes.

In ali respects, the proces of accommodation was hardes for the -bat than any

other rnember of the performance world since the d o u s legai pmvisions with respect t~

acrobaties were so muddied. Even those who wished to mmpfy as best they muld

sometimes found themselves in a legai muddle. For example, in 1895, a Etther "oftwo

Iittle [acmbat] girls, the Sisters W m ,aged 12 and 14" applied fOr a license for than to

perform at the Aquarium. The magistrate, Mr De Rueen, of the Wesmiinsm Poiice Court
 239
did not grant i t Y The chiidren were abope the age that r e s t r i d chlldren's

performances according to the a n t i ~ ~ ~ eact yf 1889. Because the goungest ofthe two
f to

sisters was under the legai age for pehrming in dangerous performances, the managas

at the Aquarium demandeci b t the chiidren receive a license fitom a mag&mte to

perform their m a . De Rueen's decision not to grant it was reponedly hhrmed by the

k t that the younger girl had recently slipped and Wen into a net whüe perhorming on

the trapeze, a sign that she was not yet fdiy trained. Such inScances confimeci in the

min& of regulators that children did not belong in these dangerous environmentS.

Although the accident was ofa "very triviai nature,nit had the effèct of "occasioninga

police report to the authorities,with the resdt that the Aquarium managernent had ken

advised that a License was necessary."'"

Evm without the license, one wonders about the effectiveness of the law in
Sr rtCC
preventing these two girls from perfofnung e k h e r e , drcus troupes ofkm changeci
h

their names and their anonymity was strengthened by th& itineraat Mèstyie. If such a

bnish with the law was an isoiated instance then De Rutzen's ruling was no more dian a

set back For the Sisters Warren;if it occurred more than once then it was perceived to

"have the most disasmus afkcs [sic] [on] the prospects of a hard-working W y of

To be sure, the girls' hther was so worried about the d

gyrnnast~."'~~ d of theIr

iicense that the Aquarium's soliator - who appeared at the Court on a separate matter
re1ating to two other gymnaso - remindeci the judge at the Wganinsm Police Court of

the Warren case and asked for a reversal of the decision. "put] Mr. De Rutzen said chat

---

3 August 1895, 15.

L39Erq

"OIbid.

10 August 1895,14.
L4LEru,
 240
he could not express an opinion on a matder that was not judidally before h i d L * In

that
its own account ofthis case the NSPCC's mouthpiece, the C W ' s Gzardian, rep~r&ed

the piacing of the chiid's d ' & y above both the demsuids of parents Cor a
living..and the demand of certain of the public for the pleasure of
spectacies,..is a new thing in the land and should be a xnatter of both
national pride and of gratitude to the Sodety fhat has made it

The NSPCC was cieady seEcongraniiatory. The law however produceci mdkion and

stress b r the acrobat and his hmüy.

Nor only were the parents of these chiidren a&cted, as the abme case implies,

but so too were the proprietors of permanent drcuses, theaters or such venues, who

womed about their aSSOQation with these parents. At the Empire Theatre of Variecies,the

manager was surnmoned under the 1889 law for 'unlawfuyr proniring a child, Banard

Dayton, aged ten years oid, to be on the premises hx the purposes of perf0rmi.g for

profit.""' He was one of three dllldren who formeci the troupe calleci the Dapon

Troupe of Acrobats. In reply to the complaint, the chiid had been withdmvn. The

manager heId that "thecomplaint was the h t of im kind ever made against the Empire,

and it occurred entirely duough a misunderstudinggntUSpedfying the source of biame,

the magismate sated that the employer - not the iàther of the M d - was the responsible
person.'" The distinction b e e n parentai responsibiiîty and that of the employer was

important. In cases of training, the parent who taught the child might be bund guilty of

crueity whereas, in cases of performance, the attention could shifk to the employer who

'Ybid.

'li"Dangerous Performances By Children,' CbW's Cuardfun,9.10 (Ocoober 1895), 138.

'"''Chiidren on Stage," E m , 1 August 18%,16.

L451bid.

'%id.
 241

subconaacted the parent and child. speaking, the NSPCC and the poiice

constables who reporteci such cases to the local magistra~

occupied a p o w d position

in relation to that of the Yulnerabfe entrepreneur nnn proprietor.

The magisPau's reaccion was not easy to pradict in such cases. Not only did he

have to think carefully bekre denying a iiœnse but he also had to take inho account its

potential impact - if he granteci it - on the chlld's welfare. Ln Newport,in 1897,

three bright healthy looking children...waeacmmpanied by Mrs Jaclwn

[the wlk of th& tmup's manager] who applied for a liœnse to permit
th& pedbrmance [as dog dancers] at the Empire this week?

Two of the diildren bdonged to a Lancashire collier, who had a hmiiy of thlrreai. Mm

his wülingness to d o w his boys to Perform in the troupe."'* Referring to her own

plight, she told the magisnate t&ather husband was a "paperstainer, but work kcame

da& and they [both] took up s q e warknl* Her subsequmt testunony that she got her

living by the performance of these children conhrmed to the spirit of the very objection

raised by MundeUa and others about chiidren's labor: "it is the parents who should

maintain the diildren, and not the chiidren who should maintain the parents.'" In
Jadcson's case, she did not even have the baiefit of king a parent, but was the wik of

the manager, and therefôre amacteci much suspiaon h m the magismate. Her statement

that if the license was not granted, "we would not k p these children and they WUhave

on the Stage,"Era, 22 May 1897, 18.

L'7"Chiidren

'1 bid.

"Sbid-

L s W a ~ a r d3rd
, series, ~01.337(1889),c.255.
 242

to go home again,"pmvided a bleak picnue of the diildren's possible futuretureUL

While

the License was originaiiy rehised, this decision was revemed seseral dags Lam and the

performances at the Empire continueci. lhir evident indecision on the part of the

magisnates helps to underscore the confusion and unœrtainty that &mcte&ed the law

as i t related to young acrobatî and, to a l s v r mt

,other Perfprmers.

IV. Conclusion
The evidence in this discussion has Zocused maidy on the child a m b a t This

relates to the fact that among the variety of di&rent kinds of perfermers in the circus, the

Little acrobat was, on balance, the primary focus of attention among politlcians, pleaswe-

seekers and refbrmers. For many, the iitde acrobat's Llfe was the m a t ewggerated

acample of the wretched existence which most drcus chiidren led. Whether in the ring,

in Parliament or in the contempomy novel, the child acrobat engaged the intemxs of the

Victorian public and in the process drew attention a> deep mn8icts within this society.

For Parliamentarians, the tensions were between market intemention and Catssez-fahP,

between state interfkrence in the a&urs of the Camüy and a policy of pripacg. For sociai

reformers, the stress was between theh m o d cause and the dominance of the cmnsumer

demand for spectacle. For patrons - to the extent that Dickens and 0th- wmmentatocs
reveaied th& thoughts on the chiid perfôrme~- tensions arose h m morbid curiosity

and aesthetic beauty. But for the Society as a whole, the mision underiining the acrobat's

art was ultirnately between iifè and death within the con- of a commercializd market_

Syrnbolidy, given the heights at which he/she @meci, the chiid acrobat hovered over

the public sphere, prompting and challenging new ways of thinking about these am£kcts.

of the Stage," E m , 22 May 1897,18.

L5L"Chiidren
 During the last two dm& of the ninereenth century, a new pattern of coping with the

child welfare question wu adopte4 one which infringed uicreasingly upon the rights of parents

with each successive Act of Parliament. In the anti-cruelty act of 1889 and its revision in 1894, a

range of children, includlig acrobars, were protected by the sate. Widi the revised Dangerous

Performances Act of 1897, these cirrus performers were M e r urgeted for protection. Perhaps

hlegd response stemmed from the

t f e u that the child acrobat, who wu often "here today, gone

tomorrown or rnaybe the nexc week,was otherwise unreachable. As an intangible propercy, he/she

sparked as much (if not more) anxiety in the min& of "child savers" than his/her more accessible

brethren, the child flower seller, domesùc servant, agiculnini laborer, seams~essor match-box

maker. T h e dominance of the public's desire for acrobauc displays involving children, in
combination wirh other contemporary concems about waifs, created the ripe conditions for this

anxiety to reach irs semational pitch in the 1880s and 1890s. Thus, underlying the child acrobat's

spectacle were important conflicts uiuag from deep amieties that d e h e d the age. S m d wonder

then so many Victoriaus fùced dieir gaze upon the 'linle prodigy."
 1. l n ~ u c t i o n

"mether]good tempered or bad tempered, 1 never ciid a horthe [sic] a injury

yet," said Sleary, the &cus manager.' Encapsulated in this commmt was an imporîant

message about the view that respectable Society had of the cirinis and the way that the

arcus reacted to this perception. The public's ebbing and E i h g concern about the way

arcus animais were treated afkcted the respecîaMity of the circus establishment in

different ways throughout the second half of the nineteenth cennuy. The &st part of this

discussion aslo, in awakenhg the public's attention, what did the animal do in the

Victorian cjrcus? This section exiimines the way in which animais appeared in the rinp of

the theatrid and the traditional cireuses. The gradua1 numerid dominance of the Iatter

over the former meant that animals were used in wags that involved short disp- of skiil

rather than ciramatic pieces. As these short displays in the traditional circus came to

prevail, questions about how animais were taught to do their unusual tri& behind the

scmes amse. The public demonstration of the training process o<?curred in one

manager's circus ring - that of Cooke's - in 1828,thus giving expression to Mr Sleary's

argument about kindness over cruelty, as section two will show. But responses to the

displays in 1858 were cornplex.,raising doubts in the min& of many about how Eir the

circus establishment was capable of convincing the pubiic rhat kindness was wideb

ernployed in the training p r o e s .

LDickew,Hurd Times,2..
 246

That so much of the training process omirred, as with the chiid, khind the

scenes was a fàct that meant that public doubts were n m r capable of being fia&

appeased. Furthemore, the circus had a,conand with danimai rights admxaes who

publidy - in the magistrates court, newspaper and periodid - focused on the issue of
animal cruelty in the brcus, particuiarly in the latter decades of the centurg d e n the anti-
..
vrvisection debate coincidentally rageci, as section three wiil demonstrate. The Rclgal

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais (RSPCA) was perhaps the most outspoken

component of this diverse movement that aiso incideci specialized gmups, such as the

National Canine Defrrnse League. Each group sou@ to expose cruel managers and

trainers to the public and gain pubiic sgmpathy for their d r m rampaip. This stniggie

for increased Iegal control over the circus animal, specificaüy, and the dnis,in general,

provided the focus for many interesteci in seeing a new act of Parliament passcd, an &rt

which was reaiized in 1900. Seen h m one perspective?many within the circus

estabüshrnent resented the fact that they had a> deal with increased regulation by the

state. Seen Erom another and more practid perspective, however, scate interfkence

contributed to the respectabiiity of their trade.

II. Enter Circus Animal

Jounzal remlled "theh m

In a reminiscence, one writer for the Cbambet.sDs

performed by some of the horses [at Asdey's] ...were exœedingiy wonderful. The animais

seemed to possess a degree of human intclligenœ." Prized horses were key to any drcus

establishment as "accomplished acrors"in their own right, partiulartp at the "theatncai

%gh Mettied Racer,"~banfbers's 7 April 1877,209.

]~umaZ~
 247
arcus." Andrew Ducrow - a b o u s equestrian of the 1830s and 184ûs who perfi,nned

at and manageci Asdey's - helped popuiarize the "star horse" phenornenon within the
equestrian play. One writer d e d seeing Ducrow perfOrm in the "High Metded Raœr,"

possibly in Juneof 1832 when it was fîrst produceci and presented as a " j d e fkte.n4

In the play, Prince, the valuable and beautifid horse, is transhrmed h m a steed used by

his mistress at the country hum to a race home and, in the Bnal act, to a draught horse

who is "halfstarved? In h a 1 scene when PM= is reduced to "&in and bone," both the

horse and his former mistress meet in a chance encounter, common within the

melodramatic narrative structure:

While laying in the street in its death smiggle and when preparations were
[bang made] to drag it off to the shambles, [the] es the
dying animal as king her hvorite home, Prince...& the same the, the
poor beast h t l y Mihg its head, tecOgnjzes its old mistress and with
fàiiing eyes seems to implore her wmpassion!

The mis- stops and "in the smte of distraction kn& dooPn and takes the home's head
in her lap....Oh,what she would not do to revive the dyhg animal and give PM= a new

lease of existence!" P&'S

4
dernise - due to the hard toi1 and the crud blows @ento
him by his current master - seems imminent. Y- whai al1 seems los& "asyiph-lih- king

appears...her mission k i n g to redress wrong. She muches the dying home with the wand

and bids it rise."' Givm what must have been the aroeptional talent of the performing

31bid.

'TM, Asdey's file, poster. 25 June 1832.

5nHighMenled Racer," Chambers'sJournal, 7 Apd 1877,209.

6~bid.

'Ibid.

'lbid.
 248
home if the writer is correct, it "nowrises its rrcumbent posidon...the iaây s p ~ p

upon its back and thqr go off at a splendid gallop." The morality tale that undemared

the perfbnnance was ciear: the horse, the h e s t and m o a noble of God's creaaires,could

be reduced m a wretched, idkior beast of burden through the inhumane treaiment of its

owner. While it may not have been the deliberam aim of those managc~who produœd

them, su& displays nevertheles created the impression, however tenuously, that drcus

people, like Mt Sleary, knew the d u e of horses and the Importance of treating them

kindly. And through the presentation of such moraiity tales, audiences - many of *ch

consisted of chiidren as the 1832 poster suggested - were compded to sgmpathize with
the animal and, in tum, think about the way in which it ought to be treated.

Within the traditional-àrcus, horses were also seen in "scenes in the drcieR

demowaxting speciaity acts as did "thelady who jumped over nine and twenty ribbons

and came down sak upon the horse's back."'' But whüe this kind of display was

drcus, it occupied a key part in the

presented during the interlude of the "theanicaw

program of the "traditional"circus partially beause of the limiteci resources within the

laner's grasp which negated the possibility of hiring costumes and scenery. Perfotming in

a tent at Lodc's Fields in Walworth, Poweil and Price pze~enteda program fkaturhg 'Miss

Laura Clarke who will exhibit her wondemil equesaian emlutions cm h a Spanish Barb,

Clarini."" Also @vena prominent b i h g was Mr Palmer who performed a sketch, "The

Life of a British Saiior," by striking postures on the back of a bare backed home "who

@ o p at fidl speed." As the traditional circus M o p e d , the kinds of animals it

'

''SE, PC791.3 LOC,posnr, Circus Rogal, City of Salisbury, Saüsbury Pl., b&"s Fields,
Waiworth, 6 November 1843.
presented before the public became more diverse. At Bell's circus in 1861, for example, the

prognm coacluded with H e n Noriski, of the Imperia1 Zoological Insuture in St. Petenbu%, who

w u said to prrsent "the full charge and subjugation of his entire co~ectionof ferocious lions, tigers,

etc? The bill stated that

Herz NeWki d most gnphically delineate at euh performance the h o s t

superhuman power of man over Brute creation. His calm and fearless mamer
while exhibitkg those powerfui desvoying animais whose desires are blood, whose
food is blood..wheher huma. or brute...shows at once the superior genus of uim]
who oia with one look of his powerful eye...make them as playful as kittens."

AddLig a melodramatic e h e n t to this life-threatening exhibition the bill wamed that "to guvd

againsr d possible accidents, the wild beasts' dens are double ironed and bnced with iron

fa~teaings."~'Su& assurances were necessary: the danger aaociated with the wild animal in a loose

cage was not illusory. Some months earlier, a workmln at Adey's met his death because a lion got

loose from a cage that wu accidendy unfastened. In a pseudonymous letter to the Lord
Chamberlain, signed "Veriru," ui obsenrer stated,

the den to which the savage bevu [which perform in "The Lions or the Lion
Conqueror"] are confined is, in my opinion, most iwcure...the prexnt state of the
cage [indiutes the owner's] m e r disregard for human Lfe.ls

*"Bell's Equesvian and Zoologicai Exhibition," Era, 28 A p d 1861, 16.

"Ibid.

"Ibid.

15PR0,LC 1 98, LC In Lercen, 8 January 1861, b e r from 'Verkas' to the Lord Chamberlain.
 250
Another obsemer, Thomas Barton Lawtence, compiained to the h r d Chambe&h tbat not

oniy were animais dangernus to those who took tue of th- but they were also a t h t

to the observer: 7 tremble to refiect on the nervous timidity of sume of the a~dience.0~~

But it was arguabiy this "nenousness"which, at least in the first instance, amaacd

many spectators to the ring. An exhibition indving "Mocombo, the Lion tamer,' at

Mander's Menagerie in N o m i c h demonstrateci this point when the !amer's k m "made a

spring" at him afier which the animal's teeth went through hir boot" The audience,

according to one reporter, was cleady titillateci but soon grew repuised d e n it saw

"Mocombofight off the iion with the butt end of a carbine."18 As a ccmsequenœ of the

tamer's action, the animal "wasmade insensible"and its state was made even worse when

the m e r "administereda clencheci ht upon the animai's prostrate body after he had

' ~ response, the audience

seized the iion d ~ w n . " In much alanneci aithough the

tamer mzits the whole a&ur with the greatest n ~ n c h a l a n c e .At

~ mot, Mommbo's

exhibition serveci to underline an ambivalence beîween a pop& interest in "sensational"

displays, like iion r;uning, and those codes regardhg compassion towards mimals. Such

an ambivaience meant that the animai exhibition - so long as an eiement of danger

underscored it - could never achieve a respectable status because, by definition, its

outcome could never be predicted.

16PR0, LC 1 98, LC In Letters, 11 Febniary 1861, Itr., h m Thomas Ektun Lawrence to

the h r d Chamberlain.

L7nAcadent at a Menagerie,"Era, 15 January 1860, 6; The n e w s p v probabky meant

that the tamer was d e d "Maccomon.

'îbid.
 251
The kbson that audiences enjoyed h m this ambmaleence was defiised in instances

when the animal posed a real threat to di& own d being. At Sanger's, whfch

performed at Devon in 1859,an accidemt 0c:cuTed in which a tiger escaped h m its cage

at the menagerie exhibition. Although it was retrieved by its keeper?Crockerc, confusion

nevertheles msued:

[the pubiic] nished terror stcicken k m the spot crying "thelions are out"
and two of the specrators were thrown d m and trampled on,one a boy
of fourteen, having his ann broken and the other nxeïving severe intemal
injury."

As a consequence of the accident and as a geture of goodmdi towards the community

and particularly the two victims, the Sanger Brothers gave "thewhole of the receipts of

the evening's perfofmancento the su&rref~.~

Despite or because of such accidents, other managers sought out Sanger's lions in

order to sutxonvacr them br their own circrws,a process which was cornmon among

those cirnisg that did not have the money to purchase these animais. (According to an

auction report h m 1872,for -pie, the cost of a Lion mged 6com &€Ml to 6270J8

Two years after the accident at Dewon, Mr Batty hired Sanger's den of lions, dong with

their m e r , Mr Crockett, Eor a period of one month. During that time, John and George

Sanger round that "we received innumerable applications [ h m other managers] Tor th&

performance? From Batty's perspective,sub-conaactuig the tamer and the tamerb

animal was not just finanaaiiy sensible but also prudent. That is,it was commonly

beiïeved that the tamer who trained his own animal was more M y (aithough not alwap

Em, 24 April 1859,13.

""hother Accident with a Menagerie?"

PIbid.

"Wdd Beasts Under the Hammer,"Era, 14 April 1872,12.

*'"The Late Lions at Astley's,"Era, 17 Feb- 1861,12.

 252
as the Demn case iliusuated) to put on a "sakndisplay than the ramer who was

introduced to his beast at short notice. In this vein, John Sanger argued that "whcna

man is with the lions from the birth, he gets a> know their ~ p p movement
g and they of

him and there is iinle f k r of bang tom to pieas? So m e was this view that James

Sanger,George's grandson, mld the members of the Selea Cornmittee on PerfOrming

Animais in 1921 about the importance of aaining wild animals h m their puth: "no

nainer would take a full-grown Lion to train;they take cubs; they are just iike

kittm...[
with whidi] we play? Tamuig, it was argued, bred h ü k r i t y and it was on

the b i s of thk famüarity that tamas were able to carry out th& perfbrmances in

relative saféty. For Batty who had no in-hou%trainer and no permanent milection of

wiid animals, the process of sukonPacting h m those select drcuser, such as

Sanger'd'. which did possess these resouras, was thus the best way of exhibithg these

displays.

Not oniy did the cxhibition of wild animals awaken concems about the way these

animals were treated by th& tamers but it also raised important questions about the

effect of captivity on animals' health. To be sure, sidmess and mortality among wiid

animak were well-known problerns among menagerie, drcus and zoo keepers. In his visit

to the zoological g a r d a at Leeds in 1840,one observer noted chat "thebuildings [where

the animais are kept] are very showy but [the animals] WUnot lastW Later visiting the

L"A 'Royal' Cûcus," Era, 19 November 1892,12.

"PP,Report fmm tbe Sekèct Gmtmittee on P e r f m f n gAnima& 7 (1921) Ln. 812,31.

%esides Sanger's, there were only a couple of other circusg *ch possesed th&
own wild animal collection in this period. They indudeci Howe and Cushing's and Bell's.

3%L, Th. Cts. 50, ml. 1,26DeceInber 1840,m.,Note written on the iwrk of a
playbïii for Ducrow's Splendid Amphitheatre, Edinburgh. The lethet was written to Vriend
Cummins" and was unsigned.
 253
gatdem at Derby, he added that "thebeam [here] are [in]w o ~ e
[condition] than in

Hull.n40 in some cases,the animai owners -te badr to th& deaiers asking for adpice

about c
@
s ailmentr. When Mr Shdfèy, the showman, fwnd that his pedbrming

elephant d e d Chance "sufkr[ed] d n d f u U y of its broken tusk," he wrote to his dealer,

Mr Croft, for advice:

the poor animal becornes furious when his pain m e s back..Not büng
very weli acquainted with it, this aiarms us very much. If it [is]not too
much abusing of your kindness we shouid pray pou to answes us as soon as
possible what you think proper to do?'

Despite the advance of veterinary medicine, keepers oontinued to have a difûcult tirne

coping with their animais' cornplaints a s late as the 1880s. A Patcerson, the h d keeper

of the Preston Pleasure Gardem. spoke of his Marmoaette monkey's cold and consequent

death, as weiI as the death of the piping cow who "hadk e n aiiing for some the.- The

problem of bad ventilation was the cause of such ilinesses whicb also a f k t e d his entire

conservatory of birds who,in August, "suffered h m infections of the eyes?

Ventilation was a key problem, especiaily for traveiiing cireuses. Codkning this

and other problerns, Thomas Ftost, the journalist, obsefved that

apart h m the [problem] of not alîowing sufticient space and a due supply
of air, a considerable arnount of discornfort to the animal is inseparable
from continuous jolting about the country in caramm."

'O1 bid.

"BL, Fillinham Collection,21 April 1831, rnss. h m Mr S m of -rd m M c Cm&

Proprietor of the Royal Menagerie, Charing Cross,bndon.

%IO, DDCm Box 26,31July 1884, Head-keepers Report on Animais,, Preston

Pleasure Gardens.

*LRO, DDCm Box, mss., 24 August 1884.

