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Introduction
Travelling circus became big business in the 19th century. Philip Astley had first toured his circus to Dublin in 1773, performing in an open air ring. Astley’s Circus toured regularly during the autumn and winter, in the United Kingdom, Paris and to other European cities, despite difficult travelling conditions where the horses pulled the laden wagons on dreadful roads.
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Playbill for Early Touring Circus |
The earliest circuses in the UK to use some type of canvas construction for their performances were probably the small troupes who appeared at fairs. These comprised an equestrian clown, a tightrope walker, and two or three horses, which pulled the wagons when the circus was on the move. Some would have small tents whilst other circuses performed in the open air with no more than a ring of rope and staves. The audience stood and watched from behind a wooden barrier onto which candles were tacked. Performances were repeated throughout the day whenever there was an audience to watch. Touring circus became known as ‘tenting’.
In 1825 Jack Clarke performed at London’s Bartholomew Fair, with placards outside noting that his circus was ‘lighted with Real Gas, In and Outside’. This innovation was probably inspired by his engagement with Astley’s which was first illuminated by gas in 1818. Clarke’s circus was a regular feature of London fairs for fifteen years, and some of his descendants went on to become famous trapeze artists and equestrians. Fairground circuses like Clarke’s, although having canvas sides and possibly roofs, were probably rectangular constructions with rings built inside.
The type of tent that we associate with the circus today was first used by American circuses in the 1820s. It was introduced to England by Richard Sands’ American Circus which landed in Liverpool in 1842. This was advertised as having a ‘splendid and novel Pavilion, made after an entirely new style’. Sands’ Circus toured England for three or four years, and his tent was enthusiastically imitated.
By the 1880s Powell & Clarke’s Circus boasted a tent which could seat 7,000 spectators.
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Sanger's Circus big top |
