GREAT BRITONS
The 250th anniversary of the founding of the modern circus is being commemorated in Newcastle-under-lyme in Staffordshire during 2018. The town’s famous son, Philip Astley, opened his riding school in Lambeth in 1768 creating performances and subsequently developing the 42ft diameter circus ring, still the standard size across the world today.
The name of Astley has been revered and respected on the international circus scene for over two centuries and to celebrate the life and legacy of the man — a war hero, master equestrian, pioneer and showman — the programme of events was inaugurated on 25th September 2017 at Newcastleunder-lyme College Performing Arts Centre (visit www.philipastley.org for further details) when Silverdale based international entertainer Andrew Van Buren addressed a well-attended audience about Astley, following which he introduced and interviewed the famous clown, Charlie Cairoli junior, about his life and career in the circus.
It was Andrew Van Buren and his father Fred who commissioned a statue of Philip Astley which was unveiled at a special ceremony on 3rd November 2015 by the Mayor of Newcastle-underLyme Councillor Sandra Hambledon; the statue takes pride of place in the reception area of the Performing Arts Centre.
“People don’t realise how farreaching the legacy of Philip Astley is,” said Andrew. “Without him there would be no circus as we have it today.”
The son of a cabinet maker, Astley was born at Newcastle-under-lyme on 8th January 1742. At the age of nine he was apprenticed to his father but it soon became evident that his interests lay elsewhere. Often playing truant from the business, he developed an interest in horses and became a remarkably expert horseman at an early age.
In 1759 he ran away from home and enlisted in Colonel George Angus Eliott’s 15th (or Light) Regiment of Dragoons and as a result of his equestrian expertise became involved in horse training. Astley then served with great distinction on the Continent in Flanders and Germany during the Seven Years War, eventually attaining the rank of Sergeant. At the Battle of Emsdorff he succeeded in capturing the French
standard despite being wounded and having his horse shot beneath him. On another occasion he saved a number of men and horses when a boat capsized.
He is also recorded as having helped to extricate the Duke of Brunswick from behind enemy lines at Freiburg.
He was, to say the least, a colourful character, described by a contemporary as “a man of strong, muscular powers, over 6ft in height and of an imposing appearance”. Astley’s unusual riding skills and spectacular horsemanship resulted in him being highly respected by his colleagues and on discharge from the army, his Commanding Officer Sir William Erskine presented him with a white charger, Gibraltar.
Subsequently, the experience gained in the army was used by Astley to train horses to perform tricks and from this evolved the basis of what is now regarded as the circus ring. He commenced his equestrian performances in an open field near Glover’s Halfpenny Patch, Lambeth. A ring of ropes and stakes was his amphitheatre, the band consisting of two fifers and his wife Patty playing on a tabor, Astley himself being the performing company!
Existing on income from the hat passed around the audience, he did, at times, find it necessary to return to cabinet making and breaking horses in order to defray expenses.
He then toured England performing at fairs until 1770 when he leased a plot of land near Westminster Bridge in London and erected permanent premises. Initially, however, these were quite primitive with only the best seating protected from the elements.
By this time Astley had extended the contents of his programme to include other attractions such as trampoline performers and wire walkers. He also featured the first clown, by the name of Burt, and one James Lawrence who, dressed as the devil, somersaulted over 12 horses!
Astley introduced all types of sensations and novelties also experimenting with a “freak” phase of his growing business when he featured a French female whose golden tresses trailed on the ground. He himself continued to captivate audiences with his sensational riding whilst conjuring with cards and in another speciality is said to have ridden at a gallop, upside down, with his head “on a common pint pot”. Patty had by now graduated from drum playing to performing on two or three horses simultaneously and the company also presented dramatised reconstructions of current events in the repertoire.
By 1780 a more imposing establishment, the Amphitheatre Riding House (subsequently The Royal Grove) had been erected on the site, completely roofed and with a two-storey entrance, but suffered fire damage in 1794. It was rebuilt and reopened only to be totally destroyed by fire in 1803. Replacement premises, the Royal Amphitheatre of Arts, was erected in the shape of a horseshoe and opened in 1804.
Philip Astley also had amphitheatres in Paris and Dublin. However, during the French Revolution the former was seized and used as a barracks, but the property was subsequently returned to him after petitioning the Emperor. He built 19 theatres at different periods, the last being the Olympic Pavilion in Wych Street, London, in 1806.
Astley died at his residence in the Faubourg du Temple, Paris, on 20th October 1814, following which his only son John took over the business entirely. He had been performing on horseback from the age of five. However, later in life he suffered prolonged ill health and survived his father by a mere six years, dying on 19th October 1820. John’s remains were subsequently interred with those of his father at Pere la Chaise.
Philip Astley is recognised as the father of the modern circus because he popularised and arranged systematic performances of equestrians, acrobats, aerialists, trained animals and clowns in a 42ft diameter circus ring within a building modelled on the lines of a Roman amphitheatre. He also wrote about the care and training of horses, his best known works being A System of Equestrian Education and The Modern Riding Master.
By the time of his death the circus to which he had given birth was to spread throughout the civilised world. He was followed by others, the most famous being Sangler, Hengler and subsequently Bertram Mills, Billy Smart, Chipperfields etc. All, including the great Barnum & Bailey organisation, owe their existence to those humble beginnings by the cabinet maker’s son from Staffordshire.