Frost, Tbe Old Sboumren and tbe OCd L m d h Faim -don,

44Th~mas 1875), 2745.
 254
According to some managers, the paor conditions 00 which their animais were subject was

not their fàdt, but the huit ofthose proprietors, particuIar1y breign ones, who owwd

the decrepit theacets in which they perfbrmed. In this regard, conditions on the

Continent were particularly bad. G. Van Ham, a circus manager, d e d ûavelling

through the south of Spain with his company in the eariy lûûûs:

We at once doaded the baggage and menagerie...W e got it ail stowed

away as best we could for the night, putting the animais into so-called
dressing rooms whidi wexe s c a r d y fit to put a dog intu?

He defwided his companies best efkcts to take good care of his animals: "[we] procured
goat's milk, eggs, etc. for the monkqs, baboons and goriiias..and we got them all

Withtheir needs taken care of, he stated that %vebegan to teel anxious for our own

welke."'' To be sure, the pmblem of maintaining wild cresltufes was not an easy one

parriculady for the travelling circus which had to endure bad weather as a fact of Me- For

this reason, John Sanger admitteci that in order to stme off his animals' health problerns,

"we never expose the[m] on wet m...[

since] the damp Bia into th& lungs."*

For reasons relating, in part. to easy Maintenance, the horse remaineci a staple

product within the program of the traditional and 'theamical circus h r the rest of the

century. The home was also, untike the wild animal, a versatile @mer. At Powelli,

Footit and Clarke's Qrcus, "over Bfty trained horses and cwelve of the srnailest ponies in

the world" were employed during the companfs 1868 tenting season. In addition to

k i n g used for the "processionwhich paracied every previous to the afremoon

dG. Van Hare, Fzpy Years of A Sbowman's Zffé or, Life and Trou& of Van Hum
(London, l888), 254-

4 m Royal
~ Circus,"Era, 19 November 1892, 12.
 255

performance,' the entire stud of horses a s used for the ZeaÛ of horsemanship in the

ring during the afiemoon and evening program which included as its grand haie, "Dick

Turpin's Ride To York? Cost was a h another important issue that allowed the horse

to m a i n a constant in the circus program since it was wmparatively cheaper to buy than

the wild animal, At the auaion of Weldon's circus in 1878, h r example, the manager of

Ginnen's Circus bought a prized horse for 35 guineas - a substantiaiiy lower p r i e that
the one the Lions, already mentioned, fètched in 1872."

As discrete animal dïsplays gained importance in the circus program h m the mid-

century point onwards, questions arose about how the animal was able to ptdbrrn its

novel ni& and, furthermore, what lay behind its training. Arguably these questions

sprang h m a conternporary interest in the animal kingdom - which the circus obviously
presented in a popular form - coupled with the gnrwing strength and rdicaljzation of the

humanitarian rn~vement.'~During the midoentury point whai cVcus pi-g

began to change, one arcus manager, W

iIl
iam Cooke, attempted to supply answers to

these questions by way of public exhibition. His display was precipimted by the arrival of

an Amencan h o r s tamer, J.S. Rarqt, to lnndon in 1857/8.

'P"Powell,Footit and Clarke's Circus,"Asbboume C h i c l e , 28 March 1868,3.

'OnSaleof Circus Property,' Eru, 2 June 1878,13.

"The process of radicalization was helped by campaigns to stop anti-vivisection in the

1870s,for example. See Harriet Ritvo, ï k Animal Estate: TBe EngCisb and Otber
Creatures of tbe Victoriarz&e (London, 1987), chapter 3 "A Measuse of Compassion";also
see Richard French,Anti-Viufsection and Medical Science in VfctotianSocfety (Princeton,
1975) and more recently, Hilda Kean,"SmoothCool Men of Sciaice: The Feminist and
Socialist Response to Vivisection,"Hfstory WOrkSbopJoUrtZGIC 40 (1995): 1638.
 256
III. Fostering Animat Kindness

Given the home's importance within the drw program, it is u~lsurptisingrhat

most circus managers Iooked upon the process of equtstrian training as central to the

mnning of their business. For this reason d e n J.S.Rarqr, an American horseman, arrived

in England during the winter season of 1857/8profking to have disamad a new secret

for tarning wild horses, he was looked upon by the ciras estabishment, and particulariy

by WUam Cooke of Astiey's, with saiousness. The discovery was t o u d by the I d and
national press as "a scientific innovation"and was applauded as "thePiumph of common

sense over b r ~ t a i i t y . ~

As the son of an innkeeper who reared horses in Ohio, Rarey studied methods of

breaking horses h m an eaîiy age. By the tirne he was twenty-k, he mrved out a career

for himseif by selling his "secret"for a fèe at Ohio home him. He fater mdied with

Denton Offut, a noted horse tamer h m Kentucky,who was said to p&ce the methods

of the "Arabs"on his horses? In 1857,Rarey acquired a manager who took him ro

England where arrangements were made for him to perfÔrm before the Royal Fa- and

other esteemeci audiences?

Underpinning Rarey's phiiosophy was the belief that "the home must be convinceci

by humane treatment and undeviating understanding char wui is his naairal maner?

His "indomitable courage, iron neme, rare patience and selfsonaol" allcswed hun to

'The Great American Horse Tamer,"Alldm's ICCUSfratedFurni& M i s c e l h y a d

OMord Montbb Record,August 1858,6.

-1 bid.
 257
achieve resuh, it was said, where resulcs fomeriy proved difncuit to obtain. The d i s p h

which made Rarey's narne fàmous was one in which an unmanageable horse was made to

lie down through a process in which the tamer

bendis] the home's left foreleg and siip[s] a loop over it, so that [it] cannot
...
get it down then putls] a surcingle around [its] body, and EistenIs] one
a d of a long saap around the other fore-; place[s] the other end under
the surcingle, so as to keep the strap in the right âirection; take[s] a short
hold of it with [his] right hand; stand[s] on the lefr side of the home,
grasping the bit in [his] left hand, pd[s] steacüiy on the strap w i h [his]
right hand; and bear[s] agaïnst [its] shoulder tiU [the operator] cause[s) [it]
to rnove?

Through such a pmess, the home was brced to "corneon [its] knees."'' At this point,

"[the operator] keeps the strap tight in [his] hand, so that the hoRe cannot straighten

[io] leg if [it] raises it up [and the operator] hold[sl lit] in this position?' The

operator then "uses his shoulder to bear against the weight of the home's side and in

about ten minutes the horse will iie down and be completely conqud.'0gRarey stated

that la quarter of an hour is the utmost riw that any home has ever fbught bebre sinking

adiausred to the earWm But one such "operaton"was not enough. Rarey adviseci that

the horse, in order for it to be made tnily tarne, needed to be "operad on"three or four

times in one lesson. Furthemore, he advised that the horse required two Iessons a &y

until "[it] lies down from the mere motion of a stick.""'

""Mr. Rarey's Teaching,' Tbe Spectator, 29 May 1858,573.

571ûid.

Tbid.

Tbid.

?.S. Rarey, me Modern Art of TamfngHorses -don, 1858), 79.

'9bid.
 258
The display was foiiowed tsy the tamer's "genthgof the home." in order to do
this part of the "operation,"Rarey suggested that the trainer "walk slowly afways h m the
head to around the Eiü and to the head again...carra and rub his cirs..scrape the sweat

off him with a scraper."62 The whole object of the Rarey sgstem,it was said,

is to give the home fdl w&dence in his rider, to make him obedient to his
voice and gesnires, and to impress the animal with the beiïef that he wuld
not successfùiiy resist his master?

As a consequeme, Rarey believed that the home "wiii corne to the conclusion that it is you

who, by p u r superior suength. have conquered him? Furthemiore, the act of "rnaldng

a horse Lie downnhad another object. I t enabled the tamer to go on to perform other

"operations"on the exhausted horse. For arample, he said,

you may now mount on the back of an unbroken colt and teach him that
you d o not h m hlln in that attitude. If he wece standing upright, he might
resist but as he is Bchausted and poweriess, he has time to 6nd out that
you mean no h a r ~ n . ~ ~

Based on this display, Rarey m e d the approbation of esteemeci audiences,

induding Queen Victoria and the Royal Farnily. During this season, he performed at such

notable venues as the Royal M m Pavillon in February, the Duke of WeUingaon's Private

Riding School in Knightsbndge in March, and at Tatœrsaii's Round House in Belgravia in

April. Just how much business he did is diflticuit to measure. It is, bowever, k n m that

in early Match, he attracted as many as 300 members of the Jockey Club and other

organizations who,afier paying a subscription charge of "tenguineas br a gendernan or

%id., 37.

631bid.

&Ibid.,80-

"Ibid., 81.
method on a wild horse owned by the French Minher of Agriculture, M. de Bayîen.

Observing the healthy state of his trade and somewhat doubtful of the skiii which he

peddled to bndon's elite, the Mwnfng Post issueci a challenge in cufv Mar&:

if Mr Rarey wouid walk w c r the course and set aiticism at rest, let him go
kof his -tic
down to M u r d ' s Green with a f firien&, and pg
'Cruiser'[thenomriousiy viaous ho* belonging to Lord Dorchester] and
if he oan ride him as a ha& 1 w d d guarannee his URmortaiity without a
single further advert&ementa

One month later, Rarey accepteci the invitation and tamed Cruiser. *[As a] consequence

he may now be considered as standing in his @off said a wrim for 2'$e Ffecd, a

gentleman's sporting magazine." "This is the clincher m Mr Rarey's reputation,for the

home was known to be a savage? A f k r successfully subduing Cniiser?Rareg s h i f k d his

interest in horses to zebras. At the request of the Royal Zoologid Swety, he 'opera&

on"the society's "wildzebra of the Afiican desert" by employing those methods he used

on Cruiser. Afterwards the Enz annowced that Mr Rarey "wilf exhibit the animal to his

subsuibers in Junenwhich he did at ~atcersall's. By successfully subduing the zebra, he

raised important questions regadhg the difhrrences between a domesticated and wild

animal. Some beiieved, perhaps ironicaiiy, that Rarey's lsoons muid be fiirrher employed

with respect to humans, particulariy Amencan slaves during this tense tirne, 1858,on the

threshold of the Civil War:

Mr Rarey has studied the nature of the animais to be governeci and d e d by

him by &g forth the motives of the home himseif. The= is no reason

66nSportingIntelligence,"M m i n g P o b , 2 March 1858, 6.

""Sport and Sportsmen,"2 2 F~ M , 10 April 1858)298.

Tbid.

@"MrRarqr)"Era, 30 May 1858,3.

 why e x a d y the same method shouid not be applied to the biped human.
Mr Rarey... mi@ solve a verg ~ dpmblem
t in bis own land by afzanging
the mode of i 6 application 00 the Negro?

W m Cooke, the drcus manager, was les enthusiastic and a Conflict over the

orïgin of the horse-taming secret biiowed, taking place widiin the more popular arrnas of

the press a d the arcus ring. In the k t instance, C o o k pro- in the M d n g

Aduertiser that Raffy was ayhg to ~pitalizeon "secretswthat "have k e n p d œ d by me

and my forefithers for generatiom,"suggestllig a traditional equestrian component within

the circus?' Supporthg Cooke's statement, one contemporary said of the American's

methods in the columns of n e Field

1 h c y the [Rarq.]plan must be known to every horse-boy who has k e n

behind-the-scenesat a rehearsai of an equesPian troupe such as Cooke's,
Batty's, or Asdey's."

Trading in oral culture, cinrus people generdy kept these secrets - which were a source
of great ptide - to themselves. UnderstandaMy,when Rarey arrived on the sane,

wishing to divulge thern (orsomething sirniiar), hls actions were viewed by the circus

establishment as a threat to its tradition. In light of the iàct that Rarey studied under

Denton Othit, who practiced the methods of the "Arabs,"his "secretsnmay have, in EUX,

did indeed practice the same methods as Rarey, as Cooke claimeci, then there was an

important connecrion between Gypsy culture and drcus culture in Britain."

Rarey's Teaching," ne Spctator, 29 May 1858,573.

""To The Editor of the Morning Mvertiser,"Mwning AdverttSer, 23 Apd 1858,5.

T o r s e taming,"ne Fie@ 19 June 1858,501.

"For an oral history of "homewhispering,"see George Ewart Evans, Z k I b e i a d tbe

F u m w (Lundon, 1960).
 261
The Cooke-Rarey debate may in one serise be seen in amns of a tension between

novelty versus tradition within the context of the commetcialized marht for speccade.

This debate was enhanceci by ciifkences of naticmaiity. That is,w h e n s ~Cook

~

emphasized the "oldness"of his smcq Rarey emphasiwd their "newnessnand implied

that his system was intricately iinked to progresshre knowiedge which, by definition, relied

on a humanitafian principles in the path towards imp~ovement:

Rarey... encourag[es] kindness and humanity...we are sure tbat if Mr Rarey's

system w e x generaliy adopted thete w d d be no more viaous horses

stated one petition which was signed by Rarey's pupils who induded dignitafies such as

Sir Thos. Geo. Heaketh,Bart. and Francis Twining and which appeared, a s pubiicity for

Rarey, in the national press?' Some skeptio believed, perhaps properiy, that Rarey's

appeal was loçated not only in the novelty of his method but also in his breign accent?

His accent further calleci attention to his dramatic manner, in this vein, some o b s e m

noticed that Rarey's Arnerican-styleshowmanship was of a similar kind to that which P.T.

Barnum displayed when he went on a lecniring tour throughout Britain in 1858 in oràer

to discuss the "Art of Money Getting."76

Having observed Rarey's success, Cooke, in mm, capitiilixed on the pubiiaty in

May when he promiseci the public rhat he wouid demonstrate at his amphitheater,

Astley's, those secrets which the American displayed. His posters r e a s s d the public that

'"The American Fiorse Tamer,"Bell's Lf/e in tondon, 9 May 1858, 2; prod duc cd 6rom
"TheAmerican Horse Tamer in LiverpooI," Liuerpooi Mail, 24 Apd 1858.

's"Rarey in Amena, Rarey in England,"Em, 11 July 1858, 6;reproduced h m Netu

York T h u n e , 25 June 1858.

'%lr Barnum in Preston,"Enz, 24 October 1858, 11.

 any nobleman or gendeman having a &ubt upon the subject [ofm y own
skill] are invited to send th& own horses [to m y riag]?

These advertisements promised that Cook would demonsaate Rarey's secrets "insix

lessons for 6ve guineas," a tuition which cost considerabiy l e s chan b r e f s ?

But one rewiewer who attended Cooke's denimstration no& the di86idy of

drawing any creditable cornpison: "whetherthis is reafky the sgstem of Mr. Rarcy WC

cannot, of course, Stace with any certainty? Yet, he admined the apparent sindatities:

The operator proceeds admitiy to double and strap up the breieg of the
home and to tie to the other a string, which is passed mer the back of the
anunal and held in the hand of his woukl-be master. By a series of
systematic jerks, ail the a m of the poor steed are frustrate4 until at
length, he Eills to the ground exhausteci.'

Whatever the similanties in their training technique, C o o k did not eam the

degree of respect that Rarey enjoyed and, in firt, s u f k R d whenever cornparisons were

drawn. Wre the above reviewer, many suggested that Cooke's m d o d was based on

"jerks"which led to the animal's Frustration and exhaustion. Such a sgstem, it was argueci,

could not be compared to Rarqzs sympathetic one tbat relieci on the absence of physicai

violence, induding jerks.'' Not ody was Cooke's method aiticized but his direct

challenge to Rarey's auth0nt-ywas qui* dashed by the latter's solicitors who threatened

the arcus manager with a legai suit if he continueci to employ the words "Rareyismnin his

nTM, Asdey's Me, posters, 7June 1858, 14 June 1858.

79"hrtIey's,nIIIusttated M o n Nerus, 1 May 1858, 435.

""Mr. Rarey, The American Horse Tamer,"BeU's Lf/8 in Iondon, 9 May 1858, 2;
reproduced fiam Yonésbim Grnette, 24 ApApril 1858.
own advertisements at Astley's, a tactic often employed by t h e a u i d managas who

suspecteci that the plays presented at theh own theaters were being reproduced illegaiiy

elsewhere." Cooke used the threat as a commercial oppominicîy and wrote a lemer to

the Times stating,

Mr Ratey's soliutors require me to omit in rny fbture advereisements and

playbills ail rekrence to Rarey's system..and inasmuch as 1 attach no value
to such a reference-..J shall b r the future d o s a e

Cooke was thus also engaged in a saamble fw "hir piaf in which he argueci, like many

other theatricai managers accused of dramatic piracy, that the displq that was presentted

in his ring was created by him and n o one else. That is, the presentation of the taming

method, iike the play, was a kind of performance which both Cooke and Rarey each

beliwed they developed indepmdentiy of one another. Thir seemed, howeverl a

contradiction lor k k e in Light of his earlier cornmeno that he inherited hls practias

from his forefathers; for the sake of commercial oppomuilsm, this argument did not crop

up again in his public rehtions exercise. In his response to Rarey's solicitors, Cooke said

that he would drop the tenn "Raref fkom the title of his performances and,
in its stead [I wili] proudy introduce the more appropriate English-lifre
title, 'Coolce's Original System of Training and Subduïng Horse[sI',

thereby appeaüng to the public's nationaiist sentiment? in doing sol he also d e d

attention to the connection between kindness m animals and Englishness which since the

early-nineteenth century teformers had impiiatly drawn." In doing so,he was moving

%ee John Russeli Stephens, "Piracy and the Defénse of Dramritic Propertf in ibe
Profession of tbe Phywn'gbt: Btittsb 2% e m 1800- 19ûû (Cambridge, 1992).

m"HorseTraining," Times, 1 May 1858, 12.

9a m thinking here of the work of the RSPCA since the eyhr nineteenth an-. see
Brian Harrison, "Anunalsand the Srate in Nineteenth Century Engiand,"Englisb HfstOrfIcPI
 264
away h m his public relations probîerns and refocusing the public's atbention on the

original issue at hand: the connection between animal kindness and the circus.

In the m a t i r n e , the American proved himseif m be a showman par escçeI;tgnae

and b a s M in the glory of widening publicity and support. "Rareyism" accordingiy infused

many as- of the popular culture. In "TheBmte Tamer,"Puncb praised the Ameriou1:

Would p u , to tame a viaous home

resort to vulgar physical force?
No!-to the plan you'd have recourse
Of Mr Rarey.u

Support was parricuiarly strengthaied by the hope and belief among Rarey's patrons that

the ramer's apparently humane approach couid seme as a usefùi correctbe to those

inhurnane tactics adopted by grooms and others engaged in the home trade who were

seen to be the worst perpetrators of cnielty; it was insmctive that in this instance the

circus was not perceiveci as an area that was troublesane to reformers. The rhyme, "'ints

About Horses," which also appeared in Rad,suggested to gentlemen

h o k artet p u r grooms
And just keep them in theh places your pitchfOrks and broom;
Fur a s e s may be, them there arguiments s u i s
But osses you see, ihqr's more ras'nabler brutesm

In tum, elite endomement of Rarey's method was later demormmated at the Reform

Club in July when a benefit dinner was held in honour of the ramer. Upon his h d t h

k i n g toasted on this occasion, Rarey t h a r h d those

Revkw, (Oa.1973): 786-820; Ritvo, 129. Admittedly the difhences between Engîishnes
and kindness towards animais and Britishness and kindness towards animals needs to be
disentanglecl further in these studies.

86"TheB m e Tamer,"Puncb, 15 May 1858, 1%-

About Osses," Atncb, 22 May 1858, 206.

s7w'Ints
 ladies and gentlemen who testified th& approbation to his sgsoem which
was nothing more than the substitution of mild treatrnent...for that species
of cruelty heretofore so g e n e w ~ m c t i c e d , ~

The system,it was said in this speech, was aiso based on "moral brcenand religious

p ~ c i p l e s . "A reporter for the Brny F 3 m Pmss argueci thar it was God's wiif that

nanimalsbe rnanaged and tamed without the exercise of cruelty. Nerves and muscies were

given [by Hirn] to be used and not to be t ~ m i r c d .Furthermore,

~ the newspaper's

columnist d e d on the local dergy to infonn the farm laboring population of the Rarey

system, a task "whichmay be exerased without [their] moving a step [ k m ] the pmper

path of clericai dutymVL

If H a f t y appealed to humanitarian nmr religious sensibiiities, he aiso appealed to

the public's intetest in scientific discovery. One writer for Chambers'sJ o u d stated:

it now appears that this wonderful gift is not a mere accident attendant on
some peculiatity in an individuai man, and incommunicable to others, as in
the case of the anüent 'Whisperers', but a science kmed on a gmen
prinaple and capable of expianation?

To this effecr, Rarey capitalized o n his newly released book during the summer of

1858, me Art of Taming W U Horses, a volume which describeci his system in derail. Like
the practicai displays, the volume also won approbation h m the press. The Afbenaarn,

for example, stated that

'@'Dimerfbr Mt. Ratey at the Rehrm Club," Tbe F M ,31 July 1858,88.

'Sbid.

v u t y Free Press, 23 August 1858, 4,

9LIbid.

*A R a q Show,"Cbarnbers'sJosrrnal, 24 April1858, 263.

 rhis Littie book arrests and amuses Wre an evcnt. It is thoroughly
genuine...W plan which is only an ekiborate and organized gendeness may
be universaüy applicable.rn

Rarey's system of "orgmïzed gentfeness" was thus as much a reflection of the method he

rejected as the one he ernployed. That many beiieved he did not use violence, oils or

drue that had long been employed by other home ttainers enhanced his repucation.

Within months of the book's release, it gaineci a wide circulation: it "is in eirerybody's

hands. I t is sold a$ aU the raiiway termini; it is in the windows of m m bookselier~.~

Yet, Rarey was also criticized for bilking the public, by aanunulating ten guineas per head

at his exhibitions fbr a secret which could have easily been purchased for 64 the cost of

the book, In this vein, one critic stated that

had Mr Rarey introduced himself at TattersaU's with his Little book in hand
and displayed consummate ski11 as a home tamer, oawing the book for
ciradation at the time, thex is no reason to doubt tha< he might have been
more popular and made just as mu& mcmey."

Addressing such accusations and perhaps making his p&cammt worse, Rarey argued

that the ski11 his pupiis leamed in ciass was not reoealed enrireiy in the book Wch was

written by m e three years ago immediately upon the discovery of my system and contains

but a meager and imperfect description of it? Furthemore, he argueci that the book's

lessons were hardly any substinite for the practcal and moral guidance he gave in person

since mastery couid not be acquired h m the p ~ t e page.

d

Modem An of Tarning Wdd Horses,"Atb-,

93"The 3 Jdy 1858,9.

%"Tothe Editor of the Ea,"Era, 17 October 1858, 12.

-ated in Robert Henderson, "JS. Rarey: rhe Great American Horse Tamer,"in
Bookrmen 's Holiday (New York, 1943), 220.

%Atbenaeurn,10 July 1858,58.

