The Greatest Show - in Aberdeen!
During our Aberdeen School Board letters appraisal and listing project, one of our volunteers, Ken, discovered some letters mentioning the 'presence in the town [...] of Barnum and Baileys great show’. Jas. Findlay’s letter, dated 8th September 1899 ‘Barnum and Baileys’ was a travelling circus, which was also depicted in the 2017 film The Greatest Showman . The circus, created in 1881 with the merging of P.T. Barnum’s Circus (“The Greatest Show on Earth”) and Bailey’s circus (Bailey and Cooper’s Circus), was based in the United States. They were one of the first circuses to move by train, likely, in part, due to them having such a large show. This included (between 1882-1885) the elephant Jumbo. He had been purchased from London Zoo and was described as “the largest elephant ever seen”. When the circus visited Aberdeen in 1897 it was after the death of P.T. Barnum (d. 1891) with Bailey as the sole owner. The Aberdeen visit was part of a five year European tour of...
