By the mid-19th century there were hundreds of circuses operating
in Britain. Trick riding continued to be the main attraction,
but a variety of other acts developed. There was even an
aquatic circus where the circus ring was flooded with water.
Such was the popularity of circuses that many 19th century
theatres also presented circus acts and you were as likely to
see jugglers and aerial acts on a trip to the music hall
as at a circus. Trapeze wires were strung from the
roof of the Alhambra
and other theatres, and trapeze and high-wire artists performed
above the crowds sitting in the stalls.
Even Drury
Lane theatre had a circus ring so it could present equestrian
acts.
Famous circus proprietors included Banister and West, Price
and Powell, Abraham Saunders, the Cooke family, Pablo
Fanque, Edwin Hughes, Frederick Charles Hengler, Frederick
Ginnett, and ‘Lord’ George Sanger.
Circus was a hard business, and Saunders and Pablo Fanque died
destitute, but such was its popularity with the general public
that circus earned Hengler and Ginnett thousands of pounds,
and made George Sanger a millionaire.
One of the factors that made circus so popular was that fairground
entertainers travelled to their audiences. From the late 18th
century circuses toured to even the smallest towns and in the
19th century the development of the railways enabled circuses
to travel further. By the 1870s huge circuses were touring across
Europe and America with two or three trainloads of equipment.
Tenting