 267

At the same tirne aitickm was launched agtinst Rarey for his greed, suspicion was

raised about Cooke regardhg his SUat "humbuggingnthe public whm he took his show

into the provinces during the summer s e w n of 1858. It was however Eu kom behg the

mith that chis company was the only one to display home taming, as the program of

But whiie Brown's and other such d e r

Henry Brown's Company demoll~trated.~

companies remaineci undisturbed in th& presentation, Cooke's Company was vehementiy

challengeci by the local press which was quick to raise at least three major doubts

regarding the demonstration of "Raregism. Firsr, it was thought that his operator, who

now assumeci the d e of tameq appiied excessive hrce to the animal, as one reporter at

Hereford stated:

the tamer brought the animal down on its side and the animal lay
quiet...but this was evidently the result of the application of great physid
power o n the part of the manipuktor...and uttertg beyond the compas of
the average, ïnexperienced person such as Mr Rarey undertakes to
insmlct.*

From the reporter's view, the mechanisms used were not the same as the ones that

Rarey's employed; rather than simply using a surcingie as Rarey had done, the operator at

Cooke's used "artincial appliances of sharp nits and running nooses"&ch aaarding m

the reporter required the operator's forcefid touch? But the use o f force may have

k e n necessary because the operator perfbrmed caming in a single exhibition in the

provinces, rather tban in six lesson as in the metropolis. The heavy demands of touring

m a t tfiat the troupe had no time to give six Iessons since it changed ifs venue and

audiences o n a daily basis,

97BL,Th.Cts, poster, Brown's Royd Cirque Unique, 1858.

w"MrWiIliam Cooke's Equestrian Cornpany,'~ford@MnaC,26 May 1858,3.

qbid.
 Second, it was thought rhar Cooke's mmer employed aireaây d d e animais as his

subjm. At another performance in H d r d , it was said that

the operator put the swaps on the h o r s e . . ~

a schoolboy wodd saddîe a
pony...but h w was this accompiished by a single person in a -1 box
with a home whose teeth and book are a f e r r ~ rto the neighborho~d?~~~

Similarly, at Swansea severai weeks later, a mare bdonging m Mr Bullen was ofFered for

[b]ut there did not appear tn be any very iarge amount of restiveness in the
animal and the operator did not h h r m the audience by what secret Rarey
contrived to get near the celebrated Cruiser [in order to tie up bis
legs]- 'OL

Third, the ramer's experiments not only raised doubrs about the viaousness of the

animal king tamed but also about the permanence - in the ment that he was able to
tame an unnily horse - of the training. This was not surprising since the m e r , according

to Rarey's instruction, was meant to put the home through two lessons a day until it

responded to the tamer's authority. On the road, hmweverl Cooke's operator lacked this

opportunity. Mer visiting Swansea, Cooke's circus proceeded to Carmarzhen where the

operator perfomed Rarey's "aiieged systemwof home Bming on an unnûy home calleci

Bishop. The CarmartbenJoutnol reponed that

we enquired the biiowing moming about whether the home had been
really tamed but the repiy h t w e obtained [was] that he was as vidous as
ever...[ even though] the performance on the whoie seemed [my italics] very
credible-'O2

LOLnCooke's
Circus," Cambriatt. 11 June 1858, 5.

LOaCooke'sCircus," Carmaartbenj o u d and c&mraCAdverf~ssrfm the prfttcjp&~,

18 June 1858,3.
Suspicion of Cooke's operator prompteci another critic to question the d u e of the

"secretnif the tamed home was to be returned m a m o d i y inmmgible me

how can it be apected that the horse with the most mentive memoy that
from the han& of the
cm be imagined wüi at once with good grace r e f ~ m
tamer to those ofhis former inveterate persec~tors?'~

Suspiaon repding the secret of horse taming was not restricted to Cook but

extendeci to anyone who ciairneci t o possess a superior knowiedge about home taming.

Some with commercial sense marketed theh se-, üke Rarey, in published volumes as a

miter d e d "ZOUM~did fôr the price of 5s in stampdo* 0-g the trend one

observer noted sarcastidiy that

it is quite curious to ohserpe nuw the difkent pubiished "methodsw by

which ho- may be cuned. AU tbese prokss to be Mr Rareg's systan;and
-
how cheap they are too only %[!] One method is to rub oii over the
horse's nose and rnouth; another to srariie him ter c~enty-fourhours;
another to obscure his vision.L03

Given the increasingiy critical public response to the Rarey "mue,"

it was perhaps

unsurprising to nid that the fortunes of "Rareyism"soon tumed on Rarey himself as some

began to question the kïndness that was said to lay at the bundation of his entire sitem.

Tbe FieId,which had formerly advocated "Rareyirm,"for example, a l t e d i

s position in

1859 when it began to publish a series of artides that attacked the Rarey method. In one

such essay, it was stated that

the pain producecl by the strap round the breieg and the struggies of the
animal to move in his crippled condition [as advoeated by Rarey br a

lWnAFew Words on The 'Humbug' of Horse Tarning,"-VI GizzWte, 5 June 1858,3.

'TIorse Tarning,"Bell's LiJe in I;ondon,9 May 1858,2.

LT-Iorseraming,"Tbs Field, 29 May 1858,Ml.

 period between 10 and 15 minutes] is tU greater than that aused by
ordinary Bogging of the whip, which is seldom used [anpore] ."

In more extreme cass, the animal ertdured more t h just pashg phpsical discomfbrt.

One horse, according to a v e t e r h q surgeon in Sheffield, had to be Wed because the

Rarey systan produceci acute pain resuiting h m self-mutilation. "A brtnight ago," he

said, "a mare [in this town] became so unmanagcable..and so we tried the apximent in

H e went on
which her k l e g was saapped up in the manner adopted by Mr Rare!yRareVnto7

to say thar she was Iefi in that position for more than forty-eight hours, a period that f
k
exceeded Rarey's suggestion, and when he retumed

her k g then appeared to be swoiten..she was kter found in her box with
the near fore fmtWftess. The hoof, with the shoe on it, was iying just
w i t h the d w d W

Whether it was Rarey or others who displapd the art of taming horses, the public

was clearly growing more skepticai of the pTaCticai merit and moral righmusness that lay

behind "Rareyism." As a consequence, the marketability of Rareyism dedined. But this

brought into question what made RarPg's secrets popular in the k t place if they, afkr aii,

and physical domination mer his subjen By looking out for

involved Rarey's "ironWU"

the praaical results of his training, observers could no longer feel so confident in his

instruction. At no point was this more ciearly expresseci than in July of 1859 whem me

FieU reporteci that Cruiser had snapped, rebelleci against Rareg and was thus no longer

tame.'" And thanks to Rarey, it added, 'the poor [home] lay in a sad state at St.

Field,"Züe Fieid, 16 July 1859, 49.

L06"The

System," ne F M , 10 September 1859, 212.

L07"Ratey'~

'Tbid.

Field,"Tbe Fie&& 30 J d y 1859, 89.

L09"The
George's HospiCiI.""O Doubts about the Racey systan -ch began to emerge rrlaad to

the w i d e s p d belief that animais had feelinp and that the Rareg -que seemed to

neglect them through a process that relied on breaking their wiii.L'LSeen h m one

perspective, Rarey's success was dependent cm a consumer interest in animal sdenœ;that

he managed to convince his customers in Britain, at least temporariiy, that his way of

taming was the m m humane coniributed to the Eict that they kept coming back for more

g spring and summer of 1858. Cook's attempt to narket the c i m within

d u ~ the ~ ~ this

contart provideci an important glimpse into the wncern shared by managers about the

way respectable society viewed the circus and its treaanent of animals.

Whereas in the summer season of 1858,Cook had to contend with the pubiic's

suspicion of his apparently humane way of caming homes, managers in the decades after

Cooke had to cope with even greater challenges concemïng anima kindness. Rather than

coping with mere scrutiny, later &y citcus managers had to cope with biatant hostüity

that was suengthened by animal rights campaigning which occwred in other sectors,

noeably in science. Mth the gradua1 introduction of wiid animais in the circus program in

this period, many managers began to fée1 the pressure of public scrutiny on their captives.

This growing concern about the question of auelty tawards ped5-g animals added an

imperative to the cause of animai rights more than a grneration after Cooke - in the
18805 and 1890s. Like the chïldren of the ring, animais, it was fieared,were m t e d with

cruelty by their trainers behind the scenes during the training process.

LLIFosbackground on this issue,see Wth Thomas, Man mid t h N IWwCd:

Cbarzging Attfturles in Engkad, 150(F1800 (Inndon, 1984).
 IV.Animal Rights and Animal Wrongs
Ahhough the circus program incrnUngIy induded wild animals, they never dominated the

entertainment. In faa, given the prwdence of horses in the Victorian QMS. it was perhaps

incongruous that wild i n i r a i s becvne the focus of so much philanthropic activity in the last third

of the nineteenth cennuy. Yet, as we have said, grooms and cab driven, not circus managers, were

commonly blamed for behaving cruelly towards their horses. By the latenineteenth century, the

philanduopin's attention towards the wild animal in the ring had rivded that which it gave to the

circus chdd. In both the case of the animal and the chilcl, d o r s sought to rescue those creatures

that feu prey to the cormptive influences of the market. in both instances,as well, a&vists wove

morality tales for popular periodicals and noveh which depicted the poor, suffering creature in the

hands of its perseniton. This section focuses on the relationship between reformers and the cïrcus

as it sheds light on philanthropic pressure on the governent to create legislarion chat protected

performing animais from cruel treatment. This pressure had an imponant dus elexnent to it which
stemmed from the onginal mission of Royal Society for the Prevention of Cmelty to Animais

(MPCA),which was a principal agitation group in this campaign. "to spread amongst the lower

orders of the people a degree of moral feeiing which wodd compel them to rhink and act like those

of a superior c l a s "lu Seen from this perspective, the circus and "the lower orders" were

intertwined, a notion which threatened the respectability of the circus trade.

The pressure for animal reform also had important connections to comemporary

debates about diild welfare reform and the creation of an anri-cruelty law in the l a s third

of the nineteenth cenniry. And for diis reason, it was uzlsufprising to find an overlap in
 273
the leadership of the RSPCA and the NSPCC which included Lord Shafkibury, John

Colam, Sir Francis Burdett-Coutts, his wik, the Baroness Burdett-Couns, and F.D.

Considering the ovalapping leadership of the rwo organizaticms, it is

MocattattaLu

perhaps aiso unsurprising to h d that the RSPCA's efforts to protecc c h u s animals

resembled the NSPCC's tactics to save circus children in three prinapal ways. Like the

latter, the RSPCA relieci o n education, private investigation and parliiunentary agitation.

With regard to education, it created the Bands of Mercy "by which chiidren - our future
men and women - are mughr duty and kindnas to animal^."^^' The organhtion

resembled the Bands of Hope which aIso airned to attract ChiIdren from the late 186ûs-

The Bands of Mercy were first formeci in 1869 in London under the wing of the Ladies

Cornmittee of the RSPCA which was guided by the Baroness Burdett-Co~tts.~~

It

functioned at the local level in Sunday and Day schooIs or in other sochi and reiigious

By 1894, it had bemme x> widespread that there were 733 aSSOQations,
ass~ciations.~'~

" n u m b e ~ about
g 160,000 members in England a l ~ n e . " ~~~
Fufthermore, these bands

extended to other English-speahg nations including Canada, New Zealand, Australia and

the U.SkLL'In order to become mernbers, applicants hul to taiœ a pledge in which

they "agreedto k kind to animals, and..,protect them h m cruelty and to promote kind

LL3RSPCA,Cenerd C o u n d Minutes for 18 April and 16 May 1887;cf. b n d o n Socfeg

fur tbe Prevention of Cnreity to C b i M m Annual Report (Iandon, 1888),3-4.

'L'RSPCA,A n n d Report 1890,115.

Tbid.; c.f. But, accordhg to the RSPCA 1894 h u a i Report, the h t Band of Mercy
was formed in 1875, 176.

"'RSPCA, Annual Report 1894, 176.

performance of plays. One RSPCA pieœ d e d , A Royal Deputatiots; or Anfmalc' V W to

King ReusonweU, was intended to be used by "thejuveniie members of the Bands of

Mercy to perfbrm at entertainments connecteci with the ~ociety.'* In the play, King

Reasonwell holds court in order to hear the complainm of the animais in bis kingdom

who, rhey contend, s u f k r at the han& of their cruel m e r s . Upon e d n g at a List of

grievances cira- up by a discontented t m d i n g eiephant, the d e r notes t&at

You state here that so many cruelties are idicted when [they] capture
you...many deaths [are] caused, and privations [are] endured by king
transferred as a curiosity to other corntries and climates and [by being]
cornpelleci to tiraverse hard and stony roads."

To this cornplaint, the King that nWe have a dut. to fulfill in protecting our foreign

animal biends."'12

Irtstïiiing lessons about kindnes to anirnals in the nation's youth was arguably

easier than fulfilling the RSPCA's second raison d'dm: investi&atingand prosecuthg cases

involving cruelty. While it was undeniably m e that the majority of cases the RSPCA

brought to court involveci cnielty to horses by poor cabdrivers and other offenders, it was

also m e that the RSPCA began co shife its investigacive fÔcus in the period of the 1880s

towards the circus.'= In bringùig cases m court, it reiied on the antiaueity law of 1849

which, according to ia second section, inf!iicteda âne not arreeding S5 â5 topne for

12'A Royal Deputution; Or, tbe A n f 4 ' VWt to KfngReasomuen to Proc&fm T&eff
Wmngs (Brighton, 1888), 1.
 275
cruelty to animals.L2' The law was inadequate, many within the RSPCA believed, b u s e

it delined "animais" as cocks, horses, bulis, mares, geldings, oxien, cows and other

domestic animals, and thus eduded those animais, apart h m horses, that Performed in

many circus rings, or appeared in many menageries and music halls.m

By k i n g on this legal lacuna, the RSPCA prompteci fo& test cases wbich

had important tepercussions in the making of new b.kcording to its lûûû h u a i

Report, it surresshiyr prosecuted four camers nmr shoamien for Wcting mdty on their

bears. Although the h u a l Report paid no attention to the detd of these parti&

oses,it was stated that "these poor animais were made to travel about the country for the

purpose of exhibition."'" But because there was no legal pfecedent fbr these h d s of

prosecutions involving bears, such cases serveci as important stepping stones towards the

accepmce of the view that bears and other wiid animais desemeci le@ protection h m

cruelty that the curent law of 1849 did not give them. Commenting on the convitxïons at

the RSPCA's annual meeting, the Lord Bishop of Carlisle said he was happy a> see that

"themagistrates have corne to their senses [at last] (Cheers)."* Noting the inadequacy

of the 1849 law, he went on to say that it was iudicmus to beiieve ehat the bear who

is taken out of his native woods, brought arxoss the seas, and taught to
regard himself as supxior to the wild creatures of his native haunts is not
domestic.

Generul Acts, An Act for the More Effective Prevention of Cnielty tn Animais,
L2"Pu61ic
1849, 12/13Via., c.92, 55.3.

L"Rs~CA,Annual Report 1880.90.

 276
Underlying the magistrates' dedsions to pmsecute the ownm by imposing £in= was the

of legal protection. Although this view was by no means shared by aii le@ enfiorrers, it

symbolued an important tum in the way in which the m m m&mesti~n

was interpreted

under the present statute of 1849. An arcide that appeared in Animal W m d argued that

since these bears were placeci in confinement, they lost all their natural instincts for seW

preservation: "Thetmth is, animals are nearer man than they were fifty yeacs agqn the

author stated, in agreement with the views put hrward in Charles Darwin's Tbe

-ssioon of fbe EmoNonr fn Mun a d A n f d (1872). He added that "theA [that]

separates them h m the human species and must ever separate them has been bridgecl

over by the domine of h ~ m a n i t y . " ' ~

Soon the law was a.@n artendeci and applied to pro- animals which were

formerly outside the scope of the 1849 statute. In 1882,for example, a manager was

brought to the local rnagisaatt's court for "makinghyenas jump tbrough Nigs of Bre."Q

The RSPCA inspecter in charge of this ose indicated that

to do this, the manager not only beat the animals most crueiiy so that their
y e k were heard afar, but he appiied phosphorous to thern which he set on
Ere and their ears to be b ~ r n e d . ~ '

Based on the evidence heard at court, the magistrate pzesiding over the case had decided

that "even a hyena...was a domestic animai."" The owner was rherefbre h e d 55.

LwhimaCW d , no.135,volsi, 1 December 1880, 177.

' W P C A , Annual Report 1882,85.

ULlbid.

Tbid.
 277
By what standard was cruelty to be judged? This question began to nag some

tamers and m e r s of pubiic entertainment where animais wcrr displapd as i i b t m t d

by the case invoiving George Mardr of the Rogal Aquarium. Mvck wu Yrused of crueIty

by Osrnund Harper, of the RSPCA, because he

struck his animais with a thick whip [made of raw hide] and a long pole
with a meral end [at least] serraitg or eighty times duriog one
performanaP

Another RSPCA offiœr,Mr Auen, gave corroborative evidence and said that "thebeating

was most severe when the animals refused to jump [ m la Hawever, James

Shade, a veterinary surgeon,who accornpanied the RSPCA officas, Mr Harpa and Mr

Allen, to the performance said that

the dekndant made a good deal of noise with the whip ro ger [the lions]
exated...[but J he could not say whether the animais were strudr mery
t h e....[And even if the tamer did saike the Lions with a whipl it wodd be
impossible to draw blood...from some [of th&] parts."

Impliat in his statemmt was the belief rhat cruelty couid not be pmved where m a t .

evidence. such as blood, was lacking h m the aiieged wounding. Casting M e r doubt

on the RSPCA's accusation of crueity, he added that the whip was only a prop, used to

"showoff the Lions."" Corroborating Shade was JohnB. March, a joumaiist who was

sent to review the performance. He stated that

he had seen the defendant's entertainment h m bcginning to end on

severid occasions..md be never saw the defendant strike

Cmelty to Lions,"Era, 24 March 1894, 17.

L33"AUeged

l-Tbid-

Uslbid.

-1bid.
 [the]Iion[s] .-..wther] Marck cracked the whip over the lion(sj's
head[s]."

Other wimesses similarly t d e d that here was no cruelty involveci in the performances

and they coilectively signed a notice that appeared in the Era to this e f k t Accordhg to

the letter, Marck's supporters included "M.T. ICapes, br thirty years a hunter in the interior

of Ahica; Craske Webb, MD.; and G.M.Caner, major generai.""

W
1th the fbrce of public opinion on his side, Josiah Ritchie, the managing director

of the Royal Aquarium, issueci a statement to the Era prodaimhg rhat he and his tamer

had the right to continue such perfOrmances since "brty-eighteye witnesses have proved

that the Lions were never whipped or in any way ill-treated betore, during and a f k the

Pointing to the importance of the popular taste in deciding right fiam

perfonnan~es."'~

wrong, he sated that "a perbrrnance [were it cruel] would not be toleraoed by the

Mr De Rutzen, the magistrate presiding over the case, dismissexi it not

publi~."''~

because of the eyewitness accounts but because he beiieved that lions,as wild beass, did

not corne under the jurisdiction of the current anti-cnielty law wbich applied onty to

domestic animals. His decision was ciearly di&i.sent h m the one taken by the maghates

in 1880 with respect to the iii-treated bears.

At stake was not only the issue of l e p l interpretation but aIso Marck's reputation.

Dissatisfied with the ose's dismissal, the dekndant's soliatm requested tbat the hearing

continue in order that the tamer rnight dear his name officidy in a court of law. In

13'Ibid.

'%"ToThe Editor of the Era," Era, 31 Match 1894, 17.

Tbid.

''OIbid.
addition, since the ramer was breign-hm and not residing in the wunay. "theapense

and trouble of coiiecthg witnesses wouid be diHimit if the matter were to arÏse

again."L'LDe Rumen ailowed the chance of an appeal befoce W. Justice Cave and Mr.

Justice Wright at the Queen's Bench not on the basis of Marck's desire for vindication but

in order that the Court should decide whether these lions are domestic
animals [or not]....[lf they are1 then the case is to be remitted to me to be
further dealt with on the question of whether the [Lions] were crue& used
or net.'*

Mr. Justice Cave ageed with De Rutzen and arguecl that "keepinga wild animal in

confinement fbr a certain amount of tirne was not enough to make it a domestic

animal."LUThis observation mupled with the existing state of the kw meant that

innumerable managers and tamers who might have k e n guilty of cmelty because of th&

taming methods could never be prosecuted lep&- FkfIe!cting upon the problem, Cave

admirted that "in the future Parliament may pass an Act saying that wild animals in

confinement s h d not be crueily m t e d but it has not yet done S O . " ' ~

In the meantirne, as a consequence of the precarious legal position in which Jaiah

Ritchie nearly found himseif with respect to Marck, a series of articles appeared in the

national press and periodicals that impliatly d e h d e d the British manager and

condemned breign-born trainers, such as Marck who was German. In The Torture of

Trained Animais," S.L. Bensusan iaunched a polemic in the EngCfsbIïïusfrafeedMagCIZfne

during April of 1896, which sparked a debate in the press and e f k t i d y paved the way

for the author to write in the same journal several months later on another issue that

"'Ibid.

'URSpCA, & n d Report 1894, copy of Times report of the case, 147.

'*"The Aquarium Lions," Era, 26 May 1894, 9.

'"Ibid.
argued that nainers h m the Continent brought th& "idle,vicious and cruel"practices to

London theaters, thus givirig the performance world a bad m e . " In hi9 piece on
animais,he concentrateci on individuai cases invohTing d q p , which becarne a sticking

point b r animal welfaR advocates, parricularly those connecteci to the National Canine

De- League (NCDL) which was fbunded in 1891 in an effort to reverse "thecruel

persecution and wholesde killing of dogs which foLiowed as a coroUarg to the dog scaresn

In doing so,he s h i f k d the prerrlous focus on

connecteci to the Pasteur In~titutes.~~

wild animais, thereby broadening the scope ofthe debate to indude domestic animal+ and

indiredy iinking it to the debate mer anti-vivisecti~n.'~His artide, which was Lam

criticized for its lack of evidence, vaguely alludeci to one case Uivolving an

Austria. who went into a violent passion [against his hou&] and [upon
king conknted] said that he only did in Lnndon [that which] he did
abr~ad."~

Bensusan, in mm, applauded British theatrid managers for "not abwing such a

thing."'w In the same way that Francis Power Cobbe wmte about medical sadism and

'%ee "TheT o m e of Trained Animals,"Engfisb IIlustrated M u g d i n e volxv (April

1896): 25-30; c.f. "The Training of Chiid Acrobats,"Englisb llCusimed M a g d n e vol. xvi
(October 1896): 41-45.

'""The Torture of Trained Animals," Englfb IUustrated MagGlZjne vol= (April 1896),
25.

"'BL Report of tbe National Canine Defme hagus, 1 January 1908 - 31 Dsemba
1908, 22.

"'For a general discussion of the subject of pin and the ad-vhhection morement,
see James Turner,"Scienceand Smsibllity,"in Reahoning wirb tbe Be&: A n i d , Pain
and Uumanity in tbe VictoriiznMind (London, 1980).

L49"The
Torture of T&ed Animals,' Englfçb Ilkstrateed Magazine volxv (April 1896),
26.
 281

bodily mutilation, Bensusan spoke of animal torture during " r e h d . " 'Ibese

"rehearsals"were said to involve unusual training apparatus, such as the "spikedm W

that h e d the inside of the choker so that "thenedm

which "wasbill of sharp jagged du

of the animals were made to scar and bleed.nULLike the m m of science cloismrd awsg

in their iaboratories, trainers "practicednon their animais in "iii-ventilated underground

ceilars"away h m the gaze of the concerneci public.uz In an e&rt to O* a solution to

the problem, Bensusan suggested k t

the m e r s of performing animals...be registered [and] the acco~nmodation

of the anirnaîs and theu bodily condition m]inspected

and further added that "the pritish] theatrical managers [wouldlgive every heip [in this

regard]" so that their respectability, in tum, would not be d e d into question.=

Bensusan's recornmendation would have come as no surprise to those who were f h m i k

with the existing law that regulated animals employed in medical experimentation.

