A number of circuses toured Ireland in the years before 1914 providing entertainment and excitement for the crowds they attracted. Cooper’s photographs of some circuses which arrived in Strabane are particularly useful for the behind-the-scenes views they record. The three main shows photographed by Cooper (or Burroughs) were Duffy’s Circus, Buff Bill’s American Circus and Hanneford’s Canadian Circus.
Circus performers in the early 1910s
The photographs of Duffy’s Circus were, almost certainly, all taken during the visit to Strabane in 1911. Duffy’s Circus was begun in the late 19th century by John, who died in 1909; by the time Duffy’s Circus arrived in Strabane in 1911, it was run by John’s widow, Annie. One of John Duffy’s sons, James, married Lena Kayes, daughter of William Kayes who ran the famous Buff Bill’s American Circus in Ireland before and after the First World War, Kayes himself being ‘Buff Bill’.
Ned Hanneford’s Canadian Circus toured Ireland up to 1916. It was renowned for its menagerie, including lions and ‘bears that talk’. It also featured a splendid street parade headed by an ornate, gilded bandwagon drawn by 8 sleek horses. Cooper’s photos of Hanneford’s Circus must have been taken before 1914, a period which seems to have been the heyday of circus visits to Strabane.
Here is a selection of amazing photos from the Cooper Photographic Collection that shows portraits of circus performers before 1914.
A crowd of people round a clown and a donkey, circa 1910
A circus performer in front of a wagon, circa 1910
Buff Bill’s Circus, a child with a baboon on a donkey, circa 1910
Buff Bill’s Circus, a group of circus performers, circa 1910
Buff Bill’s Circus, group of circus performers standing on each other’s shoulders, circa 1910
Leave a Reply