The woman who refused to conform to Victorian conventions
Vulcana was a woman who refused to fit into the conventions of the Victorian era. Anna Lewis tells her story...
IF THERE were superheroes in the Victorian era, Vulcana would be one of them. Renowned not only for her breathtaking beauty, tales of her jaw-dropping feats of strength echoed from country to country as she toured the world with her secret husband.
Reports from the time claimed she could bench press a 12-stone man with her right hand alone.
Perhaps more impressive were the day-to-day tales of a woman who refused to fit into the conventions of the time.
On one occasion, when a pickpocket tried to steal from her, she just firmly took the man’s hand and led him to the nearest police station.
Such was daily life for Miriam Kate Williams.
Despite the volumes of information available about Vulcana, it is difficult to distinguish her exact biography.
The daughter of a baptist minister from Abergavenny, her family are not entirely sure where Vulcana grew up.
It is thought she was born in 1874 in Bristol. As a teenager, an 1891 census suggests she was living with her father, mother and siblings in Aberdare.
Newspaper reports write that at age 14 Kate stopped a runaway horse in Bristol, dragging a woman and her baby behind it.
In school she took her fellow pupils by surprise by carrying the school organ.
After painstaking research, Vulcana’s family today have pieced together her story to the stage.
It is thought that as a teenager she attended a gymnasium set up in Abergavenny by her future husband William Hedley Roberts – later to be known as Atlas.
That year she appeared with a group of athletes he had trained at a fete in Pontypool. After a group member fell ill at the last minute, it fell to her to take their place and perform. Despite being only 15 years old at the time, she was a resounding success.
In later articles, Atlas said she “so delighted the audience that she then and there decided to turn professional”.
A feature published in 1902 in the Carmarthen Weekly Reporter wrote: “A strong woman artiste had disappointed [Atlas] at a fete and gala at Pontypool, and he persuaded her to assist him.
“She was then 15, and is now hardly out of her teens. Miss Roberts has won all the championships for women during the past eight years, and has secured 120 medals in competitions for strength. She juggles with a 56lb dumb-bell in each hand, uses a 2241b bar bell, and can raise and hold above her head at arm’s length a man weighing ever 12 stone.”
In her quest for success, Vulcana reportedly fled home to join Atlas and his troupe in London. By 1892, still a teenager, she was part of the troupe.
As well as weight lifting, Kate was a talented wrestler, swimmer and fenced, claiming hundreds of medals for her talents.
Together Vulcana and Atlas formed a double act. In the space of five years the troupe claimed to have visited every music hall “of note” in Britain in Ireland.
On October 15, 1910, The Rhondda Leader wrote: “Topping the bill this week are the Society Athletes, the sensation of two hemispheres.
“Athletic turns are legion, but when you have seen... Miss Vulcana, the strongest lady living, who has created the new world’s record in France and Spain, and founder of the modern school of physical culture for women, you will say you have seen the acme of physical culture.”
It is not known when Vulcana and Atlas became lovers. As Atlas was already a married man with a wife back in Wales the couple claimed to be brother and sister to mask their secret. They would go on to have children together but continued to tour the world to share their act.
Taking the stage in the music halls of London, Vulcana’s speciality was lifting men.
She is hailed as the first women to take on the Tomb of Hercules stunt.
No mean feat, it involved supporting a big platform on her abdomen while leaning backwards on the floor while two horses and their attendants climb on the board.
With her passion for promoting women’s fitness, magazines at the time describe her as “one of the first strong women to attempt to retain her feminine charms while building her muscles to a highly developed state”.
In a world where women were confined to wearing corsets, Vulcana’s views were also decades ahead of their time.
An advocate for sensible clothing, in interviews she appeals for mothers to allow their daughters to be a “regular tomboy” and climb trees without any restraints.
An article from the time writes: “Vulcana also championed sensible clothing and vigorous exercise for all young women. She was vehemently opposed to corsets and advised girls not to wear them.”
Out of the theatre, Vulcana’s life was as dramatic as her time spent on stage.
In one of her many legends it is said she broke up a brawl between two drunk marines in London one night. In another tale, she jumps into the River Usk to save two boys from drowning.
On another occasion, after dressing incognito, Vulcana is said to have visited the circus in Bristol. After volunteers were called to wrestle a local man, the young woman jumped into the ring, grabbed the wrestler by the waist, threw him over her head and dropped him to the mat.
In 1921 a fire broke out in the Garrick Theatre. Legend goes that Vulcana ran into the fire to save horses belonging to another act.
In a column printed in the Weekly News in the same year, she writes: “Once I was robbed of my purse in London. I was looking in a shop window when I saw in the glass the reflection of the movements of a man behind me and these aroused my suspicions.
“Turning around I caught the man with my purse in his hand. Snatching him by the hand I gave him a twist that he won’t forget in a hurry and as I took the purse out of his hand I remarked that I thought he had made a mistake. He quite probably thought so too but he didn’t wait to explain.
“I had a somewhat similar experience in Birmingham. A man slipping my watch out of my waist whilst I was looking in a jeweller’s window. I felt the movement and turning around said ‘thank you’ giving him at the same time one on the jaw straight from the shoulder. He went down like a nine pin.”
After an accident which saw her knocked down in the street by a London cab, Atlas devoted himself to caring for his wife and his family until his death in 1946 aged 83.
Only three months later Vulcana took her last breath. Media at the time reported she was 72 years old.
Her legacy can be seen across the world, in the many statues and photos in her honour.