According to the Act br the Prevention of CrueIty to Animals of 1876,di individuais

engaged in experiments on living animais had to apply for a iiœnse h m the Home

Secremry in order to conduct these experiments." This ostensibly created a

system whereby the scientific community was answerable to the govaunent which aimed

to mainmin social standards concerning kiridness tawards mimals, standards that were
increasingly called into question by anti-cruelty zdots. If Bensusan had his way, such a

LLP~bZic GeneruCActs, An An for the Prewention of Cmelty to Aniamls, 1876,39/40

Via., c.77, s.3.
 282
system wouid exrend to the Qrcus comrnunity,as ~ e l l Adopting
. ~ deeply aitical

responses to the Licensing proposai some b e l i d , as Francis P o w e r Cobbe did with

respect to ami-vivisection ücensingu6,that the licaise was no panacea for the pmbfem

of curbing cruel practices and thereby criticized the inadequacy of the sgstem for its

reliance on the good fàith of the licensee. But by calling the pubiic's n t i o n to these

"foreignabuses" towards aninmls at home, Bensusan b e l i d that popular opinion muid

help to establish a "Court of r d Taste" and pressure govemment a> c~aoe

an En@&

law h r anirnals.'"

One polernic led to mother. Appearing seircral w& a k Bensusan's piece, a

three-part seties was pubiished in the Dai& Cbronide, which in its bm part, stated that

"Mr S.L. Bensusan draws a picture of the training of animals...which might touch any

hea~~." '~
Inspireci by Bensusan's piece, its writer argued that the problem of animal

cruelty lay not with the Engüsh manager "whowelwmes action by the SPCA and

inMnably invites [its] members to the 'mimai show' [for inspection],"but with the miner

whose "evilsare cornmirteci u n d e r g r o ~ n d .Lüre

~ ~ Bensusan, the author pointed to the

moral righteousness with which h n d o n managers, partiCulath at the Aquarium where the

Marck scanda1 occurred, appTOached the problem. Josiah Ritchie and Mr Wilkuison, the

'=sec for example see the iicense retums in PP 1877 (100)Lxrriii (423)and PP 1878
(143) Lui (154) as a result of the Act for the Preventicm of Cmeity m Animais of 1876; For
a discussion of the 1876 law rquiring Licemes and its impact on the medical
escablishmmt, see Frmch, 143-144, 177-92.

'"French, 200-239.

Training of Child Acrobats,' ErzgCfsb IUusftatedMagclzine, ml. xPi, Oc+ 1896,

L57The
45.

LYuAreAnimais Tortureci? 1. What Managers Say," Dai& C ' d k , 9 April18%,3.

 283
Aquarium's managers, were given an oppomuiiry in part one of this series to vindiate

themselves of any nefarious comection with muel trainers. They told the Dai& CbrrmicCe

reporter that not oniy wodd they fire any Ûainer, such as Marck, if he was found guilty of

cruelty towards his animais but that they, in k t , did not hire hlLiiners if they were epen

suspected of cruelty: on a previous occasion,they said, "[we]...&[ad] to engage a

trainer with a troupe of wolves because [we] fànaed that &ey sbood in fear [ofth&

trainer]."'"O whüe these comments were deariy dkerving and obpiousiy constmcted

for public consumption, some beiieved that these were justifiable correctmes especïaily

since "nowitnesses had been c d e d for the defensenwhen the Marck case went to court,

as William Hunting, a veterinary surgeon of 16 Trafalgar Square,~ a i d . ' ~ ~

In response to what seemed to be an attack on the animal Qming trade both at

home and abroad, George Ginnett, the circus manager, issueci a letter to the editor of the

E m , criticizing the wrongfid way in which a n i d trainers were treated in the Cbrrmicié's

columns and dismisshg Bensusan's claims about the crudy of "foreigners."He especidy

condemned the îàct that the newspaper protected the names of those who were said to

commit cruel acts towards animals. "Where[am] the ceUars and kitchezls where these

abuses aiiegedly take place?,"he a ~ k e d . 'In~ an important way, he was responding to

the dichotomy that zealots, such as Bensusan, drew bero~een"breigners"and cnidty, on

one hand, and the "English"and kindness, on the other. His ietter was also a sign of

those feelings of solidarity and bonbomie that dehed the drcus d e for many.

Following Ginnett's lead, the editor of the Era published a piece that ninher accused the

'60rbid.

the Editor of the Era," Era, 3 1 March 1894, 17.

16L"To

'6*The Alieged Animal Torniring,"Era, 18 Aprii 1896,17.

 284

animal welfàre zeaiots o f creating a spectacle within the con- of aie printed page, thus

drawing attention to abuses which were, in Eict, "inwherentpieces of h- evidemce"

that resulted in the unjust maligning of the entire aadr,inside and outside BdtahLe

Meanwhile, some tamers also got i n v o k d in the pubiic debate. Adopting the titie

' P r o f m r ' , in order to indicate his status in the circus world, a tamer d e d 'ProEessor'

Buer asked the Era's editors why the "longpacagraph in the Dai& C h n i & ...did not
appear in the Era, so that aU the animal trainers could see itrtaFor "[the artide] is

untrue h m beginning to end."'" W~threspect to s e c concems raised bg Baisusan

about cruel practices adopted by trainers, such as the use of the 'spikecl c ~ l l a r'Profèssor'
,~

H.M. Parker sated that "such a [methodl wouiû d e the animal lose courage; he would

not have the plu& to work. The more you make a cornpanion of [him], the k t t e r

performer he wiiI And with regard 00 conœms iaised about the trainer's whip,

'Professor' Chard w h o was performing with Hengler's Cimm at rhis time said that whips

were legitimate to employ as long as they did not make contact with the animal's flesh:

1 carry a whip for the purposes of sigaalling. If my whip is perpendicuiar

so is m y do& standing upon his hind l e p o r fore k p . . m y whip is to me
what signais are to the railway mmpany.'"

In sum, Percy Victor of the Dog Miwnels o b s e d that "everyonewith common sense wlll

at once see that if [we] wish to eam a king, [wej m u t Qke care to keep [ o u ] animais in

''The Mleged Animai Torturing,"Era, 9 May 18%, 17; On the point of refiormers
creating a spectacle of the thing which they wished to atoick. see ICaren Halttunen,
"Humanitarianism and the Pomography of Pain in Anglo-Amdcan Culture,"Ammian
uisrot+calRatiew vo1.100, no.2 (Apd 19%) : 303-334.

'b"ueped Animai Tomiring,"Era, 25 Apd 1896, 16.

'anTo The Editor of the Eru,"Era, 9 May 1896, 19.

Ln"Tothe Editor of the Era,"Era, 2 May 1896, 16.

 285

first dass condition."" Placuig emphasis on the bard iifè of the enfertainer, which until

now no one seemed to take into account, 'Professor' Buer added in his letter that

we work hard and aain with patience...we preparfe],

food...wash...comb..and keep.. .dean and in good condition di out animals.
W e only get a poor LMng at the

But criticism of the made in which theg labored was nor unusual, said Ginnett: 'the poor

show people are frequently subjected to these kinds of ~landem."'~~

These so-died "slanders"took on a highly personai dimension because ~aining

methods were o h passeci d m h m one generation to another within a single h d y .

In this vein, another tamer d e d 'Professor' Devereaux toid the Era that

1 foiiowed in [myfather's] wakr as a bog....I have always found h m m y

M e r ' s and my own experiences of training diat kindness and padence are
the surest roads to success in animal training."'

In a gened sense, there was a -el between Cook's statements in 1858 in which he

defended the superioncy of his W y ' s horse îaming secrets and the statunent made by

Devereaux. Clearly, both men wished to portray themseives as kind bo their animais.

However, where Cooke ostensibly provideci evidence Cor his position by publidy

displaying his taming method, Devereaux did not. It was preciseiy the clandestine natute

ofthe taming procedure that gave so many late-Victorian obsemers cause to think.

Tuming their attention towards the 'dangerous dassesnwithin the trade, some

trainers adrnitted that cruelty did i n d d occur. However, as 'Pmf;essor' Parker sateci, "it

is a sharne that dl animai trainers should be condemned b u s e there are one or two

L6BIbid,

'Wlbid.

'"nie AUeged Animal TomiMg,"Ern, 16 May 1896, 16.

'""Are Trained Animals Tortured?,"Era, 2 May 1896, 16.

 286

brutes in the callùigntn The issue of proportion was important shce it seemed h m

the statements made in the C h i c l e that "thereare hundreds...who get a Living at

training and exhibition. [But in fàct] there are not more than perhaps twenty.'" Yet,

the prospect of the public q e r a t i n g the number and furthemore asPuming that those

"oneor two brutes" represented the whole trade gave many trainers and managef~?
in

mm, cause for concem. The fall of box office receip as a resuit of bad publicity was one

of the many practical manifestations about which they womed. buis Dupm. who

owned a troupe of performing dogs that perfOrmed at Eastbourne, said he had TeOemed

an apology fimm one observer d e d AN. Jervis who at "dreaQdseehg an exhibition

of miserable, cowed dogr, and therefore renained h m visiting i P 7 * But upon some

reconsideration,Jemisand his Enends went to the perfotmance and said that it was, in

In hïs letter, which was pubüshed in the columns of the E m , Jeriris

fact, ndelighdul.nLn

wroce to Duprez that

1 trust p u wii.. accept this recognition of sincere ndmiration... of your

humane and kindly tfeatment o f your bur-hted fiends. 1 may add that 1
am only expressing the sentiments of many of my friends.'lY6

Other animal m e r s , such as Percy Victor, stated that they welcomed visiû by the local

authorities in order to have their exhibitions approved befbre bad rumors flljned them.

Victor claimed to have received the a p p d of Mr. Clay, the Chief Constable of

Nottingham: "[he]inspected my dogs and said he had never seen a troupe in more

lmTo the Editor of the Era," Era, 9 May 1896,19.

L73nThe
Aiieged Animal Torturing,"Eru, 16 May 1896,16.

""'Are Trained Animais Tortureci?,"Era, 9 May 1896, 17.

L751bid.

t761bid.
splendid condition and so thoroughly fond of theIr master."'" It was important, Victor

said, to point out that

the old custom of carrying a whip...wj Eist ciying out...'Pmféssor' Duncan

[for example] signals with his fhger, 'Lieut.' Chard throws his whip away
befbre calling upon his dog a, take the high Ieap, an4 as far as 1 a m
concerned, while my dogs are perbtmHig 1 am playing musicai

Clearly, Chard and Victor had di8érent perceptions of the role that the whip playai in

Chard's own performance; this lack of consensus about what Icniallyoccurred in t&e ring

arguably kd existing doubts and anxïeties about the nature of animal aauiing.

Not ail critical o b s e m were as adamantly hostile to the petEorrnance world as

Bensusan, however. In the name of moderation, RSPCA members began to separate

thernseives b r n the more radcal supporters of the animal protection movement. W

1th

respect to the Latter's article in the EngZisb IUustrated M a g d n e , Mr Colam, the seaemry

of the RSPCA, stated at the Annual Generd Meeting of 1896 that "thestory wu a higMy-

Admcating the need for proof of those

colored and unaurhenticated pi~ture.''~~

accusations which Bensusan launched against anonymous famers, one m a b e r argued

that much inspection work iay ahead of them:

I t wiii be obvious that serious diEdties have been pIaced in the way of
the Officers of the Society in verifying or disproving the[se] ailegations...Jf
[Bensusan] describes acts of cruelty which are being committed in
underground cellars, he shouid aiso state where such cekm are situate[d],
there king scores of thousands of cellars in Ix,ndon.'"

- --

"'"To the Editor of the Era,"Era, 9 May 1896,19.

"'Ibid.

L7mPCA,AtUtwCReport 1896,206.

'%id., 171.
 288

But as this speaker was qui& to note, such investigations violated the "mari'shome as his

and muid not kgzdy be carrieci out without a warrant that graated the
cade p ~ c i p l e "

inspecter the right of entry. In the absence of such permission, the RSPCA's investigaiive

e k r t s were seyereiy curtailed, a problem also erqperiend by the NSPCC widi respect to

child abuse allegations. The problem was hardly spedfic to the RSPCA in the 1890s as

some of its members had long been reluctant to conduct private investigations or epen ask

for warrants tbar intedéred with domestic privac~.'~~

in the name of expecIiency, some

began to cast doubt on the idea that crue& was practiced by trainers at d. For example,

another member at the meeting said that

1 have k e n in the habit of seeing perfOrrning dogs at seaside plaœs and

h m the joyful and good-looking appeatanœ of the anlmals, they seemed
to me to be delighted at king put thought their perfZ,~mances.~~

The satement was accompanied by a cheer of "hearhear,"Uustrating the support of its

members for the RSPCA's suategy of moderation and rcspect for the law. Their approadi

relied on evidence that couid be used persuashdy either in a court of law or in public

debate. Mer dl, argued one member several years later,

it is absolutely necessary that the evidence should be complete, for it is

obvious that persons engageci in catering for unworthy public
entertainmens wiil be encourageci rather than discourageci by hiiures in
courts of justice?

But the question of how this evidence was a> be derlved still perplexed many who wished

to see trainers brought to justice. And despite the impressionistic pictwe @en by one

'"sec Harrison, 817-8.

'%PU, Annual Report 1896,207.

'Tl!5PCA, Annuai Report 1900,104.

member of the RSPCA, audiences could not a b q s believe what they saw. The point was

made explicit in Kitry C h e ' s waif novel Nada, t& Cinus Girl (1906):

the gay, thoughtless Coik cheered again and again as jim [the perfbfming
dog] did his tri&...And he iooked at <hem with his patient brown eges.
How couid they know that the bmx,i.ittledog was h u n & r ~ ? ~ ~

The Nationd Canine De* League hnuid ways of penetrating the d q of the
ring by reiying on information h m p e ~ o n within
s the company who tegismed

cornplains with them. Recalling a case in 1898,Charles W

ill
iam Rogers mld the members
of the SeIect Committee on Perfonning Animais that he was d e d on by some employees

at a Nottingham variety theater to investigate a man d e d Grais in a reheaRal with bis

"miniaturecinius":

He was seen [by the infbrmers] to prod the donkegs with a stick which
containeci a sharpened steel spike. And [ d e n 1 went to see die donkeys],
there were several fresh wounds bleeding h m the don- hind quarters.
[Alnd on top of the hind quarters was a mass of wounds of oid standing
where those anirnals had k e n continua& pmdded and wounded in this
way.l"

As a consequence, the man was prosecuted 1argel-ybecause he had no dekase to o f i r in a

case where the evidence was so damning and because donkeys, although not the primary

focus of the NCDL, were clearly covered by the law of 1849 which protecced horses and

their related species. Still, the ose was unique in the sense that it was unusuai br

members of a wupe to report on such crimes. "The reason [why sol many people do not

take steps to institute prosecutions [against tamers] was that they were afhid of loshg

th& employment [fiom the manager]" who might raire ofknse to such interfkemce, Mrs

lUKitty Clive, Nadq Tbe Cinur Gid(bndon, 1906), 24.

lSPP,SC on Perfoming A n i d , vii (1921), In.11, 2.

 290
Lily Graham conRanecf d e r hanng worked for 32 ycars in the theater and afkr M g

seen "terribleand atroàous ~ n i e l t y . ~ ' ~

Cleartly, the prospect of obtaining a conviction against a cruel trainer was hr h m

t h e cellars or
easy largely due to the diffidty of finding proof. The pmblem of 101~thg

back-stage corridors where cruelties were aliesadty conducad was but one among many

problems associateci with inspection. In the event that these places were h d and the

inspector breached the code of privacy in order to search them, it nmmheles fernaineci a

Eicr that the inspector had no means of proving the accu~i~cy

of his word against mat of

the m e r , unies physid proof, such as a whip, could be found. in the epent that

material ewidence could be presented befbre the magismate, howeyer, there was still no

assurance that p m f couid be hund to support the claim that the instrument was

employed to proniote cruel ends. And, fimhexmore there was seidom agreement about

what constituted cruel treatment. respect to the wild animais, such as Marck's lions,

such problems were mrnpounded by the f k t that the law did not protect them.

Bensusan's smternent, which idlameci the conPovasg over auelty, subsequently sparked

critical opinion on both sides of the debate which helped to expose these d difûdties

to initiate diange in the law as it related to the training and exhibition of perfonning

anirnals.

The ensuing climate of contKwersy not only helped stir mxnments h m the

Queen's Bench justices, as we have seen, buz it aiso prompteci Lord Herscheil, a supporter

of the children's anti-cnrelty movement, to introduce the B U for the Prevention of Cruelty

ro Animais which was put befbre Parliament in 1898 and included wild animais in its

clauses. The Bill was restrictive in the sense that it did not extend to al1 anunals in aU
 291
situations but rather aimeci to protect those which were "deprhirdof their übeny, or

tamed,or kept upon oniamenal waters."'" G h e n its Lùnioed scope, Hefschell atgued

that "theBill, as it is now h e d , will not do otherwise than fbiiow the couse of public

opinion."L*By the terms of the Bill, "anybird, beast, h h or reptile,"wu m be -1

protetted, a provision which was broad enough to indude any drcus animal as weii?

Furthermore, cnielty was defined in psycho1ogical tenns, mairing it an to

"uifuriate,tease or terrify animais which [theBa]protects."" W e the bill was passed

in 1900, it would be unfàir to suggest that legai change arose en- or even cüredy

from reports of the RSPCA inspectors. Rather, the RSPCA's success was rhat it sLillfullp

stimulateci and mobiiized public opinion to the point that legai change was deemed

necessary. This new Iaw was no panacea, howeper. 11 provideci no -tee! that those

in positions of legal authority wouid agree on what wnstituted mentai crueity. The

resolution of such arnbiguities was left to the naa generration of concemeci citizens.

V. Conciusion

The second half of the nineteenth century was a cruciai period in the formation of

Victorian attitudes towards the arcuJ and these attitudes were, in part, shaped by the

perception of the circus animal's treatment. In both the theatricai and traditional brcus,

the animal - parcidariy the horse - was fèatured. As the traditional drcus came to
dominate the scene, the public grew accustomeci a> witnessing discrete displays

3rd series, vol.lxii (18981, c.59.

LBfHunsard,

Ybid., c.60.

le9BiUs,Public, (1900),vol.1, 239, 523.

L90RSPC&Annual Report 1900, 121.

 292
performed by anunalS. This circumstance provideci an opportunicg for the drcus CO carve

out a respectable reputation Cor i s e i f . in 1858,W

ill
iam Cook used this opporninity -
which was preàpitated by the a c r i d ofJ.S.Rarey to London - in order to show the
public thst he h e w how to rame a horse through kindness. Just h m fàr the public was

willing to accept the notion that C o o k , specifidiy, or the circus establishment, in

general, adopted kind practices in the raming of animais fernaineci an open question. The

arcus animal,w h o had a k a d y k e n gainhg allies h m the RSPCA, received more

zealous supporters by the end of the centuy. Whüe sympathy brought rehrmers

together, varying solutions co the problem of how to prevent cruelcg towards anhais

created important splits in their campaign. Despite the suggestions of the more Tadicd

individu*, moderote opinion d o m i n a d this campaign whose aims fbund expression in a

statute of 1900. In the next cenniry then, managers and tamers paradoxidy hced ever-

more ennoadiing Iegal controls which s e d to legitimize them and to create a rise in

public suspicion towads their trade.

 This thesis has agmined many f o r a s in Victorian Society that came to bear on the

circus and that affi;ected its modem deweiopmentt Out primary focus has been the * d o n

between the market and regdation and how th& a f k t e d the drcus. W e have seen the

steady g r o d of the &CUS and the public's increasing demmd fbr it. Against this fbrce

were counter-forcesthat encourageci the reguiation of pedbrmexs inciuding women,

children and animais. Reforming attitudes were articulatecl in a range of places - in

Parliament, the press, popuiar periodicais, dnovels and extra-pariïammq pre~sure

groups. Yet the consurning pubiic's desire to see the kinds of displays which rebrmers

wished to regulate put the cirms establishment in a d i f f i d t position. Wshing to -te a

respectable reputation for itseif whiie also a profitable business, the arnis company was

engageci in a struggle that required the appeasement of b a h camps - that of the regplator
and the consumer - which were, more often than not, in wnfiict. These codicts W r m

us not only of the complicated role that the circus played in Vicuorian society but also of

the Eractuses and dislocations that were present within the respectable world d o s e

vibrant consumer market somerïmes strayed h m its path. Many within the drcus

establishment trieci to paper over the cracks but, in the process, drew attention to them.
..ts
O b the trade's organizational structures, such as own mouthpiece, the Em,
A

friendly societies and vade u n i o n s , serveci as important conduits Cor the pro ces^ of

negotiation to take place.

If a drcus mentalité ernerged as a cunsequenœ of struggie and negotiation with

the Victorian world, as has been argued, then this desemes comment Another cheme of

this work has been the stress and strain between kllowship and individiiiilism. Wh-

the former grew directly h m the otganizational6rameworkscreated in rhe second half of

 294
the century, the latser was - in a more general sense - characteristic of the kInd of work
that the circus performer did. That is, by dennition, if the petformer was to be a succes

then hisher work had to be rnarketed as entirrly unique. In same cases, the drais

perfOrmer saw h i d e r s e i f as a part of a comunity of 6-ïends, and in ohers, as a distinct

member of a cornpetitive trade by short-tesm amtracts that meant M e r

existence was p e r p e d y M e .

A ûnai set of themes in this work has been the tension between the ostedbiy

novel displays which the perfbmer o f i d the pubiic, on the one hana and the

traditionai background of his work (e.g. the kir),on the other. At the mid-century point,

many performers had k t - h a n d knowledge of earning their daiiy bread at the hic And

although they adjusted their careers so that they sought work in commercialized venues,

such as the circus, there was stiii an important element of tradition that undersCod the

kinds of acts they did. It is tme however that the accent on the acts changed accoiding to

the change in public m d . Some acts, such as aaobatics, br example, became more

dangerous as the public's ever-growing desire fbr in& danger grew more insatiable.

If we assume that the public get what the pubiic want then the change in the acts d o w s

us to rneasure the change in popular taste.

In sum, this thesis has aimed to prPvide a piaure of an entertainment that has

hitherto received no rigorous historid treatment in a p e r i d when its growth, as a trade,

occurred. In the ptocess, it bas asked questions about this culture that bridge class

divisions, namely, "whatkinds of desires did the circus satisfy in Victorian s c ~ 5 e t y ?and
~

"whatdrew the Victorians to the ring?"Ultimately, the circus muid never have e3eperienced

the growth and popularity that it did wem it not en&aged in the respectable world and

the d u e s that this world embraced. Had Mr Boundehy, who was h m for his
 2%

devotion to Eictr, taken a harder, more p q p a t i c look at his worid and that of Mt Slearg's

perhaps he would have realized that the rwo plam were not so Éu apart as he ïmaghed.
 Where did the circus m r m ? Accordhg to our sample, it is dear that most

cïrcuses pehrmed in Engiand, althougti Scotland, I d a n d and Wales recemed a

percenrage (in the singie digits) of circuses throughout the mid-to la@-nineteenthcentury.

Table A l shows the average taken between 1847 and 1897 of the proportion of circuses

that visited each of the bllowing countics whose boundaries correspond a, currerit-day

divisions although admitredly these iines are con~randybeing redrawn; br egampIe,

London is meant to correspond to the LCC's mapping of the metmpolis. It should be

noted that in cases where the same circus appeared h m one decade to the nwt, it has

been counted twice. Based on the counties listeci below, this ckmssion d l go on to

answer the question, what compgnies went where?

Table Ai: Average of al1 Cirarses PIayMg m the CarmëeJ, 1847-1897

Counties
Lancashire
Yorkshire
London
Warwickshire
Cheshire
Cloucestershire
Nottinghamshire
Northumkriand

Clparly, within Engfand, Lancashire was the primary area of drcus acthity. Thirtymne

percent of al1 circuses in Britain perfbmed in Lancashire. Within the county, major

industrial cities and towns such as Manchester, Lipetpoot, Southport, Presum, Wigan,

Bolton, and Blackburn,among others, had the greatest number of Qrnises. Indeed a

major increase of companies went to these areas between the m i d - d a t e nineteenth

century, according to Table k2:

Table A3 illusuates the period of time in which the circus concentrated in Lancashire's

u r h arcas and may mfully be compareci to the other counties that will be discussed

'For ewmple: 1.2 equals one week and two da..

