Last updated 12:17, Saturday, 22 March 2008

SEND in the clowns! The circus is coming.

Not any old circus, but “Lord George, the original Sanger and his £125,000 Circus Company.”

It came to Maryport on Tuesday, July 5; Workington, July 6; Cockermouth, July 7 and Keswick on July 8 - back in 1889. A busy and hectic four days. To get the show up and running, dismantle it, transport it and then set it all up again every day was a major operation.

But they were used to it. The circus was forever on the move. In one nine month period it visited 200 towns, often putting on two shows a day. On the road, it was its own mobile advertisement, being two miles long. The showpiece vehicle was an imposing 10 ton gilded coronation coach, usually drawn by four cream horses.

They claimed that it was “the largest, grandest, and best organised show in any part of the world.” The company had been formed to create the best circus in the world, something the British public could be proud of.

The circus had performed before Queen Victoria and a whole host of other worthies. Just think of it. One day in Balmoral – and then Workington.

The advert promised that members of the public could confidently expect a “strictly moral and entertaining exhibition.” The ad expressly stated that “the company has decided not to introduce into their marvellous exhibition any freaks of nature that are so objectionable and dangerous to the health of ladies and young children.” And that was back in 1889, a time when most fairs and circuses wouldn’t have been quite so squeamish.

And in the Maryport fair of 1923, held in the square, its organisers still weren’t squeamish. But some members of the public were, especially members of the clergy, the Reverend RH Hawkins, the vicar of Maryport and Father Crow. They wrote a joint letter to the Maryport UDC complaining about “the most objectionable character of a show exhibited in the square during the recent fair time.”

It seems that one booth housed a woman who “represented a shocking deformity . . . almost amounting to a monstrosity.” They made much of the sign which hung outside the booth which warned that it was “not suitable for married women.” Probably a clever marketing ploy dreamt up by showmen.

The clerical pair demanded that something be done to stop the same thing happening in the future. council officials, they felt, should vet all future fair bookings. Some councillors sided with them, while others were reluctant to set themselves up as censors. In true local government manner, they decided to further discuss the matter in committee.

So who was being exhibited? We don’t know. And what was her deformity? Again, the paper was being very coy, quoting Father Crow, who had insisted that “there was no need to emphasise the character of the show exhibited.”

The paper’s editorial hoped that the unfortunate women was not being exploited, while feeling that if it was the only way she could make money, then she was to be pitied. We have no means of knowing who she was. Unless, of course, you know any different.

Someone who would fit the bill, although it is mere conjecture, was a Miss Rosina, who was only 26 inches tall. She was on the circuit in the twenties, having spent eight years touring with Barnum and Bailey. Billed as “Nature’s Strangest Mistake, the Eighth Wonder of the World (Alive), she had no hands, arms, feet or fingers” yet was able to “read, write, knit, dress herself and perform many other tasks.”

So was it her they objected to back in 1923? Possibly! But there were many others.

Over in Ambleside, back in 1894, people were also protesting about a human exhibit. The showman had invited them to “Walk up and inspect this curious phenomenon – a real live woman fish, the only one in existence.”

When the booth was packed, “a curtain arose and a young woman dressed in black appeared on the stage and said: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the woman fish. There’s my marriage certificate. My husband’s name was Fish. He was killed last year . . . leaving me with four children unprovided for.” She then announced her intention of going round with a hat.”

One born every minute!