Lord George Sanger: Difference between revisions
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''''Lord' George Sanger''' (23 December 1825{{#tag:ref|Brenda Assael in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' gives Sanger's date of birth as "23 December probably in 1825".<ref name=odnb /> In his autobiography, Sanger gave the date "December 23rd, 1827".<ref name=Sanger14 />|group="nb"}} – 28 November 1911) was an English showman and [[circus]] proprietor. Born to a showman father, he grew up working in travelling [[peep show]]s. He successfully ran shows and circuses throughout much of the nineteenth century with his brother [[John Sanger|John]]. He retired in 1905 and was murdered by a disgruntled employee in 1911. |
''''Lord' George Sanger''' (23 December 1825{{#tag:ref|Brenda Assael in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' gives Sanger's date of birth as "23 December probably in 1825".<ref name=odnb /> In his autobiography, Sanger gave the date "December 23rd, 1827".<ref name=Sanger14 />|group="nb"}} – 28 November 1911) was an English showman and [[circus]] proprietor. Born to a showman father, he grew up working in travelling [[peep show]]s. He successfully ran shows and circuses throughout much of the nineteenth century with his brother [[John Sanger|John]]. He retired in 1905 and was murdered by a disgruntled employee in 1911. |
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==Partnership== |
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Sanger started a travelling conjuring show with his older brothers William and [[John Sanger|John]].<ref name=Sanger116 /> Sanger had earned the nickname "Gentleman George" from fellow showmen, and "his Lordship" from his father, for the smart way he dressed. In 1848, the three brothers took their show to [[Stepney Fair]].<ref name=Sanger120 /> Here, he renewed an acquaintance with a woman he knew from his childhood called [[Ellen Chapman]]. She was a lion tamer employed by [[George Wombwell]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chapman [married name Sanger], Ellen (1830/31–1899), lion tamer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-53839;jsessionid=6A51D1E9E65FF0C1ABE8480A9978B68F|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/53839}}</ref> known professionally as Madame Pauline de Vere.<ref name=Sanger121 /> They married on 1 December 1850 in [[Sheffield]].<ref name=odnb /> |
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[[File:Sanger's amphitheatre - Evanion collection (1886) - BL.jpg|thumb|right|Poster for ''Aladdin & Forty Thieves'' at Sanger's Amphitheatre in 1886]] |
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John and George Sanger decided to take their show to country fairs, believing that they would make more money than at the fairs in London.<ref name=Sanger131 /> In the winter of 1850–51 they returned to London and, in addition to their conjuring show, they rented [[Enon Chapel]]—a former [[charnel house]]— to run a "sort of winter theatrical show".<ref name=Sanger156 /> They employed actors and put on a Christmas [[pantomime]]. After being informed that not all of the bodies improperly buried at the site had been removed, and that the authorities intended to close the building, the Sangers moved out.<ref name=Sanger159 /> |
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In 1851, the brothers took their show to [[The Great Exhibition]] fair in [[Knightsbridge]], an event that, due to heavy rain, was a disappointment to the showmen.<ref name=Sanger163 /> The fair was abandoned and the Sangers moved on to the north of England. After another successful season at Stepney Fair (with a 'tame oyster'), the brothers decided to start a circus.<ref name=Sanger185 /> Their first purchase for the circus was a Welsh pony, for £7 and their assistants were two nieces, a nephew and four apprentices.<ref name=Sanger186 /> |
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In 1871, the Sanger brothers bought [[Astley's Amphitheatre]] for £11,000 and George Sanger ran it for 28 years until the [[London County Council]] ordered it to be closed in 1893.<ref name=odnb /><ref name=Sanger198 /> Sanger ended his professional relationship with his brother John in 1884. |
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==Later life== |
==Later life== |
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Revision as of 14:02, 29 October 2020
George Sanger | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 December 1825 |
| Died | 28 November 1911 (aged 85) East Finchley, London |
| Other names | Lord George Sanger |
| Occupation | circus proprietor |
'Lord' George Sanger (23 December 1825[nb 1] – 28 November 1911) was an English showman and circus proprietor. Born to a showman father, he grew up working in travelling peep shows. He successfully ran shows and circuses throughout much of the nineteenth century with his brother John. He retired in 1905 and was murdered by a disgruntled employee in 1911.
Later life
From the 1880s, Sanger became active in defending the rights of showmen and was the president of the Van Dwellers Protection Association (which later became the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain).[1]
George Sanger built his Amphitheatre on the corner of High Street and George Street in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1883. Initially it was a circus building but was also used for opera and drama from its early days.
The building was converted to a theatre in 1908 by Frank Matcham, a well known and prolific builder of theatres, and was renamed the Royal Palace Theatre. Films were also shown and in 1929 the theatre was equipped to facilitate talking movies. Films, variety and theatre continued until early 1961 when the last pint was pulled in Sangers Bar and the theatre was demolished along with the adjoining Sanger's Hotel.
In 1903, he presented a statue of Queen Victoria to the town of Newbury, to stand in the same position occupied by his father's shop years before.[3][4]
In 1905, Sanger sold off his zoo and circus effects, auctioned by circus auctioneer Tom Norman.[5] He retired to Park Farm in East Finchley, north London, and published an autobiography in 1910.[1] On 28 November 1911 George Sanger was murdered with a hatchet at his home by employee Herbert Charles Cooper, for unknown reasons. Cooper then committed suicide on a railway line.[1] Sanger was buried on 4 December next to his wife's grave in Margate.
Works
- Sanger, George (1926) [1910], Seventy Years a Showman, New York: E. P. Dutton, OCLC 3775375
References
- Notes
- ^ Brenda Assael in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives Sanger's date of birth as "23 December probably in 1825".[1] In his autobiography, Sanger gave the date "December 23rd, 1827".[2]
- Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Assael, Brenda (September 2004), "Sanger, George (1825?–1911)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 1, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35940, retrieved 22 June 2010
- ^ Sanger, p. 14
- ^ Sanger, p. 15
- ^ ""Lord" George Sanger: Aged Showman Brutally Murdered", The Evening Post, vol. LXXXIII, no. 8, p. 11, 10 January 1912, retrieved 22 June 2010
- ^ Toulmin, Vanessa (January 2008), "Norman, Tom (1860–1930)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/73081, retrieved 19 May 2010
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- Sources
- Sanger, George (2008) [1910], Seventy Years a Showman, Read Books, ISBN 978-1-4437-3113-3
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