ZBased on the Era, 1847/8-1897/8. In order to d e c t the whter/sunimer seasons that

shaped the tirnetables of most companies,this tabIe beguis in October and ends in the
foîiowing October of each year under discussion.

me areas visitecl include Biackbum (Wïdde's h r one &y); Rochdale, Bury, S.Oldham,
St. Heien's, Warrington, Middleton, Aston, and Stockport (Cook's fOr one day at each
location).

'The areas visited induded Broughton, Barrow,Uiverston, Camnel, Garstang, L m ,

Kirkham, Chorley, Leigh, and Warrington (Powell, Footit and Clarke's h r one day at each
location); Biackbum and Hindley (Fanque's for one day at each location).
 298
Table A3 represents the pend of thne that the circus spent in each city, but does

not reflect the specific numbers of companies that appeared in each city during this tirne.

While the latter point will be treateci in the fbiiowuig discussion, the table simpiy sems a,

demonstrate that the &rus had a ubiquitous presence in many of Lano~shire'stowns,

particuiarly Manchester and Liverpool.

In 1847/8,both William Batty and Pablo Fanque's companies Performed in

Manchester. Fanque's company leased Messrs Cooke's City Rayai Amphitheatre for fbe

weeks in late Omber and November, and then, Batty's troupe leased the sarne bdding,

perhrming there for the weeks duMg the Chrismias season. (It should be noted that

properry arrangements are not aiways dearly detaiied in the Ridence and thetefore it is

not always possible to say whether a company Ieased an amphitheater, m e d it or had

been hirexi on the spot to perform in it. Where these arrangements are traceable, they

have k e n noted here and e k h e r e in this study.) Similatly, in the same seascm in

Liverpool, Mons. Dejean's company performed for fifieen weeks at the Liverpool

Amphitheatre and overlapped with Franconi's relativeiy brîef sray of Bve weeh at the

Adelphi Theatre in December and January. The Chrismias season was a high-point of

activity in the àrcus dendar since it was during this time of year that ir rccQvcd the

greatest amount of patronage h m the public which went m see, arnong other thinp, the

SThe areas visiteci included B q Famworth and St. Helen's @Sanger's for one day at
each Location); and St. Helen's (Swallw's for one &y).

dThe areas visited indudeci k k h g t o n ( k m ' s Cor one day); Stockport (Saka B-. for
two days); Birkenhead (Ohrny's br nine weeks); BirlrenLead (Watson and Felix's for rwo
days); !%dfbrci(Buffalo Bill's for one week); Boode (Boswell's for four weels).

'The areas visited include St. Helen's (one day), Burnley (two days), W d a i e (two
days) and Oldham (two &YS) by Bamum and Bailey's; Mormmbe (Fourpaw's for one
day); Longsight (Proctor's for one &y), Stockport @elhis for simsai weeks); Ashton-
under-Lyne (Ohmy's Cor four week); Bootle (Paddock's fot seventeen &).
 299
pantomimes that were typically katured as part of the "theahticai"program - in either the
Erst or third section of the bill-

In the 1857/8season, the Manchester public was visited by three companies -

Fanque's, Howe and Cushing's, and Cook's. Both Fanque's and Hawe and Cushing's

performed in permanent buildings for four and seven weeks respectivPly, wtde Cooke's

only remaineci br one day and performed under caniras. In crsntrast to the 1847/8 season,

these circuses pertormed at difArent times of the par, thus pdonging the exposurr the

public had to the drcus. That is, whüe Howe and Cushing's perfbrmed during the

Christmas season, Fanque's appeared in the early spring and Cook& visited the ay

during July when it was on its mting route. in ccmtrast, at berpool, Cooke's

overlapped with Charles Hengler's company during the winter season when it perbrmed

for seven weeks at the Amphitheam, the same building that had been leased to Mons.

Dejean during the previous decade. Memwhile, Hengler's company, which perfbrmed in

a building that had k e n comtructeci on Dale Street during the previous season, spent

twenty-seven weelcr in the Qry? As soon as Hmgler's company departeci for the

provinces during the tmting season, Van Hare's visited the city for ody a short period of

four &YS. (It is unciear whether or not the troupe ieased fiengier's building or the

Amphitheam or neither.) Aiso in this season, the growing mwns including Preston,

Wigan, and Bolton were visited by tenting companies, but only for short periods lasting

o d y one or two days during the summer.

Understandably given what has aiready been said about the inaeast in the numbu

of circus companies and the rise in circus building, lancashire was visiteci by a greater

number of troupes (or 22%more) during the 1867/8season than it had beai during the

'For a weil-researched work on Charles Hengla, see John Turner, H f s t o r l d .

 300
1857/8one, Franwni's and Newsome's performed in Manchester fbr nineteen and ten

weeks, r e s ~ I beginning
y ~ in early January. While Newsome's Performed in its own

purpose-buiit smxcture, Franconi's leased the bndon Hall, a music hali that had bem

convertecl ùito a c i r ~ u s .Instances

~ like this one denionssated that the drcus and the

music hall were growing doser togecher in this period; that is, not only were circus

buildings and music halls used interchangeaMy but w i t b these houses, to some extent,

was an intermixing of circus and music haii enoeriainments. This change e & a i d y

blurred the boundarïes that initially separateci the two genres and compounded them into

a new one: "variety." At Liverpool in the 1867B season, Hengier's continueci to perfbrm at

the Dale Street site and appeared for nine weeks during the winter season, a mnsiderably

shoner period in cornparison to the 1857/8decade, befbre it tented in the adjoining

counties during the summer season. For the first the, Southport began to atuact the

circus, as the one week visit by Messr. Ginnett's company in Sep* and the one*

tenting performance by the Messrs. Powell, Footit and Clarke in J d y d e d . Preston

saw its first resident company in the h m of Fanque's which appeared these br £ive

weeks in the early spring. Like Preston, other un-g industrial dties, notably Wigan

and Bolton, which experienced tempoiary visits h m circusg during the previous decade*

attracted resident cornpanies. Messrs. Newsome built a ciras in mgan and his troupe

performed in it for twelve weeks,while in Bolton, Fanque's and Pinder's occupied

permanent quarters and perbrmed for two and ten weeks, respectively. Mter visiting

Bolton, Fanque's tented in the less--den areas of Blackburn and Hindley br a few days

each, before the end of the summer season.

our sample, whai only Manley's drcus performed t h e for one wecL. Aithough the dty

had no ciras, it did possgs the Gai- Theatre ofVarieties which was h m to p-t

circus-like entertainments, such as the gpnnasrs, the Brothers Gihrt." Ody in Oaober

of 1878,before the s a r t o f the wintm season, did Charlie Wth seize the oppommiy to

build an amphitheater in the city; indeed, it was during diis period of the late 1 8 D that

Keith expanded his "empirenwhich induded his amphitheaters in HaMtx, Douglas, Derby,

Upon the opening of the Manchester

Dewsbury, Southporc, BzadEOrd and Wi&an&an"

building in late October, it was said with some relief that "Keith has fbmhhed the

Manchester public with a really sterling equestrian entiertainment,such as we have not

had for yeais.n'2 In contrast, Liverpool had becorne the hub of cirrus activity in

Lancashire. Hengler's troupe perfbrmed there during the winter season which lasted

twentysix weeks, while Newsome's troupe appeared Cor seven weeks kmmem December

and January before Messrs. Newsome leased his building to a group of vocalists for the

remainder of the season.'' In Southport, =th's played before the public for thirtgane

weeks, not induding the fk-month iapse betwem F e b m q and June during which t h e

In this decade, both Wigan's and Bolton's

his building was under renovati~n.'~

importance diminished. Only John Sanger's troupe paid a visit to for a single day

in June. In Bolton, Messr. Adams opened his Amphitheatre in March and opetatted it fbr

"Gaiety Theatre of Varieties,"Eray 14 October 1877, 8.

"10 Mardi 1878, Era, 18;see "tolet" advextisements in the Era for aiese buildings.

Era, 27 October 1878, 9.

L2wManchester,n

L3Ziverpool,n
Era, 24 February 1878,8.

Keith's rropened,"Eru, 16June 1878,9.

L4"So~thpon:
 302
the surnmer season h m late March for eleven weeks W r e selling it in August, Other

toww inciuding Bury, Fanisworth, and St Helen's were used as one+ stopping points

for John Sanger's tenting company, as well as S d o w ' s .

In the 1887B season, Manchester @ned back much of what it had lost in the

1870s. The city now haâ two circuses perfOrming before the public: BuEaio BU'S Wild

West Show and Weston Gibbs's cimts. The Amerim company Performed on the

Manchester lace course in a "tmmendousbdding capable of holding 10,000people" for

sixteen weeks berneen December and March. Messr. W m n Gibbs's company resided in

the city for fie weeks fiam the end of Seprember and perf'Drmed at the Grand Clrw,

which its owner, Mr. Garda, had been aying to lease since eariy AuguxU Hengler's

continued to perform ar Liverpool and was the only dr<lo in opefation for sixteen weeks

g winter season, perhaps a reflecrion of the fâct that it had monopoiized the
d u ~ the

market for circus entereainments in that aty. Southport's population, meanwhile,

experienced a massive escalation in the numbers of circus perhrmances, as Quinette's

pehrmed in that city consecutively throughout the year and Ohmy's company was there

for two weeks before departing for a nine-wek stay at its Birkenhead amphitheater

during the winter season. Part o f Ohmy's wmpany performed at its other building, in

Bolton, for sixteen weeks k m March to September, a k r which tirne Quaglini and Men's

-
troupe performed in it for lour weeks. At Bladrpool, it was murprising giMi the

town's emerghg reputation a s a holiday fesort - diat drcus acrirrity in the are. sharply
increased. This was largely due to the e f h m of Messr. Newsome whom the Era

describecl as a "Eu îàmed entrepreneurnafm he built a permanent amphith- in the

''It is unciear what happend to Kath's drcus orrhich was constructeci during the
previous decade, although it is iikely that Edward Garda mnverted it into hir own,Grand
Circus.
 303
district which he occupied br six weeks interxnittently betweai -ber and

September." Other areas such as Boode mornmwily gave a home to the dnw,namely

Bosweii's, which set up an amphith- in the tcmm fbr four weeks during the Chrisanas

season. CLearly, the &dent drcus was becoming the nom in Irincashire; besides George

and John Sanger's, Watson and Felids, the Salrer Brothers's, and Leco's cornpanies, no

circuses in our sample tented d h g the 1888 summer season in LancasPhlre.

The trend me& slightiy, howeverIwhen the American QrcusyBarnum and

Bailey's, visited Britain during the hiiooring decade, 1897/8,pexfbrming in temis

rhroughout the country - even in major aties such as Manchester and Lkrpol. At

Manchester, the perfb~mancesgiven by Bamum and Bailey must have providecl a sharp

conrrast to those given by Anindale's drciis which perfbrrned simultaneously in the city at

the Royai Engfish Circus; h n d a l e ' s presented such typical Christmas fare as the

pantomime, Li#& Red Riding Wood, whereas Bamum's troupe presented a "threeringu

show. Besides these major cornpanies, Manchester was also visited by three smaller ones,

namely Hum's Kafnr circus, Ross's Circus of Varieties and W h ' s for one or two day

visia during the summer season. The Liverpool public had o~mparativelymore exposure

to the urcus in this season, as Hengler's performed at its Dale Street tesidence fbr twenty

weeks berneen Novernber and Febniary. Months later in May, Bamum and Bailey's spent

two weeks in the aty. In conuast, when the American Poupe arrived for one day at

Southport in August, ir bund iwIf in direcr cornpetition with Wirrh's drcus which was

nearing the end of irr thirty-seven week s e w n at the Southport Amphitheam. Upon the

former's entry hm the town, one reporter noted that "notwithstanding the counter-

L6"Blackpoo1,"Enz, 28 Juiy 1888,14.

 304
attractions, Bamum and Bailey's drcus was enrrmely WU-patronized."" At Bolton, in

conaïsr, the American troupe perfbrmed in October hx rcno dap.s, which must have been

a novel change br the public which k t saw a drcus seven months eadier - Cor one day
in the form of Sanger's troupe. The Preston public Bçperienced Sanger's and Bamum and

Bailey's circus,back-to-back, as the former pehrmed in July and the latter in August, each

the two cornpenies tenteci

for one and two &ys respectively in tents. Simiiariy, in W~gan,

briefly and at ditkrent times, as Sanger's performed for one day in July, and Bani- and

Bailey's performed br two d a .in October. Perhaps intentionaüy, the American troupe

waited for Tower and T m ' s Qrcus, which had been prfomiiag at the T m in
Blackpool for two weeks in late Jund earbjdy, to lem the resort befbre it made its two-

&y entry in August. Neither did it overIap with Blackburn's resident drcuses, Ohmy's or

Felix's, which were absent h m the town during Sep-ber when the American troupe

performed there h r two dap. Since the Amencan circus d y made one or twoaay visla,

it was able to perbrm in many t m h u g h o u t Lancashire, a kt that helps a> expiain

why the "other areasnin Table A3 experienced the circus more ofcen than in previous

decades. Seen h m one perspective, Ebmurn and Bailey's Company offixeci the public a

spectacle that was auly "heretoday, and gone tomorrow." As a consequence, its pattern

was distinct h m that of most British cireuses which hvmed residency, a fact which

increased the novelty value o f the American circus.

Foliowing Lancashire, Yorkshire received the second most cirmses - 28% -

throughout the period. Like its neighbor, Yorkshire's major industriai centers were

magnes of circus activity. Of ail its aties, Leeds had the greatest arposure to the drcus.

This was not the result of a single mmpany dominating the aE&s of the town, as in

L7"So~thport,"
Eru, 20 August 1898,7.
 305
Liverpool, aithough long stays were bemming the norm. Rather, in each season - with
-
the exception of 1857/8 more than one company performed in the dty. As with

Liverpool and Manchester, the Christmas seascm of 1847B provd to be the busiest time

for circuses in Leeds,as Cooke's, Fanque's and Hengier's all compebed foc audiences to £Uï

th& amphitheaters.

During the 1857/8season, by contrast, Yorkshire recehred six ciraises all of which

- with the srception ofWdde's - tenteci during the summer scaxm. Among these tenting

companies were Howe and Cushing's. Van Hare's, Cooke's and Sanger's which made a

series of one-day visia throughout the county, presenting remote areas such as Ripon and

Thirsk with circus entenainments and thereby straying from the pattern that wodd

become c o m o n in the following decennial periods. For example, in the 1867/8season,

Powell, Fcxxit and Clarke's was the only company of the seven in Yorkshire that tenteci.

Since this was the period of circus building, it is thus not surprishg to 6nd that the

majority of ckcuses in Yorkshire were Located in permanent buildings. At Leeds, for

example, C A Albert's company renteci Henry and Adam's Amphitheatre for one week after

the latter's troupe ended its twelve-week season in Aprii. Meanwhile, Fanque's, which did

not have its own amphitheater, l e w d the Princess's H a l for eight weeks, Mre it was

- in the
converteci back into a concert room. In a rare appcvance in York, the circus

form of Quagiini's which performed in a specially constructed wooden amphitheatier -

spent the surnmer season. One reporter was moved to say that "themost attrarrive

enterminment ever witnessed in York is this circus,"perhaps an indication of the dearth of

amusements in tbis Cathedral t o ~ n . ' ~

 306
By 1877/8, greater numbers of drcuses had conœntrated in the oowns for longer

petiods of time. Adam's circus, which was one of the eight visiting the region, spent

thirty-one weeks at i
s amphitheatm in Scacbrough, h e weeks in York,thiroeai weeh in
Leeds, and nwelve weeks in Whitby. Aiso in tbis season,Charles Hengler built his

amphitheater at Hd,and recnited a company to perform at it for nineteen weeks during

the winter season. Charlie =th, Like Hengier, expandeci his "empire"and built a circus at

Haiifkx. H e hired a company to perform at it fbr sixteen weeks b e e n December and

March and then aied to find a le- to rake mer its management while he took bis

Company to his Dewsbruy amphitheater fbr mehe weeks. There was a h an increase in

the numbers of companies tenting in this season iargeiy because there were more

companies in existence that combineci tmalng with rcridmcy. Unüke the previous decade,

these companies went to select areas with their tents, and thus visiteci comparatiPdy fèwer

cornmunities than Howe and Cushing, Van Hare or Cook did during the 1857/8season.

Gimett's, for example, made two one-day stops at Gode and H~liçrdenin late September

after it performed at its amphitheater in Plymouth, and Pinder's spent two days in

Rotherharn &er residing for the entire winter season at the Victoria P d o n in

Wamickshire.

This rise to residency became more apparent during the next two decades in

Yorkshire. During the 1888 surnmer season, for example, cmiy one o f the nine Qrruses

which performed in the county during this season had tented. The other eight cirmses

concentrateci in permanent arnphitheaters constructed at Bradford, L e a h , Huii, Barnsley,

Huddersfield, and Scarborough for the winter and surnmer seasons. During the 1897/8

season, Barnum and Baiiey's circus ofkred the Yorkshire public a contmst to the c m d

pattern of residency. Of the fifceen British troupes that performed in tbe wunty in this

season, alî but four resided in permanent quarters in areas that induded W-eld, Leah,
 307
Halifax, Rotherham, Barnsley and Scarborough. h g - - circus actmIty in Huil

diminished enrirely, perhaps a reflection of the fàct that ))vafiety"was tepking the circus

since the a t y had two such halls in this period - the Aihambra and the Empire - whae
conjurors,venaiioquists and 0th- circus-like entertainers perf;Drmed, Those four

companis that tented in this season spent single Rays in Halifax (when Croueste's, the

resident ùrcus, was not in attendance), Dewsbury, Barnsley,and the smailer towns of

Hunslet, Elland and Brîdghouse.

Perhaps surprisingiy given its importance within the theatricai world, h n d m

received only the third greatest proportion of cireuses in the murse of the nineteenth

cenniry - as it amacred an average of 20% of ali companies. Unlike other parts of the

Isles, where circus buildings m u s h m e d , London never experienced the same measute

of growth but managed to mainriin Astley's Amphitheatm which was highiy regaded by

many contemporaria and immortalized in the O U Curfodty Sbop by Charies Dickens.

(Despite the period between 1862 and 1871 when Astley's was under theatrical

management, it had the reputation 0 a circus venue und its dernolition in 1893.) In
f
1847/8, five circuses were based in the menopolis, four of which pefirmed at the Theatre
Royal Drury lane and the other at Astley's. Lnndonesregional importance declined during

the nan rwo decenniai intenols, when ody bur and two companies performed there in

185718 and 1867/8respectively. One Rason for this dedine was simply that most drnisg

were concentrated in other parts of the country. Mter d,London was an expensive p h

to lease buildings and predous kw drcuses in the metroplis perfbrmed out~f4oors.

Counties surroundhg the metropoh, such as H d r d s h i r e and Berkshire inverdy

arpenenced an increase of troupes on their sou. For urample, no circusg in our sampie

performed in Berkshire in 1&47/8,whereas one decade later?two companies tenoed t h e

- both at Reading on their way to other counties. Confirrning the Readlag pubiic's
 308
artraaion to circus entertainments, the E m observed that "dthoughits people are very

particular and religious, they ali go to the c i r c ~ s . "The

~ case of Berkshire semes to

rernind us that without a knowledge of the events in other parts of this county, it is

difficult to measure with mal aollracg the Erequency ofdrw activity that occurred hac;

thir problem arises h m the limitations of the review section in the Era h m which this

sampk has been cornpileci.

By 18778, London was the home of three companies - a smsill rise which was

aided by the establishment of new amphitheaters, such as Charles Hmgler's Circus on

Argyll Street where Hengler's troupe perforrned and the Aiexander Palace where

Wieldland's appeared. As weU, in chis period Asdey's was run by George Sanger whose

troupe performed there. During the last two decades of the cennuy, other structures

such as the National Agricuitural Hall at Olympia or the North London CoIosseum in the

1880s and Earl's Court at Olympia in the 18909,designed for g e n d purposes, were

leased to circus managers. iargely as a consequene of this pattern, the numbers of

tircuses in the metropolis increased to 6 in 1887B and 8 in 1897/8.

Warwickshire received the burth -test average proportion of companies - 18%

- during the cennuy, often acting as a fbr those drruses en mute h m the north

to the south or vice versa. C w k e , for acample, begùinirig his m e r tour in 1858 in

York, travelled through iancashire, Cheshire and then, went to Warwickshire where his

company tented in seyen cities and towns uicluding Birmingham, Dudley, Stowbridge,

Bromsgrove, Dmitwich, Stourport and S. Tenbiuy. Still other cireuses, such as Pablo

Fanque's and Howe and Cushing's mncentrated in Birmingham during winter season and

competed for audiences. In this season, Cook's mrnbined part of its company with that
 309
of Howe and Cushing's, an effort that was resisted by Fanque who insened m e of the

best perfbrmers from his Bristol amphitheater into his Birmingham house. Although

discontenud, audiences in Bristol undersmod that Fanque was compeiied '00 strengthen

his company in Birmingham in order to susain his &ct with the Amaican cbms [e.g.

Howe and Cushing's. that is there]? Birmingham's s$eady rise in drcus entmtainments

h m the 1860s until the end of the century was noticeable and perhaps helped by the fkct

that Newsorne's occupied Cunon Hall in the 60s, 7- and 80s and that other chcuses

perfomed at Bingley Hall and the Queen's Th- in the 1880s and 9ûs. Wolverhampton

and m g t o n experienced sWar trends, and as a d t in l8m8. aii b u r chruses in

the county visited these three cities, a pattern which was biiowcd by the ten drcusa that

visited the county during the last two decades of the century.

Unsurprisingiy, since Cheshire was on the direct route leading to Lancashire h m

London and Birmingham, it was another common stopping-point for Qrcuses that

travelled from these areas throughout the mid--ïate nineteenth cennirg. It rrcemed the

fifth highest average proportion - or 14%- of aii companies. In general, Cheshire was

reliant on traffic kom Lancashire and Yorkshire. Whm Iancashire and Yorkshire

experienced a rïse in the number of visiting companies,so too did Cheshire; it was

unlikely for a circus to visit Cheshire without also going to Lancashire and Yorkshire -
especiaily if the company was mveIling h m south to north, a s many did, in order to set-

up permanent quarters in one of the major industrial northem towns br a season. In this

regard, it was not uncommon to h d that tenting and residency were mmblned by the

three companies visiting Chester, Knutsford, MaCClesfield and Congieton in the summer of

1858; the decade before, during the summer of 1848, Astlws tenting company visited
 310
Chester on its way to Edinburgh. From the 18609 onwaràs, Cheshire npcrienced a

hiccup in the numbers of companies that visited i t Two companies - Messrs. Powell,
F w t i t and Clarke's and Pablo Fanque's t e n d in Runcorn, Northwich, and Wardngtoa on

their way to and h m Lancashire during the summer of 1868. Among the five cmmpnnies

that went to the county in were Amelli and Reed's which spent the month of

March in the Paviüon Theatre in Chester and part of Charles Henglds Company which

spent the foiiowing month in the aty at the Wamiinster Rir& which was mnporarily

converted into a circus. nie remaining three cornpanies visited WafTingcon, Runcom, and

Crewe. possibly as -ring companies as they made their way to adjchhg counties during

the summer season. The numbers of companies rose again in 1887/8 to six, with aü

companies concentraring at buiidings in Warrington and Chester throughout the gear,

with the exception of Leortard and Francis's which co~stnictedan amphitheater in

W~dnes.During the final decennial period, 1897B the mgion atmmexi nine &dent

companies which stayed in Chester?Maccefesfield, Crewe, Warruigton, and Congleton;

only Barnum and Bailey's was known to tent.

