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’.
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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 the circus. The Barnum and Bailey circus had previously
visited Britain in 1889 and the two visits are thought to have influenced
British Circuses.
The School Board letters
relating to Barnum and Baileys visit relay the excitement of having the circus in Aberdeen City in September 1897. Teacher Alexander Forbes of Skene Street Public
School writes that: ‘No authority will keep the children from going where most
of their parents will be’. Everyone in Aberdeen wanted to see ‘the greatest
show’!
Forbes also goes
on to express concern of the students potentially straying during the
procession: ‘Were the ‘Route’ to be taken known to us in time we could do not a
little, by directing the pupils on Wednesday where to locate themselves with
certainty of seeing the show, to keep them from wandering’.
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Alexander Forbes Letter dating from the 7th of September 1899
It is concerns such as these that appear to have caused the flurry of School Board letters. J McGregor (Old Aberdeen Public School) believed the time of the procession would determine if the children arrived at school on time. He writes in his letter of the 7th September: ‘If the procession were to start between 9 & 9:30 and the children to witness it from the top of Bedford Road I see nothing to prevent them reaching school by 10:30: Otherwise it would be quite impossible for them to put in an appearance at so early an hour’.
The letters reveal the School Board’s plans to address the concerns, by organising a half-day holiday. This is shown in the letter of A.G. Wallace of the Central Public School: ‘the half holiday, if agreed on by the Board will no doubt be welcome.’
Letter of A G
Wallace, dated 9th September 1899.
The benefits of the plan is revealed in other letters: it will maintain attendance. For example, William D Maclean (Hanover Street School) wrote in his letter:
‘The suggested change in school hours on Thursday and a half holiday on Friday of next week, would, in my opinion do much to counter-act the disturbing influence on school attendance of the visit to Aberdeen of Barnum and Bailey’s great show; - that is, if the procession will start at such an hour on Thursday morning as to allow of its progression through the city being finished before 10:30’
Letter of William
D Maclean, 8th September 1899.
After discovering these letters, Ken did some further research to uncover what happened when Barnum and Bailey’s Circus visit took place. He did this by researching the local newspapers of the time from Aberdeen Central Library (you can often get free access to the British Newspaper Archive in your local Library).
The procession the teachers wrote about is recorded in the Aberdeen Press and Journal, dated Friday 15th September 1899 (page 6). The paper records the route:
‘The public
schools did not open till half past ten, and the children had an opportunity of
seeing the show, which had bulked largely in their imagination for weeks past.’
‘The Street Parade’, Aberdeen Press and Journal, 15 September 1899, p.6.
The pageant was described as a ‘wonderful show’: ‘It may be mentioned generally that the parade was a wonderful show of men, women, children, horses, elephants, wild beasts, chariots, and floats’.
‘The Street
Parade’, Aberdeen Press and Journal, 15 September 1899, p.6.
The Aberdeen People’s Journal described the show that took place afterwards; this confirmed the ‘Greatest Show’.
‘The visitor to
Barnum & Bailey’s must go prepared for something stupendous. If he saunters
up to their entrance and walks in as through patronising an ordinary travelling
exhibition, the probability is that he will be so overcome with the magnitude
and splendour of the spectacle as to be unable to follow, much less appreciate
them. But, on the other hand, if he confidently expects “the greatest show on
earth”, he will in some measure be ready to enjoy the wonders unfolded before
his eyes.’
‘The Barnum and Bailey Show’ Aberdeen’s People Journal, 16 September 1899, p.9.
The newspaper went
into great detail about elephants:
‘Perhaps the most
interesting feature from a numerical point of view is the large herd of
elephants. They are of all sizes and ages -from the unwieldy, stupid looking
baby of six to the huge preponderance of Fritz, said to be heavier than the
illustrious Jumbo, and certainly the finest elephant now in captivity. It is
really out of place, however, to talk about captivity in connection with Barnum
& Bailey’s elephants, because no animals could be freer or have more
liberty given them than those travelling with the greatest show. They go
through a wonderful series of exercises, and the tricks they do are described
as being amazingly clever.’
‘The Barnum and Bailey Show’ Aberdeen’s People Journal, 16 September 1899, p.9.
Also, people as curiosities, with the description, ‘Frank and Annie Howard… strangely tattooed in all the most wonderful pictures and designs ever imprinted on human skin’.
‘The Barnum and Bailey Show’ Aberdeen’s People Journal, 16 September 1899, p.9.
The circus
certainly appears to have lived up to its name at the time!
[Letters are from the Aberdeen School Board collection, reference CA/25/2/11/63]
Reference list
‘The Barnum and
Bailey Show’ Aberdeen’s People Journal, 16 September 1899, p.9.
‘The Street Parade’, Aberdeen Press and Journal, 15 September 1899, p.6.
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