Gloucestershire boasted the next highest proportion of cireuses - 11% - to its

region throughout Our decennial survey. The wunty experienced a massive rise in the

numbers of companies - Erom ni1 to five - between 1847/8and 1857/8 which visiteci

Cheltenham, ~îni$ester, and Wichcombe on tmting tours. This rise a h a&cced

neighboring rowns such as Bath from ni1 in 1847/8 in four in 1857/58. As well, in the

n e i g h b o ~ gareas of Herebrdshire and W o r c e s t e r s b . for the same set of years, the

numbers ruse h m ni1 to four. The trend revasai itselfslightly between 1857/8and

1867/8as the totai numbers of companies in G l o u e ~ ~ ~ ~sank

b i rfrom
e 6ve to three, a

areas alceady menticmeci; of the h e drcuses in

decrease that also anected the n e i g h b o ~ g

Gloucestershire during the 1857/8season, ody mie, Ernidp's circm~,d Perfotmed there
 311

- at Wheal's Arnphitheatre in Cheltenham in 1867/68.By the 1877/8season, thrre

cireuses performed in the county - in Cheltenham at Ginnett's C i r a s and at the

Colosseum. The Ginnett E u d y had an earlier c o ~ e c t i o nto the town since ifs members

once worked for Ryan's Circus which was located in a permanent building in Cheitenham

between 1840 and 1843.2LThe numbers of chuses that went to Glouceste~~bire

dropped a m during the 1887B season - to two. During the Chrfshmas season, John
Sanger's company was located at Cheitenharn and Quaghi and Men's was baseci in

Barnsley. SimiIarly, during the 1897B season, ody two chuses in our sample went to

the county: Fourpaw's performed at its amphitheater in Chelrenham during the winter

season and Bamum and Bailey's went to the city on its way to Gloucester at the end of

the summer season.

In contrast, Nottinghamshire's rises and falis were less dramatic than

Gloucestershire's, although the proportion of circuses they amacted was about the same:

Nottinghamshire received 10% of aU troupes in the country in this decmniai sample. In

1847/8, one circus went to the county, aithough the number rose to fbur during the

185718 season, and fell to two companies in 1867/8. Like Gloucestershire,

Nottinghamshire had n o returning cireuses to the region in 1867B; Cooke's, Hengler's,

Fanque's and Sanger's - a i l of which perfbrmed in Nottingham as part of th& tenting

tours in 1858 - had set up permanent quarœrs elsewtiere and were not tenting during the

surnrner season and none of the circuses that had visited Nottingham in 1857/8 teturned

in 1867/8. In k t , during the summer of 1868, ody Powell, Footit and Clarke's c h u s

which was en mute to Derbyshire and the s d e r company, Maus's C i ,(which mon

dissolved) played befbre the Nottingham public under canms. But the dedine in 1868

*'John Turner, 'Ryan's Royal Cirrus Wts Victorian Cheltenham,"Glouces&mbfre

History (1991),13.
 312
could have been worse and was perceived as haWig been mitigated by the presence of the

Messrs. PoweU, Footit and Clarke's circus in Nottingham, The Era ackndedged h t "it

is severai years since there was an equeStriaR season in Nottingham," indicating that the

years immediateiy before 1868 saw an even g,reaterdedine of araises to the c ~ u n t y . ~

Curiously, the region continuai to a t m a string of smaiier, lesser-bown drcuses for the

rest of the decerrnial seasom such as Roland's New York Circus which perfOrmed at the

rnuiti-purposeVictoria Hali in 18878, Bartlettls, Leopold's and bur others in 1897B. The

implications ofthis were important: since these cinmss fiickered in and out of atistenoe,

no resident company mer became permanentiy rooted in the local cuiture.

Northumberland is the ody other munty that saw a doubleaigit average

percentage of circuses on its soil throughout our period - 10%; t&erest of the English
counties, some of which have already been narned, such as Berkshire, kil below this

average. Northumberland was unique in the sense that it received many of those àtcuses

from Scotiand b t never ventureci fùrther south than Newcastle-upon-Tyne. For example,

in 1848, Messrs. Tournaire's French Circus visited N e w d e befween June and August

and then departed for Glasgow where it ranained for the rest of the summer season. In

1857/8, Macarte and Clarke's went to Newcastle during the winter season afœr having

spent several mon& in Edinburgh and befbre 1e-g br Ireland. Simiiarly on its tenaing

cour, Sanger's visited Newcastle and the nearby tmms of South Shields and North Shields

after perfonning in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. And, Howe and Cushing's U.S.

arcus tented at Cleveland on f t s way m.Midiothian, DUIIlfiCies,and Fife. In 1867/8,only

two circuses went to Northumberland - Hengier's which estabiished a permanent

amphitheater in Newcastle and Powell, Foottit and Clarke's wbich tented in the region.
 313
This decüne was perhaps a reflection of the Eia that the p r o p o r t i d increase of

companies in Britain did not Scotland and t h h r e did not aaEect Northumberland.

Alternatively, given the numbers of amphitheaters that were constructeci during the 1860s

in Scotland, notabty by Emidy in Aberdeen, Newsome in Greenock, Pinder and Sanger in

Dundee, and Hengier in Glasgow, it is possible that Northumberfand was p u p x h l i y

side-stepped in h r of these major Scoteish tities. During the 1877B season, the same

-
number of circuses - two went to this region: Hengler's ar Newcastle and Lyon, Ana#,

and Co.'s at North Shieids during the winter season. During the bliowing deœnnkd

season, the number rose slightly to five due to the visits of new, s m a i i d e drcuses, such

as Professor Hermann's and Wilson's Austtaüan Company to Newcastle at diffimmt tirnes

of the year. The increase was temporary since these cornpanies did not suvive into the

following decade when only cwo ciLcusesperfbrmed in the county. Tbroughout the

counties, a similar pattern is evident: the circus was largely concentrateci in urban centers

which increasingiy attracted a greater number of companies with each passing d d e .

 Source materid relating to the ckcus, like the entenainment i d , is scatterd and often

hard to find largely because &ose c o ~ e c t c dwith it left behind few wrinen records. As a

group, most circus people in the nineteenth century were unable to read and write. h o n g

those who were able to, their predominateiy itinerant Mestyles nood in the way of good record

keeping. Nevenheless, the narting point for uiy work on the circus musr be Raymond Toole

Scott's Circur a d Allied A N which, in five volumes, is a~ extensive guide to mon published

materid on the c i r a . Besides this, saapbooks conraining newspaper reviews, p o s e s and

playbills provided the starring point for my research and the collectiom at the British Libnry,

Theatre Museum and GGuildhall have been important in this regard. The Theatre Museum's

Anrhony Hippisley Coxe collection ar Blydie H o w funher contains accounts and route books

from the tours of one rnid-nineteenth century circus, Po~e11,Footir and Clarke's company,

which has ben helpful from the point of view of reconnni&g, on a micro-level, the daily life

of a C i r w company. A variery of London and provincial newspapers, as listed below, has

d o w e d me ro reconstmct how individual towns received visi&g or residenr circws. Town

council, town improvement and finance comminee minutes provide another view of the

willingness of the town to receive the c i r w in innuices when the latter made an applifation ro

the town council for ground in order to set up a tent or an amphithearer. At a macro-level, the

Era has been a key source, allowing me to reconsrnict pattern genenl ro the circus rnde (e.g.

growrh and geographic concentration). This newspaper also served as an oudet for grievances
among players and managers and thus, aniculates those "voices" (possibly recorded by second

puùes who could write) thar otherwise would be 10%. In rare imances, performers and

managers wrote about their own experierices and drus, biographies, such as Keith's, hdp to £ïU
in many information gaps about Qrcus life (e.g. where arcus people housed while on tour).
 3 15

Since the thesis has focuseci on the way the arcus fined wirhin British soaety, ir hu

been necessary to consult a range of sources produced from outside the circus establishment.

Parliamentary records, for example, have been useci ro m c e the various laws and by-laws that

were created in response to the development of the circus. S p d c a l l y , Parliamentaxy debates,

Seleet Comminee reports, Home Office Records (HO 45) at the Public Records Office, as weu

as reports from Royd Commissions have shed light on the relationship berween the state and

the Qrcus. Since extra- parliamentary pressure groups, such as the NSPCC and the RSPCA,
made their concerns about &nis life known to poliucians, their records have aiso b e n wd.
These indude annual reports, newspapers and minutes of meetings. Agitation for reform ais0

came from writers of waif fiction, such as Amye Reade. Both rhe British Library and the

Bodleian have the waif novels rhat have been used in rhis study. Individuds, such as George

Smith of Coalville, provided another set of reforming views on the arcus and circus life.

Smith's biography, t&ony in front of the Selecr Comminee in 1887 and records from the

'George Srnirh Fund" allow us to piece together the spirited effons of one radical agiwor who

sought ro bring the circus under die aegis of settied society. (I have not exhausred diese sources

and intend to do furrher work on Smith.)

Perhaps the rarea body of sources is that wrirter by audiences who anended the cirrus.

The Munby diaries in Trinity College, Cambridge, for eumple, offer a rare, albeit idiosyncratic,
insighr into one man's recollenions of circus performen. Dickens was another great chronider

of the c i r a s aithough his impressions which appeared not only in his novels but &O in

HoKsehold Worth and Ail tbe Year Round were often highly romuiricized. OccasionaUy,

newspapers ran artides from audience memben who reflmed on some aspect of the show they

witnessed or, in some cases newspaper reviewen noted the reacciom of the audience in a

nunmvy of the performance. Besides audience respoma, it has been possible to trace audiaice

composiuon by investigating accidents in amphithevers where spnxarors were eider mimeci or

killed. Coroner's reports which appeared in newspapers have been a vaiuabIe source of

information, ohen Lisung the names, aga and occupations of the people who d e r d injury or

died. In reporcs which gave only the names and the addresses of the v i c t k , ir has been

necessary to iw the relevant Cenrw of England and Wafcrto trace ages and occupations.

Thus, there are three major groups that appear in rhis midy - the arcus, reformen and
audiences. Each of these groups produced a range of sources which appean in the bibliography

that follows.

1. PRIMARY SOURCES

A. Manuscript, scrapbook and cutcings collections

1. British Libnry (BL)

Asdey's Scrapbooks. T'.Cu. 35-37 (3 vok.)
C i r m Scrapbooks. Th.Cts. 50 (2 vols.)
DramaGc Biography. Th. Cts. 75-76.
Theatrical Notices from Newspapers. Th-Cts. 7-13
Streatfield CoUection. Th.Cts. 14-34.
G.W. Knight Collection. Playbills 48 1
Samuel Eyre's Theatrical Programmes
Wdliam Barclay Squire Collenion, Playbills 34245
Henry's Conjuring Entemainrnenrs, Playbills 361
FilIinham Collection, l889.b. l0/1-8
Lord Chamberlain (Add-Mss.)
Surrey Gardens, Th.Cts. 51-58
Theatres CunLigs from Newspapers, Th-Cu. 68-70
Playbills, Programs and Theatre Cuttinp, Playbills 434-5
Playbills, Pro- and Theatre Cunings, Playbilis 251
London III. Cm-Glyn Collection, Playbills, 352-363
London III. Programs, 1880.b.31
London III. Narionai Canine Defense League, 84tjs, 07295.d.31
London III. Liberty and P r o p e q Defense Lague, 8139a.47(1), 82ï7ee.48
London III. Asdey's, Playbills, 171
London III. Hengler's, PlaYt,ills,432
London LII. London Theatres, PlaybiUs, 433
Leeds. Playbik, l878d.l9(ll)
Leeds. Playbiiis, 321.
2001ogical Gard-, Playbills 323
Manchester. Playbills, 251, 1701.2.
Nottingham. Plagbills, 1888c.18
Place Papes
Kemble Papers
Huskisson Papers
Egenon Mss. (Covent Garden)
John Marsh Mss.
Babbage Mss.

2. Public Records Office (PRO)

Lord Chamberlain (LCl . LC7)

HO 45

3. Guildhall
Noble Collection
GR 331
Playbills E,G,R-Z

4. Theatre Museum, London (TM)

h t h o n y Hippislq Coxe (Blythe House)

Production Files (Covent Garden)
Cornpany Files (Covent Garden)
Circus Files (Covent Garden)
Building Files (Covent Garden)
Mss. Files, 1793-1842 (Covent Garden)
Misc. File (Covent Garden)
Astley's Files (Covent Garden)

5. Circus Friends Association, (CFA)

Scrapbook Coiiection. Liverpool

Scrapbook Collection, Blackburn
6. New York Public Libnry, Lincoln Came (NYPL)

Stead Collection
Ckcus Files

7. Illinois State University, Milner Library (EU)

Poster Collection

8. Bodleian Library, M o r d (BOL)

John Johnson Collection

9. Triniqr College Library, Cambridge VCC)

10. Souchwark Local Snxdies Library (SLS)

Asdey's
Surrey Gardens
Surrey Theatre
Press Currings 79 1.3Ast, 79 1.3Loc
Playbills, Misc.

11. Greater London Record Office (GLRO)

LCC
MBW

12. Minet Library, Lambeth (ML)

Cooke
Asdey
Entertainment License Plans
Vauxhali Gardens
13. Tyne and Wear Archives, N e w d e

Spence Watson
Fenwick Collection
Wood Collection
Finance Cornmittee Min., Newcade
Common Council Min., Newcasde
Town Improvement Committee Min.. Ncwcasde
North ShieIds Common Cound
South Shields Common Council
Gateshead Common Council

14. Birmingham Central Rekrence Libiary (Ba)

Theatre Scrapbook
Mss. 744
Newspaper Cuttinp
Baths and Park Cornmittee Min.

15. Lancashire Record Office, Preston (LRO)

DDCm box 26

16. Manders and Mitchenson Collection (MM)

17. Earl's Court Exhibition Centre (EC)

Bumo Bill Files

Bamum Files

to Animais (RSPCA)
18. Royal Society for the Prevention of C ~ e l t y

Annual Repom
b e r a l Counal Min.

19. National Soaw for the Prevention of Cruelcp to Children (NSPCC)

Annual Reports
20. Liverpool Public Library

Liverpool RSPCA Mins. (1871-1881; 1881-1895)

Watch Comminee
Council P m c e e d h g s
_lus 347

2 1. Richmond Records Office

Vestry Min. Books

22. Croydon Local Studies Library

Mss. on History of Croydon

Local Board of Heaith Min.

23. South Isiington Finsbury Library

Grimaldi
Phelps
Playbiiis
Biography
Misc. Poster Box
Programs
Views

24. Cmtral Refermce Library, Islington

Highbury Barn
Agiculturai Hall

25. Holborn incal Studies Library

MBW Minutes of Proceedings

26. Chelsea L o d Studies Library

S c r a p b k s , 2 vols.
vestry Min.
27. Marylebone Libnry

Ashbridge Collection

28. Victoria Local Smdies Library

Rate Books, 1880.9

L o d History Collection, PrindTheatres

29. Surrey County Record Office

30. Brighton Reference Library

Clippings on the Cirnis

3 1. Chelcenhîm A n Gallery and Museum

B. Printed Sources
1. Newspapers

AbPrystwyth Observer
Aldm 3 IIIustrated Family Misceliany and Oxford MonJlly Record

Arhenaeum
Bef!'s Life in London
Birmingham Daily Mail
Birmingham Daily Post
Binnzngham jou mal
Bary Free Press
Gtrnbrian
Cardiff Times and Sorrrh Waies Weekly Ncms
GrIrSie Examiner
Gnnanhm/ o u m l and General A d v h f o r the Rincipality
C l m of London
Daily ChnicCe
Daily Grapbic
Derby Mercury
Durfington Teiegrapb
Dover C h i c C e and Kent a d Sussex Ad-
Entr 'acte
Era
FieU
Glowworm and Evming N m s
Grapbic
Hampsbim Aduerfiser
Hereford Joutnal
Illustrated M o n Naus
Leeds InteUigencer
Licemed Victuullers' M i m
Liverpool Mafl
Manchester Courier
Morning A d m i s e r
Moming He&
Moming Post
Newport Gazette
Nottingbarn Daily Express
Penny ICfustruted Pctper
Portsmouth and Naval Gazette
Quiver
Sheffiecd Dai& Telegrapb
Sbeffieid a d Rotberbarn Independent
Sketch
South Wu&s Dai& Star
Stage
Sto&ton HeruCd, South Durbam and C h l a n d Advertfser
Sussex qgricuCtural Eapress and County Advetttser
Times
Z'orksbire C h n i d e
Yorksbim Guzette

2. Periodicals

Ali tbe Year Round

A~timalWorCd
Band Of Mercy Almatrac
Ca&donir;r
Cbanzbers'sJoumal
CbiCd's Guurdian
Dog's Bulletin
Drunuatic, Equestrfatl und Musical Agency und Sick Fund Mmanac
ETU AInanac
EngCisb IZIustrated Magazine
Entr'Acte Annuai
Fraser's Magazine
Gymnust
HouseboM Wotds
Leisure H o w
Pall Mufi Gazette
Pearson's M ~ ~ L I z I ~ ~ ~
Puncb
Saturday Review
Showman
Spectator
Windsor Magaz+ne
Variety Artistes' IIIustruted Muguzine

SC on ûramatic Literatufe
SC on Animais
SC on Criminal and Desatute Juveniles
SC on Theatres
SC on Public Houses
SC on Theatres
SC on Theaaical Licenses and Regulations
RC on the Employment of Chiidren, Young P~TSOI~S
and Women in
Agriculture
R e m of Licences Granted Under the Act to Amend the Law
Relating to the Cnielty to Animais
n

RC on the Housing of the Working Classes

RC on the E l e m e n q Education Acts
SC on Ternporriry D w e h g s
SC on Performing Animais
Report and Pmceedings of Standing Cornmittee D on P d r m i n g
Animals
SC on Performing Animais
Report and Proceedings of Standing Committee D on Performuig
Animals

4. Other

1851-91 Census of England and Waks

Victoria and Albert Museum, Playbills and Programmes h m London Theatres, 1801-1900
( o n microfiche) Or&A)
II. SECONDARY MATERIAL

A. Works of Reference

Adams, W . Davenport. Dictionaly of tbe Dr-. vol. 1 A-G, London: cham and Wmdus,
1904.

Banham. Martin. Tbe Cambridge Gtride to tbe ïkatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UMiasiry
Press, 1992.

Boase, Frederick. Modem Englisb Biograpby. London: Fsank C a s and Co.,M.,

1965.
Bumim. A., Philip H. Highfill, Jr., and Edward A ïangham.A B i o g r q b i d Dfaiotlc~ry
of
Actors. Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Press, 1975.

Dictiomry of Amen'can Blograpby. London: Oxford University Press, 1935.

Dictionary of National Biogrupby. Ordiord: Oxfbrd Univasity Press, 192ln.

Enciclopedia Della Speftucoio. Rome: Casa Editice Le Maschere, 1957.

Howard, Diana. London Tbeatres and Music H a k , 1850-1950. 1970.

Pickering, David. Encyclopedia of Pantomime. Hana.:Gaie Rsearch inte~nationd,Ltd.,

1993.

Scholes, Percy A. Oxford Companfon fo Music. Oxfbd: Mord University Press, 19%.

Thespian Dictionary. London: Ivy Lane, 1805.

Toole Stott, Raymond. Cireus and Allied Arts: A WmId Blbliograpby. vols.1- 4. Derby:
Derby and Sons, 1958-1971.

T m l e Stotr, Raymond. Circus and Allied Arts, 15M-1%. Vo1.5 W

1th a fo-d by John
Fisher. Formby: Circus Friends Association, 1992.

s Adtmtms witb tbe TraueUing Showmm

Adams, Charlotte. Tbe S t o h CbtCd: Or, Luura '
and His Fami&. Landon: J.W. Parker, 1838.

hG.S. Jemry a d tbe Sbowmnn; Or,M i d Wbat Motber Suys. London: Tiny Library, 1871.

anon. A Peep at Burtbofoomeu>Fuir Contafningan Itrtmsting Awourrt of t& Amusemetlfs

and Dioisions of tbat Famous Metmpditon Carnfval; etc. Loadon: Macdonald, 1837.
 325
Book. Landon: Routiedge and Sons, 1882.
anon. CbiIdren's C i m u and M e t ~ ~ l g e nf féc t u r ~

anon. n e Little A m b a t a d His Motber. bndon: Religious Tract Society, 1872.

Arthur, T. Tbe Lzfe of BiUy Purvis. Newcastle Upon Tyne: k Everett, 1875.

Asquith, H.H. F z w Yeurs of Parlfrrment. Lmdcm: Cassel1 and Co.,1926.

Astiey, P. Astiey's System of Eqtestrian Education. Dublin:Thomas Burnside, 1802.

-. Modern Riding Mat- or,A Key to tbe KiwwCedp of tbe Home and Horsemansbip.
London: The Author, 1775.

Baüentine, J. [Arckt and Song Writer]. l%e Lffe of David Roberts, RA.. Edinburgh: Adam
and Charles Black, 1866.

Banks, George Linnaeus,ed. BIottditt: His Lffe a d Per/orman~e.ixlndon: Roudedge,

Warne and Routledge, 1862.

Baker, Henry Banon. Ige London Stage: Ifs HZstory and T r d i t i m t s f k m 1576-1888.
London: W.H.AUen and Co., 1889.

Barlee, Euen.Pantomime WuiJs: ûr, A P&a for O n Cily C b i U m . London: S.W. Partridge
and Co., 1884.

Bamum, P.T. Tbe Art of Money Getfing.London/N.Y.: Wad, Lodr and Co., 1883.

-.Bamum's Sbow and C i r a s . London: F. W m e and Co., 1890.

-. Humbugs of fbe World. London:J-C. Hottm, 1866.

-.Struggies a d Trfrrmpbs:Or, Forty Yeurs RewIlections o/P.T. Bmnurn. London:

Sampson Low and Co.,1869.

Bensan, Earl Hill. Phying About: or, Zbeatrid Anecdotes and Advetztms. London, 1840.

Bingley, T.Stories Abouf Horses. London: W . Kent and Co., 1858.

Blaikie, Wüliam. Sound Bodiesfor Our Boys and Girls. Liondon: Sampson Iow and Co.,
1884.

Blau, Henry. Some Notes on tbe Stage and Its Influences on t h EduCOtfm of tbe M ~ u s s ,
Phyers and Playgoers, Etc. London: Society of Science Lettes and Art of bndcm, 1884.

Braddon,M.E.Aurora F b y d . London: Tiiley B m , 1863.

Bray, Caroline. O w Duty to Ani&. London: S.W. Partridge and Co., 1871.
Bruce, John Thackery. The Hutmy of thc Cwporatia o/Bmningbum. Birmingham: Cornish
Brothers, 1885.

Bull, John pseud.]. Hiabvg Amcked. London: M o u n d e , 1858.

Clarke, J. Stirling. ïhe Habit and the Hme: A Tmtise on F d e Equitation. London: Smith, Eider.
and Co.,1857.

Clive, Kiv.Nadu,tlx Circvr Girl. London: Sunday Schooi Union, 1906.

Cody,William. The Ljfe of Bzîfdalo Bill. London: S d o Editions, repr. 1994.

Collins, Wilkie. Hidc and Seek. Oxforck Oxford University Press, repr. 1993.

C o n k h , George. 7he W y s of the C~YCUS~

New YorWLondon: Harper Bros., 1921.
Cooper, Anrhony Ashley [7& Ead of Shaftesbury]. Speeches andAddres~eron Reiigiow Services in
Thentra London: B. Seeley, 1860.
-.Speeches and Addresra Upon Swbects baving Relation... to the Wo~kingCku. London, 1868.
-.Speeches and Addmca- Meeting ar St./ames's Hall. London, 1872.
-.Speeches and Addreres on the Sècond Reading of the Factory Bill. London: Chapmaa and Hail,
1874.

Coultas, Harland. Animais and %Y Young. London: S.W.

Pvvidge and Co., 1874.

-. Our Zoologid hiend. London: S.W. Plnridge and Co., 1876.

Cox, Francis A. L%zt Do You Know About a H o d London: G. Bell and Sons, 1916.

CweIp Exposed and Hamaniry Pleaded. no. 20. London: Royal Society for the Prevenuon of
Cruelty to Animak, 1850.

Darcy Belen J. Eastwood]. Durcy, n e Yormg Acrobat. London: Religious Tract Society, 1884.

Denier, Tony. How tojoin B e C k . New York: A Happy Hours Co., 1877.

Dickens, Charles. Hard limes. Eds. George Ford and sylvère Monod. New York: W.W. Norton
and Co.,1966.

-. Old Curiosiry Shop. Hem.: Wordsworrh, repr. 1995.

poz]. Mernoirs of joseph G d i . Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1838.

Dibden, Charla,the Younger. Memozrs afChnrla Dib& the Younger. Edited by George Speaight.
London: Society for Theatre Reseuch, 1956.
Donaidson, Walter [ComedianJ. RemIGectiorrs of an Ador- hndon, 1865.

EUiston, R o k WiIIiarn (Comedian). A Copy of A A U ' PIlesented to tbe Lord

Cbarnberlaitt @ytbe Cornmittee Munagentent of Z k ~ r i Royal.
e hndon: John Miller, 1818.

Esquirm, Alphonse. 7'be Engïisb ut Home.T m . by Iasceiies W d .London, 1861.

Farrah. Mary. P q g y of îbe C i m a . London: W. and R Chambers, 1914.

Finnemore, J. ne Animals' Cirais: A Book for CbiI(dm. London: Gaie and Poiden, 1915.

Frost. Thomas. Circus L f e and Ci- CèCebritfes.bndon: Tinsley Bros., 1876.

-. The O U Sbotumet2 und fbe O U Lotdm Fain, London: Tinsley Brothers, 1875.
-. Reminiscet~cesof a CountryJoumizïist. London: W d and DoPFtney, 1886.

Furber. Prokssor. ïüe M y ' s Epestrian CbpComp Or, GoCden Kqr to &pftzztim.
London, 1847,

Graf. Ferdinand [of the Orion Gymwium]. Hints to dymttCXFfs: m g Soud Ad& and
Hints to Leaders and Teacbers in dymmzstics and ScbooLs. bndon: Dunn CoUins, 1898.

Grant, James.Tbe Great Metropolis. London: Saunders and Otley, 1837.

Gravelet, Jean Francois (Blondin]. Dean 's Moueab& Booh of Blondin's Astoudfttg
Exploits at tbe Crystal PaCace London: Dean and Sons, 1862.

-. W o n d ~ u l Wode5fuU
( Wotzde7jbI !/: Z k Lue und m t a ~ ~ d i n uCùreer
ry of
Blondin, tbe Ascentionist. London: C . Eiiiott, 1860[?].

Hall. William Clarke. Tbe Law Rehzng to Cbfliirerz. London: Stevens and Sons, 1894.

Hamilton, AH. The Surnmer Guide to tbe Amusements of hndon,- and P r i o v i ~ l

Excursionisr for 1848. London: Kent and Richards 1848.

Hardy, Thomas.Far Fmm Tbe Madditrg Crowd. London: Penguin, repr. 1994.

Harvey, Frederick James.Pbysiazl Exercises rrnd Gjmnusticsfot. Girk and Women.

London: Longmans and Co., 1896.

H .E.W..Jem,tbe Stable Boy. bndon: Partridge and Co.,1880.

Hibkrt, Henry George. F@y Years of o iodotter's Life. London: Grant Richards, M.,
1916.

Hingston, Edward Peron. Tbe Geniaî Sbowman: Befng Reminiscences of the Life of
Artemus Ward lie: Cbar&s FamW Btpwne]. Landon, 1870.
Hodder,Edwin. Ceorge Smfib of Coalviüe: A Story of An Entbzuhst. London: James
Nisbet and Co., 1896.

-.Li/e a d Wonh of tbe M b &ri of Sbuftesbury. London: Cassell and Co., W..
1886.

Hole. Samuel Reynolds [Dean of Rochester]. ibsn ond N w . h d o n : Hucchinson and Co.,
1901.

Home, Rev. Thomas, Tbe Sboumren 's GufU of G r G d Britafn: Z%e S t w of ftsR b a d
Progress. (printed privately, 1951)

-.Digest of A i d y W i n g By-UWS in tbe U X Meeting t h Business of Open Air

Amusement Caterers. @rinuxiprivately, 1899).

Humphrey, R, ed. Tbe Memoirs ofj. Decasm. bndon: S

h-, Jones and Co., 1824.

Jefierson, Caleb. Tbe Life and History of P. I: Bamum, Tbe Watest Living Sboumum.
London: Hansard Publishing Union, M., 1889.

Jefkrson,Joseph [Acror]. Tbe Autobio~apbyofJoscopb J@ersot2. London: T. F. Unwin,

1889.

Jenkiw,John Edward. G i n x ' s Bu&: His Birtb and 0 t h -Mtsf~rtutzes.London, 1870.

Johnson, Henry T. me Pride of tbe King: A Sfory of C i n x a Llfe, Etc. London: Aidine
Publishing Co., 1902.

Keith, Charlie [Clown]. C i r a s Lue and Amusements. Derby: -1ey and b,1879.

Kilmer, A.J. Tbe Circus und Otber Essays. New York: Laurenm J-Cmmme,1916.

Leotard [Gymnast]. Dean's New Moveabk Booa of Leotard,BSIondfn as Ape, BGondfn, E t c

London: Dean and Sons, 1862.

-. Memoires de ieotard. Paris, repr. 1860.

Le Roux. H.and Jules Garnier. A m b a t s and Montebu&. Tram. by M .Morton. London:
Chapman and Hall, 1890.

Uoyd. James.My Circus Li/c. London: Noel Douglas, 1925.

Lysaght, Elizabeth. S & a q Tommy.: Tbe Story of C f mLffs. kmdon: Blackie and Sons,
1891.

Mackie, Charle. Not$ioLk Annu&: A C4wvrwCogid Record of Rgmarkabk E m s fin tbe

Nineteentb thruty. Norwich: Norfdk Chronicle Office, 1901.
 Matthews, Irma. Undm A Circw Tmt. Philaddphiz George W. Jacobs and Co., 1907.

Mayhew, Henry. Ladon Labour a d the London POOT.

Ed. Peter Quemell. London: S p ~ g
Books, repr. 1958.

Mayo. Maugaret. Pofly of tbe Czrcrcs. London: C d and Co., Lrd,1909.

Miller, D.P. The Life of A Showman to whzch ic Addcd MamgeM1 Smggfes. London: L a q Pub.,
1849.

Montague, C.W.Recolfections of un Equesh-ian Manager. London and Edinburgh: W. and R.

Chambers, 1881.

Morely, Henry. The jorrninl of A London Pkygoer. Leicester: Leicester University Press, repr.
1974.

-. M m o i n of 8anholornew Fair. Glasgow: George Roudedge and Sons, 1892.

Mundeila, A.J. Seczdar and Relzgious Educatia. London, 1884.

Noms, S. Phif, the S h m n , or Life in rhe & d m Ring. London: Shurmer Sibrhorp, 1902.

Nowrojee, Jehangeer and Hirjeeboy Merwanjee. j o u m i of A ResidPnce of Two and A Huy Y m

in Great Britazn. London, 1841,

Olney, Oliver. The Novefty Ciras Company. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs and Co., 1907.

Orth, M . Czrm Gzrl (A Novef). London: Sampson Low and Co.,1935.

Paterson. Peter &mes Glas Benram]. Behznd rhe Scenes: Confissions of a S d i n g Pkzyer.
Edinburgh: D.Mathers, 1859.
-. Glimpses of Real Life. Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo, 1864.
Planche, James Robinson. The Recoliections und Refectim of J R. Plache. London, 1872.

Rarey, J.S. 7he Modent A n of Taming Horses. London: Routledge and Co., 1858.

Reade, Amye. Ruby: A Novef Founded on t k Life of A C i r m Gzrl. London: Author's Co-
operauve Pubbshing Co., Ltd., 1889.

-. Siuves of the Ewdust. London: F.V.Whire and Co., 1892.

Report of the Proceedingr of the Acror's Bpnevolmr F ~ d 18984909.

j London, 1898.

Rogers, T.W. A R d Depumion;or The A n z d s ' V i i t to King Reasonwell tu Rockzzm t k i r

Wrongs. Brighton: G. Beal, 1888.
Sanger, George- Setrenty Yems A Sboumian. London: JM.
Dent and Sons, repr. 1926.

Sales, J. Sc11Ces ' Vocal H a m m i s t For 1803 Being A Co&ctfmof New Sbngs. London: J.
Scales, 1809,

Harlock] .Horses and Hounds-bndon, 1858.

Scnicitor, Pseud [KW.

Smith, Albert Gurvini in London. London: David Borgue, 1849.

-. NuturalHfstoty of fbe Salk Girl. London: D. Bo* 1847.

Smith. Elmer Boyd. T?w C i r a s and AU*& lt. New York: Friederick A Stokes, 1909.

Smith, George [of Cdville].I've Been A G i p y s i n ~

Or, Ramb&s m n g Our Cipsies and
Tbeir C b i l r i q E t c London: T. Fischer Unwin, 1883-

-. George Smftb of CoaiviIle: A Cbapter in P M l m z h p y . London: Haughton and Co.,

3881.

-. George Smitb of CôduiiI;e and HLs Wonh F m Cbicdmz: A Letter Signed by G.Smith
Rugby, 1893.

-. Gipsy Life Seing An Acwunf of Clpsies and tbefr C b i c d m . London: Haughton and
Co-.1880.

Spencer, Charles. Modem Gymnastics. London: Frederick Ware and Co., 1866.

Springfield, Rollo. me Horse and His Rider. London, 1847.

Stratton, Fsances. IVan, tbe Circw Girl. London: JohnF. Shaw and Co.,1898.

Strenon, Hesba [Sara Smith]. An A ~ r ~ b u tGirI;bood.

's London: Society Cor the Promoting
Christian Knowledge, 1889.

Stud-Groom p.Proctor]. ne Managenent a d Treatmetzf of ï%e Horse in tbe S t a b k ,

Field and O n tbe Road. Norwich: London Literary Society, 1882.

Stun, Joseph.Sports und Pastimes of tbe Peopde of EttgCand. London: J. White, 1801.

Taylor, Lucy. Tbe Circus at Sa* Hollow. London: Reiigious Tract Society, 1896.

-. n e Cbicdretz's Cbampion and tbe Vicmies He W m .bndon: T. Nelson and Son,

1889.

Van Hare, G.Fi& Years of A Sboumran's Lfe, or tbe Life mid TfawLrof Van tirne.
tondon: W.H.Men, 1888.
Waiietc, W.F. Tbe Public Life of WJ.W m ,tbe Queen's Jester-Editeû by J. Luntley-
London, 1870.

Walton, O.F. A Peek Bebind tbe Scenes. London: Reiigious Tract Society, 1877.

Walsh, John Henry. me Home in tbe Stable and tbe Field. London, 1862.

Waugh, B. Benjamin Waugb:Founder of t h NSPCC and Ramer of t h CbiC;dret~'s

Cbarter.
London: C.W. Daniel and Co.,1939.

CmpGete and O d y Autbentic Stmy of O U W u ' s . E d M by

Wild. Samuel. Tbe Otr'grgrnaI;
Trim lie: William Broadley Megson]. London: G. Vicker~,1888.

Wfiam, Rev. joh. Notes and Narratives of 2Idr-t~YearsMfssfonary and MinistetLal

iahurs in England and Wales. London: Machpelleth, 1885.

C. Modem

Ackroyd. Peter. Dressing Up: Tiansuestism und tbe Wistoiy of an Obsession.

London:Jarrod and Sons, Ltd.,1979.

Altick. Richard. Sbows of London. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.

Anderson, Benedict. 1magzgzmd Cornmunities: Refledionr on tbe Otigffzs and S p a d of

Natiorzalisnz. London: Verso, 1983.

M e s , Phillippe. Cenfuties of CbiIdbood: A Social Hfstory of Farnily Life. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, repr. 1970.

Armstrong, Gülian. "Elemenary Education in the Nineteenth Centwy.. fïistmkd

Association Pamphlets 76 (1971).

Armytage, W.H.G.AJ Mude&, 1825-1877: Tbe Liberal Badqpund to tbe hbour

Mouement. bndon, 195 1.

Aston Hall: A General Guzde. Birmingham: Studio Press, 1987.

Baer, Marc. Tbeatre and Disorder in Late Georgfan hdm.Oxford: C h d o n Press,

1992.

Bailey, P. " M y Sloper's Half Holiday: Comic Art in the 1880s."Wfstoty W h h pJournal
16 (Autumn 1983): 4-31.
-. "'A P e r f d y Legitirnate Mass of Perfectly Legitimatte Pleasures': The Victorian Middle
Class and the Problem of Leisure." Victorian Studies 21.1 (Autumn 1977): 7-28.
-. "ChampaignChariie: P&rmance and Ideology in the Music Hzll Sweii Song." In
Mtrsic Ha& Psfonnance and Styk, cd. J.S.Branon. Milton Keynes: Open University Prcps,
1986.

-. "Conspiraciesof Meaning: Mwic Hall and the ffiowingness of Popular Culture."Part

and Pmsent 144 (August 1994): 138170.

-. Leisute and C k s in Victcm'an E n g h d : M o n a l Recmation und tbe Contest fw

Contrai, 1830-1885-London: Routledge and ïkgm Paul, 1978.
-. "Leisure, Cuituie and the Historian: Reviewing the First Generation of Mure
Historiography on Britain."Ieikure Studtes 8 (1989) : 107-127.

-, ed. M d c Hallt me Business of PCeasurie. Milton Keynes: O p n Univasity Press,

1986.

-. "Parasexuaiity and Glamour: The Victorian Barmaid as Culturai Prototype."Gender

and H i s f q 2-2 (Summer 1990): 148-72.

-. wll the Real BU Banks Please Stand UpTTowards a Role Analysis of Mid-Victorian
Working Class Respectability."JourtulI of So&d Histoty 12.3 (1979): 33653.

Baker, Michel. î%e Rise of tbe Victorian Actm- London: Croom Helm, 1987.

Bakhtin, M . Rabelais and His W H .Trans. by H e h e IswoIsky. Bloomingmn: indiana

University Press, 1984.

Barrow, Lngie. Indepettdent Spirits: SpirJtdism and Engfisb Pkbeiclns, 1850-1910.

London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986.

Barthes, Roland.Mythologies. Trans. Jonathan Cape. bndon: Vintage, 1993.

Baudrillard, Jean. "Fetishismand Ideology: The Semiological Reduction." In For A Crfttque

of the Polifical Emnomy of Sign. St. Louis: Telos Press, 1981.

Behlmer, George K Cbild Abuse and Moral R e f m in Enghnd, 28704$W8.SGuiford:

Stanford University Press, 1982.

-. "TheGypsy Problem in Victorian England."VfctOricxtt Studies 28.2 (Wimter 1995):

231-253-

Beik, W.H. "Searchingfor Popular Culture in Eariy Modern France."Journal of Moden

History 49 (h5arch 1977): 266-281.

Bennett, T., Coiin Mercer, and Jana Wooiacott, eds. PopuCar CuCrure curd Socfal
Relations. Müton Keynes: Oxford University Prcrs, 1986.

Bennett, Susan. neatm Audiences: A l?mry of M u d i o n and Receptfott. Lcmdon:

Routledge, 1990.
 Best, G . Mid-Victmdun Britafn, 1851-75.Lundon: Fontana, 1979.

Billington, Sandra,A S O MHistory of t& Fml.New York: Harvester Press, 1984.

Bindman, D.Hogartb. New YorkiLondon: Thames and Hudson, 1981.

Bland, Lucy. Basisbing tbe Be&: Engiisb Faminfmr and SsnrPI M o ~ a l i f y 18851914.
,
inndon: Penguin, 1995.

Booth, M . R Englisb Melodrama. Landon, Jenkins, 1965.

-. a e a t e in tbe Vict&n N e . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

-. VictOtjCln Spectacuhr neatm. London: Routiedge and Kegan faul,1981.

Bourdieu, P. Distinction: A A d C t f t w of tbeJdgement of Tarte. London: Routledge

and Kegan P a d , repr. 1994.

B o u i s s ~ P. . Circm and Culture: A Semiotic Appvacb. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press, 1976.

- . "Semiotio and Specgcles: The Circus Institution and Ekpresentations.' Tba

Pe@&ort of S i p . T m . b y Thomas h Sebeok. Bloorningron: Indiana University Press,
1977.

Bradby, D., L.James and B. S h d t , eds. Piafbmullce and Politics in Popuhr Droma
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Branon, J.S., ed.Ads of Supremucy: B e Btit fsb Empire and Stage, 1790- 1930.
Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991.

-. me Impact cf Victorian C b f C d m's Fiction. London: Croorn Heim, 1981.

-.Music Hu& Per/ormance and Slyle. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1986.

Briggs. Asa Tbe Age of Irnpmvenrmt, 1783-1867.Harlow: Lmgman Group, M.,

repr.
1979.

-. Victorian Ciries. London: Penguin, repr. 1968.

Brooks, Peter. Tbe Melodramcrtic ImginuZfott: BaLzac, HentyJames, Medodrama tami tbe
Mode of Excess. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976.

Burke, Peter. Histoly and Social Z%esry.Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992.

-. Popuhr Culture in EarS, Modern E m p . h d o n : Temple Smith, 1978.

-. "Viewpoint:The Invention of L e i s e in Early Modem Europe." Part rrndPm~nt146

( F e b m q 1995):136150.
Bum, WWLAn Age of E q u t p i s e . Lnndon: Unwin Books, Ltd., 1964.

Canetti, Eiias. Cmwds and P o w . London: Penguin, repr. 1992.

Carmadine, David. "TheContext, Performance, and Meaning of Rituai: The British

Monarchy and the Invention of Tradition,c. 1820-1977. Tbo Ikmmtim of Tradition, eds.
Eric Hobsbawm and Teratce Ranger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Chartier. Roger. Cuitwal Wistoly: Bettclieerz Radiees und R e p ~ e t t t a t i o n sTrans.

. by Lydia
G . Cochraine. London: Polity Press, 1988.

Chernaik, Warren L. "PLaywrightsand Audiences."LondonJourttclI 7.1 (1981) : 81-86.

Cheshire, D.F., U. Schneider and L. Senelick. Br- Muîic HaCI; I 8 4 e 1923:A

Bibliograpby a d Guide t o Sources. Hamden, Ct: Archon Books, 1981.

Colley, Linda. "Britishnessand Othemess: An Atgument."Joirnial of BrMisb SIvdfes 31

(October 1992): 309-329.

-. Briions: Forging ïi5e Nation, 1 7074837. New Haven: Yale University P r e s , 1992.

-. "Wh- Nation?:Class and National Consciousness in Britain, 1750- 1830."Past and

Pwsent 113 (November 1986): 97-117.

Cordery, Simon. "FriendlySocieties and the Discourse of Respectability in Brioin, 1825-

1875."JOUMCZC of Britisb Studies 34 (January 1995): 35- 58.

Coxe, AH. A Seat at tbe Circus. London: Evans Br-. 1951.

-. "Historical Research and the Circus." Tbeate Notebook 21 (October 1966): 40-42.

-. "-t-Known Circusa of London."Tbeatre Notebook 13 (Spring 1959) : 89-100.

Crossick, Geofhy. An Artisan Eiite in Victorian Socrety: Kèntisb M o n , 184û-1880.

London: Croom Helm, 1978.

-. "The Labour Aristouacy and 1 6 Values: A Study of Mid-Wctorian Kcntish London."

Victoriun Studies 19.3 (March 1976): 301-328.

Cunningham. H. CbiCdrm and Cbfcdboodin Western Society Slnce 1500. hndon:

Longman Group, Ltd., 19%.

-. Cbiùàren of tbe Poor: Represetttations of CbiMbmd Since t h Smmteentb Çentuty.

Oxford: Bkckwell, 1991.
-- "Employmentand Unemployment of Children in England, 1680-1857."Past nnd
*sent 126 (February 1990): 115-150.
-. "Leisureand Culture." in X6e Cambridge SbcW History of Brftufn, ed. F.M.I..
Thompson. v01.2 "Peopleand their EnvironmentS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1990.

Daunton, MJ. "Housing." In Cambrjdge SocfaC Hisfoly of BMzzfn, ed. F M L Thompson.

vo1.2, "Peopleand their Environrnemts." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

-. "Poor Relief and CharitynIn Progriess and Poverty: An Ecrmomic and SodPIHLstory
of Btitain, 1700-1850,ed. M.J. Daunton. Oxîbrd: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Davidoff. Leonore. "Genderand ClasJ in Victorian England: the Diaries of Arthur J. Mimby
and Hannah Cullwick." F m i n i s t Shcdies 5 (Spring 1979): 87-141.

Davin, Anna. Growing Up P m : Home,ScbooZ and Stmet in M o n , 1870-1914. -don:

Rivets Oram Press, 1996.

Davis, Naralie Zemon. Society and Culture in Early Modetrt Erance. SranfDrd: StanfOrd
University Press, repr. 198%

Davis, Tracy C.Actresses as WOrking Women: ?kirSomkd Idenfity in VfctO1JCIn CuCture.

London: Roudedge and Kegan Paul, 1991.

-. "The Employment of Chiidren in Victorian Theatre: Training, Exploimtion and the

Movement of Refosm."New Xbeatte Qwzrter!y 2.6 (May 1996): 117-35.

-. "Laborersof the Nineteenth Century Theatm the Economies of -der and

Industrial Organization."J o u W of M i s b Studfes 33.1 muay 1994): 32-53.
r

-. "Sac in Public Places: The Zaeo Aquarium Scanda1 and the Victorian Mord Majority."
Theatre History Studies, X (1990): 1-14.

-. 'Victorian Charity and Self-Help For Women Perfonners." Zkatm Notebook 41

(1987): 1 l é l Z 8 .

Debord, G. Soaety of Spctucfe. Detroit: Black and Red, 1977.

Dicq: A.V. Xectures on tbe Relation B e t m Law and Public Opinion in Englnnd During
the Nineteentb Centuty. London: Maanibn and Co.,1917.

Disher, M. WLUson. Tbe Gmutest Sbow on Eartb. London: G.Beli and Sons, 1937.

Donajgrodzki, &P. Social Contml fn Nineteentb Cenhrry Btituin. Totowa, N.J.: Rmvman
and Litdefield, 1977.
Donohue,Joseph."Buriettaand the Eariy Nineteenth Centllf~Englirh Theatre."Nftteteerztb
Century Z b e m Reseurcb 1.1 ( S p ~ 1973):
g 29-51.

-. -TheEmpire Theatre of Varieîies Licensing Contr~versyof 1894."Nfrzeteentb W u r y

neutre Researcb 15.1 (Summer 1987): 50.60.

Dyos, H.J. and M. WoE, eds. Tbe VictOrfCULCity. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1973.

of British Studfes 34 (Juiy

Epstein, James. Yictorian Subjects: InCfOduction."Jo~t~~~lC
1995): 295-299.

Fairclough, Oliver. me Grand O U Mansion: ï h Hokes and tbefrSuccessors at Rstm

HUCI. 1618-1864-1984.

Feldman, David and Gareth Stedman Jones,eds. MetmpoIlLF Condom Hfstorfes and
Representations Since 1800. bndon: Routledge, 1989.

Findlater, R jw GnmCiii: His Life and TBeatre, Cmbndge: Cambridge University Press,
repr. 1978.

Fiske, John.Understanding Popukr Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1985.

Flaherty, Peter. "Reading Carnival: Towards a Semiotics of History." Clio 15.4 (1986):411-
428.

Foucault, M. DiscfpIirze and Punis&: tbe Bitzb of tbe Prfson. London: Penguin, repr, 1991.

Foulkes, Richard, ed. Scenes /mm Ptovindal Stages. London: Society for Th- Researdi,
1994.

French, Richard. Ni-Vivisection and Medicuf Science. Princecon: Princeton University

Press, 1975.

Fried. A. and Ridiard Elman, eds. Cbmles h t b ' s W m .London: Penguin, repr. 1971.

Ganzel, Dewey. "PatentWrongs and Patent T h e a m : Drama and the Law in the Early
Nineteenth Catury."PMLA 76.4 (September 1961): 3û4-396.

Gardner, Viv and Susan Ruthedord,eds. me New Womatz and Her Sfsters: Feminhztion
and tbe ïBeatre, 1850-1914.London: Hanrester Press, 1992-

Gay, Peter. Tbe Cuftivution of Hatmd: ?Be Bourgeois F.jrperiettcejbn VfctOtfCIto m.

London: HarperCoiîins, 1994.

Geem, C W r d . Tbe Interpmtation of Culturies. ibndon: Fontana Press, repr. 1993.

-. Local Knozukdge: Furtber Essays in Itrterpretative A ~ h p ~ l o gNew

v . York: Basic,
1983.
Gillis, John.Youtb and History: Tradition a d Cbange in Eurrpeutt Age ReCatr01ts. New
York: Academic Press, 1981.

Girouard. Mark Tbe R e m fo Cameibt: Cbiualry and tbe EngIisb Gentlenran. New Hayen:
Yale University F'fess, 1981.

Golby, J.M. and hW.Purdue. Tbe CiufItbtifonof tbe Crotud90puka Ctlltmv in Englattd,
1750-1900.hndon: BatsfOrd Academic and Educitionai, 1984.

Gorham, Deborah. "The'Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon' kexamined: Child

Prostitution and the Idea of Childhood in h t e Victorian England."VictOrfClrtStudies 21.3
(S pring 1978): 353-379.

Grice, E k a k t h . Rogues and Vagabonds: or, Tbe Ador's Road to Respectabih'y.

Lavenham, Suffolk: Terence Dalton Ltd.,1977.

Grwsberg, L,Cary Nelson, Pameia b Treichier. Cultural Studiss. London: Routledge,

1992.

Habermas, jurgen.The Public Sphere: An Encydopedia Artide."NBW German Critique 3

(Fall 1974): 49-55.

Halminen, Karen. "Humanitariankmand the Pomography of Pain in A n g b American

Culture."Amenun Historid Review 100.2 (April 1995): 303- 334.

Hansen, Peter H."Albert Smith, the Alpine Club and the Invention of M o u n a i n e e ~ gin
Mid-Victorian Britain."Jounzal of Briflcb S f d i e s 34 (July 19%): 300-324.

Harris, Jose.Muate Lives, Public Spirit: Britafn, I87û-2724.London: Penguin, 1993.

Harrison, Brian. "Animalsand the State in Nineteenth Cenniry England.' Engkrb Hfstoricd
R m ' e w (October 1973): 786-820.

-.D n d and tbe Victonatrs; me Temperance Questfmin EttgCand, 118154872.

Pittsburg: University of Pitsburg, 1971.

-. and Barrie Trinder. Dn'& and So6n'ety in an Early VictOrfOtz Country T o m

Bunbuty, 1830-1860.London: Longmans, 1969.

-. "Religionand Recrtation in Nineteenth Century England. Pact and -sent 37 (Jdy

1967): 98-125.

Harrop, J. Vieidan Porlabk Zbeatres. London: Society for Theatre Rsearch, 1989.

Harrow, Susan. "From Symboüsm to ModemiSm: Appollinaire's Harlequin- Aaobat." In

Stuclies in tbe Commedia Dell*Me,eds. David J. George and CMstopher J. Gossip.
Cardiff: Cardiff University Press, 1993.
Henderson, Robert. "JS. Rarey: the Grcat American Horsetamer." BooLmsn's WoIkhy (New
York: NYPL, 1943): 203-38.

Hüey. Michael. Victoriun Wonéfng Womsn-Porfraftsfnmr Lifa. London: Gordon Fraser,

1979.

Holmes, Ciive. The German Gypry Quarion in Britain, 1904-1906."In Hoas, Immigruttts
and Minorities: HistoricaI Responses to
-N im Brfttsb Society,1870-1914, ed.
Kenneth Lunn. hndon: W illi
am Davidson and Sons,M., 1980.

Howell, M. and Peter Ford. ïk Trice Histoly of tbe ECepbruzt M m .London: Penguin, repr.
1992.

Hudson, Derek. Mutzby: Man of T m Wnlds.London: W

rll
iam Ciowes and Sons, Ltd.,
1972.

Hunt, Hu&, Kenneth Richards and John Russell Tayior. Z%eRet/eîk Wistory of Drcrma in
EngCisb. Voit VII: 1800- the present. London: Methuen, 1978.

Hunt, Lynn, ed. lVew Cultural History. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989.

Johnson, J. me Zord C b a m k l a i n 's Blue Pettcfl. Iiondon: Hodder and Stroughton, 1990.
Jones, Robert W. "'The Sight of Creatures Strange to o u r C h e ' : London Zoo and the
Consumption of the Exotic."]ournal of VictOrfCln Culturie 2.1 (1997): 1-26.

Tbe Stoly of W X Stead. Chichester: Gooday, 1988.

Jones, V.P. Saint or Sens~~tionafLst?:

Joyce. Patrick. Visions of tbe Peopk Industrial Enghnd und tbe Queshshon
of C h ,Iû4û-
1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, repr. 1994.

Kean, Hilda. "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminirt and Sodalist Rcsponse to
Vivisection."History WorksbopJ o u d 40 (19%) : 1638.

Lea, Charles. "Cireuses in Sussex 100 Years &o." Sussex CounfY MagCUIne 10:734736.

Levine, Lawrence. Higb Bnowbw Bmw: Tbe Emergence of Cultural U f m r c l yin A m e r f a

Cambridge, M a s : H i ~ ~ y a sUniversity
d Press, 1988.

Liesenkld, Vincent J. Tbe Lice)zsIng Act of 1737.Madison: University of Wisconsin Piess,

1984.

Loeb, Lori k Consrmring Ange&: Advertfsing and Victodhn Womsn.New York: Oxfiorci
University Press, 1994.
MacDonagh, O. A P a t t m of -
o
G M b , 1800-60: Tbe P a s m g e r Acts and Z?&r
Enforcement. Undon: MacGibbcm and Kee, 1961.

Mackenzie, J., ed. I m p i a f i s m and P

o
* C&m. Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1986.

-. Propugunda and Empire: th M a n f p u l 4 t f m of BrifisbPublic Opinion,188û-1960.

Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984.

Malcolmson, RWPopuhr R e m a i o n in Englfsb Society, l7ûO-lBSO. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1973.

Mandler, Peter. "Cain and Abel: Two ArhtOQats and the Earfy Wctorian Factory Am."
Histo~cdJoumal27.1( 1984): 83-109.

Manning-Sanders, Ruth. Tbe Engifsb Ci-. London, 1952.

Marcus, Staten. me Otber VictOfiarnA Study of SemraCfty and Pomograply in Mfd-

Nineteentb Century EngCand. London: Weidenféid and Nicolson, 1966.

Martin, Jonathan D. "The Grandest and Most Cosmopolitan Object Teacher: BufEtio Bill's
Wild West and The Politics of American Identity,1883- 1899."Radical Wtstoty Reviau 66
( F d l 1996): 92-123.

Mason, Michael. Tbe Making of Victorian Sexuui A#ftudes. -rd: -rd University
Press, 1994.

-. The Mcrking of Victonan Se7nraIfty. -rd: -rd University Press, 1994.

Mason, Tony. Associarion Football and Enghb Society, 18631915. Brighton: Harvester
Press, 1981.

M a s , Arthur W . Valiant Crusude: A Wtstory of tbe R5".London, 1961-

Mayall, David. Gypsy Trauelks in Nineteentb Ckttury Society. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1988.

Mayer, David. Harkquin in His Element. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1969.

Meisel, Martin. Realizations: Narratitre, Pictortal and ZBeatrfd Arkc fn Nftteteetttb

Century EngCand. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Miller, Jonathan."Mesmerism."2üe Ltstener 90 (November 1973): 687-9.

Miller, M.B. ibe Ba Murçbe: Bourgeois Culture a d tbe Department S m , 186~1920.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.

Moore-Colyer, RJ. "Gentlemen,Horses and tbe Turf in Nineteenth Century Wales." WeLsb
Histoly Reviau 16 (1992): 47-62.

Morris, RJ. "Samuel Srniles and the Genesis of Self-Help: the RePcat to A Petit Bourgeois
Utopia." Tbe H M d J o d 24.1 (1981):89-109.

Mulvey, Laura. Y'iuai Pleasures and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 (hnimn 1975): 6-18.

Nardinelii, C. Cbild b b o r and tbe InduStrjclC Rkwoiutim. Bloornington: Indiana Univiersity

Press, 1990.

Nicholson, Watson. Tbe Struggfk for a F m S&age in Lm&#. New York: Benjamin Blom,
repr. 1966.

Nicoll, Allardyce. A Hisrory of tbe Engiisb Dmmq 166&-1900.Rev. edn. 6 vois. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1%2-59.

-. Tbe Dewlopmettt of tbe Tbeatm. London, repr.1948.

O'Brien, P. and R Quinault, eds. Tbe Ittdusttial R e w i u t f o n and BriHsb Society.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 193.

Parry, J. Rise and Fail of Liberal Govennnent in EngCand. New Haven: Yale Univessïty
Press, 1993-

Parssinen, Terry M. "Mesmenc Performers."VfctOffCZnStudfes 2 1 (Aummn 1977): 87-104.

Pelling, H. A HLrtory of Brilisb Tr& Unionfsm. London: MacMillan P r e s Ltd., repr. 1992.

Perkin, Harold. The Rise of P m f e s s f d Sbdefy: England Sfnce f8ûû.New York:

Routledge, 1989.

Pinchbeck, ivy and Margaret Hewia. CbfIdretz f n Englfsb Socrety. vol. 2. Ixnidon:
RoutIedge and Kegan Paul, 1969-73.

Plumb, J.H., N d McKendnck and JohnBrewes. Tbe Sirtb of A Chsumer SocieZy: Tïbe
ComrnerciaC~tionof Eigbteentb-Cèn&uryEnghnd. B l w m i n g t o n : indiana University
Press, 1985.

Porter, Roy. London: A Sodaf History. Cambridge: Hamard University P m , 1994.

Pmthero, Iowerth. Artisans and Politics in Nineteettfb C'entury W m .Lrnidon:

Methuen, 1981.

Rees, Terence and David Whore. Brftkrb %?utrial Patents, 1801-1900.h d o n : Society
for Theatre Reszuch, 1996.
Reid. Douglas. "The Dedine of Sr Monday."Pact and h 71 (May 1976): 76-101.
~ e n f

Richards, Kenneth and Peter Thomson.NftLef-b Cenfury Brftisb I'katre.London:

Methuen and Co.,Ltd., 1971-

Richards, Thomas. Tbe C o m d i t y of Culture in ViÇCOrlGUt Enghnd: AdwrtMng and

S~ectac&~ 1852--14. SmnfOrd: Seanford University Press, 1990.

Rityo, Harriet. Tbe Animal Estute: ZBe EngIisb and Otber Ciwazzaes in tbe V f c t m n e.
London: Penguin, 1987.

Rose, Lionel. Tbe Erosion of Cbildbood: C M Oppssion in Britufn, lede 1928. London:
Routledge and Kegan Paui, 1991.

Rowell. George. ïbe Victonan l%e&mp 17924914:A Survey. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, repr. 1978.

Said, E. CuZture und IrnmaCism. London: Cham and Wmdus, M.,

1993.
-. Orientalism. New York: Penguin, repr. 1991.
Samuel, R, ed. People's History and Socfalist Tbsory. Lmdcm: Roudedge and &gan Paul,
1981.

-- Putriotism: n e Making and Clnmaking of Brftfsb NaffmuIIdentity. 3 vois. London:

Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1989.

-. 188&19.5.London: Routledge
Edwin MacCoil, Sruart Cosgrove. Xbeutres of tbe L@,
and Kegan Paul, 1985.

Saxon, AH. Enter Foot and Horse. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968.

-- P.7: Barnum: Tbe -end and fbe Man. New York:Columbia University Press, 1989.
-. "Shakespeareand Cireuses." ZBeutre S w u q , 7 (Novanber 1966):59- 79.
-. n e Life and Art of A n d m Dwrow und tbs RommUic Age of tbe Engifsb Cirrus.
Hamden, Corn.: Archon Books, 1978.

-. "TheTyranny of Chasity: Andsew Ducrow in the Provinces." Nitzeteentb Cènt~antiny

neatre Researcb 1.2 (Autumn, 1973): 95-105.

Scfilike, Paul. Dickens and PopuCar Entertaznrnent. London: AUen and Unwin, 1985.

Schneider, William. "Raceand Empire: The Rise of Popular Ethnography in the Iatt
Nineteenth Century."j o u ~ ofi Popukrr Cultzm 11 (Summer 1977): 98109.

Senelick, L. "Poiitioas Entertainment, V i c t o r i a Music Hall Songr."V i c t m Studies 19

(December 1975): 149-80.
-. "PopularEntertainment and Reamt Scholarship."Nineteentb Csntury Tbeatrie
Reseurcb 15-2 (Winter 1987): 141-155.

Sennett, Richiud. FalC of tbe Arbfic Man. Cambridge: Gmhridge University P m , 1973.

Speaight, George.A Histoty of the Cirnrs. London: Tantivy, 1980.

Springhall, John.Youtb, Empire, and Society: BrftZsb Youtb Mouementss, 1883-1940.

London: Croom Helm, 1977.

-. Coming of Age- Adokscence in Britufn, 186M890. D u b h : Giii and MacMüiian, Ltd.,

1986.

Stallybrass,Peter and Mon White. "Bourgeois Hysteria and the Carnivalesque."In ïBe
Cultural Studies Reuder, ed. Simon During. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1993.

-. London: Methuen, 1986.

The PoCftiçs and Poetics of Traizs~ssion.

Starsmore,ian. Englisb Fairs. London: Tharnes/Hudson, 1975.

Stedman Jones,Gareth. "Class Expression Versus Socid Conaol? A Critique of Recent

Trends in the Social History of 'leisure'." History W d h pJorrrnnl4 (Autumn 1977):
162-170.

-. hngrages of Clac: Sfudies in Englisb Woddng C k Htstoryt 1832-1982.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, repr. 1993.

-. Outcast London: A S t d y in tbe Rehtioncbfp Bettueien C h s e s in VictOtlun %cfelry.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Steedman, Carolyn. Strange DisIocc~tio?zs:CbiIdbood a d tbe I&a of H u m ~ n

Intetiotfty,
1 780-1930.London : Virago Press, 1995.

Stephens. J.R î%r Cmsorsbip of Errglsb Druma, 18241901. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1980.

-. me Aofessslon of tbe Phywrrfbf,BHtisb -utne, 18000-1900.rambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1992.

Storch, R, ed. Popular Culture and CUSfom in Ni&eetttb Canhr>y E n g W . LcmLon:

Croom Helm, 1982.

Strauss, G d d . "Viewpoint:The Dilemma of Popuiar History*'Pust rrnd PteSettt 132

(August 1991): 130-149.
Tayfor, Miles. "JohnBuii and the Iconography of Public Opinion in England."Part and
Present 134 (1991): 93-128-

Tester, Keith. A n i d and Sodety: t&eHumanfty of hinial Rlgbts. New York: Routiedgg
1991.

Thomas,kith. Man a d tbe Naturd W O TCbanging

~ Att#u&s fn E ~ g C a d2 5 ~ 1 8 0 0 .
London: Penguin, repr. 1984.

-. W o r k and Leisure in Pre-Industriai Society."Past and Pries& 2 (Deamhr 1964):

50-66.

Thompson, E.P. Custollzs in Cornmon. bndon: Penguin Books, repr. 1993.

-. Tbe M d n g of tbe EngZïsb W d n g C h . Ixnidon: Penguin, repr. 1980.

Thompson, F.M.L. "NineteenthCentury Horse Sense." Eoonomic Wfstory Ratfew (1976):

60-79.
-. "Social Conml in Victorian Society." Etlglisb H i s t O r f d R e v f e w 34.2 (May 1981):
189-208.

-. n e Rise of Respectable Society: A Socid History of Vict-n Britain, 1830-2900.

London: Fontana, 1988.

Troughbndge, T . St. Viicent. Tbe Benefit System in tbe Brfttsb %atm. London: Society
h r Theatre Research, 1967.

Turner, James. Redmnzttg wifb tbe Beast: Ani&, Pain and Hurnanity in tbe VidOrfCln
Mind, London: Johns Hopkins Press, 1980.

Turner, John. Htstorfcal Wengièr's C f m .Vols. 1-4. Formby: Lingdalts Press, 1989-90.

-. "Ryan's Royal Circus Visies Victorian Cheitenham."GhucestersbfrreHtstory. 1991.

Turner, Victor. Drama, Fie&, and M e t a p h : S m I f c Action in Human Sodety. Ithica:

Comell University Press, 1974.

-.Fmm Ritual to Zkare. New York:Performing Arts J o d , 1982.

Walkowin, J. City of DredfUC DeCfgbt: Narratives of &xwd Danger in Late-Victwian
London. bndon: Virago Press, 1992.

-.P t ~ ~ t u t i and
o n VictOtiCUZ Society. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Waiier, PJ. Town, City and N a t f m EngCanri, 1850-1914. Oxford: Clarendon Press, repr.
1991.
Watton, John K. and James Walvin, eds. Leiswe in Brftaffn, 17804939. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1983.

Walnn, James.Leicure and Society, 283û-l950. Irmdon: Lnngman, 1978.

-. Tbe People's Came: A 5bdd HZstory of Brirtsb Football. Lnndon: Men lane, 1975.

-. Victorian Values.SufhIk: Sphere Books,M.,

1987.

Waters, Hazei. "'That hstonishing Clever Chiid': Performus and PTOdigics in the Eariy and
Mid-Victorian Theatre."%atm Note&& 50.2 (1996): 78-94.

Weber, Eugen. "Gymnastio and Sports in Fin-deSide France: Opium of the Ciases?."
Amenencan Revtéw 76.3 uune 1971): 70-98.
Hist0tzOtZ~l

Weinbren, Dan. "Against AU Cruelry: The Humanitarian League, 1891-1919."Hfstory

Won&sbopJoumal38 (1994): 86105.

Weiner, MJ. Ettgltsb Culture and tbe Deciine of t h IndustrfaJ S p i r t , 285@1980.New

York: Cambridge University Press,1982.

West, Mark "A Spginum of Spectators: Circus Audiences in Nineteenth Century Arnerica."
Journal of Social History 15.2 (Winter 1981): 265-269.

Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society, 1780-1950. London: Penguin, repr. 1961.

~ r a yvampiew.
, ne TU^ A Social and Ewrwmic Utstoly of ~mserQCft~g-
London: Men
Lane, 1976.

Yeo, S. and E. Yeo. PopuCar Culturie and C . s Confrfct, 15p-1924. Brighton: H a m s e r

Press, 1981.

Bold, Christine. "Seliingthe Wdd West: Popular Wesîem Fiction, 1860. 1960." PhD.diss.,
University College, London, 1983.

Crowhurst, Andrew. "The Music Hall, 1ûû5-1922:The Emergence of a National

Entertainment Industry in Britain." Ph.D. diss., Cambridge University, 1992.

Crozier, BAM. "Notions of Childhood in London Theatres, 1800-1905."PhD. diss.,

Cambridge University, 1981.

Daum, Paul Alexander. "TheRoyal Circus, 1782-1809:An ms of EqueStrlan

i
Entertainmens." Ph.D. dis., Ohio State UNvefsitty, 1973.

Girard, C A "The Equesaian Drama in the Nin-th Century." PhD. diss., buislana
State University, 1939.
Kwint, Marius. "Astiey'sAmphitheatm and the Eariy C i r a s in Engiand, 17681830."PhD.
diss., Oxford University, 19%.

Mayall, David. "ItinerantMhonties in England and Wales in the Nineteenth and Twaitiedi
Centuries: A Study of Gypsies, T i ,Hawkes and 0th- TraYellers."PhD. dis.,
University of Sheffield, 1981.

Monsanto, Anthony,Jr. The Living Proof: The Barnum and Bailey Circus and the
Reification of R a d Categories, 18&1-18%."M A theois., Princeton University, 1992.

Moady, Jane."As- of Culturai Poiitics in the hndon Minor Theatres of the Earfy
Nineteenth Century."Ph.D. dis., Odbrd University, 1993.

Sexton. RD. 'TraveIiing People in the U K in the F

irt Half of the Tarrntieth Cennirgn
s
Ph.D. diss., University of Southampton, 1989.

Tude. George P. "A History of the Royal Circus, Equesnian and Phdhafmonic Academy,
1782-1816."Ph-D. diss, TU& U m i t y , 1972.
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Brenda Assael was born on 14 Sepamber 1967 in New York City. She was an

undergraduate at Barnard CoUege, Columbia University berneen 1985 and 1989 and

majored in History. After receivuig her BA. in 1989, Assael then went on to get her

Master's degree in the History Department of the University of Toronto in 1990. She

began her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto the following year. Her expertise is in

Modem Brirain, Modem and Early Modem Europe. three areas in which she studied for

her comprehensive examinations between 1991 and 1993 under the supervision of

Richard J. Hehtadter, James Retalliick and James Cabhan, respectively. She has taught

general survey courses in Modem Brirain and Modem Europe in the History Depamnent

of the University o f Toronto and will be working o n an adjunct basis in the City University

of New York for the 1997-8 academic year. Her article, "An Age of Spectacle: Circus

Children, the Victorians and Mid-Cenniry Conflicts,"will be appearing in a coiiected

volume of essays, An Age of Equipoise?: Rearsessing Mid-Vicoriun Brirain, edited by

Manin Hewirt (Scolar Press, 1998). In connection with her work on children, she

published a revicw article of Anna Davin's book, Crowing Up Pooc Home,ScbooI a d

Street in London,f 8 ï O - l p l 4 (London: Rivers Omm Press, 1996) in VfctorianRevietu

(Winter 1996n). Her numerous entries on Victorian perfOrmers and managers wiii be

appearing in the Neu,Dictio~ryof National Bfograpby, edited by H C G Matthew. Assael

has also writtm a short article, "Th-tre History,"for the Encyclopedia of Hktorians a d

Historicai Wtiting, edited by Keliy Boyd (London: F i m y lkzuborn Pubiishers, 1998).

 lMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (QA-3)

APPLIED -
2 IMAGE. lnc
--
---
=
-. 1653 East Main Street

-
--
--
Rochester. NY 14609 USA
2 Phone: 7161482-0300
Fax 716/288S989

Q 1993. Wied Image. inc.. All Füghîs Reserved