Kate Wills Posted 4 August , 2005 Share Posted 4 August , 2005 I don't know if I have a picture of her or not. I have a photograph of the Lena Ashwell Concert Party taken in Malta 1916 Hi Jim The people in this photo are: Theodore Flint (pianist, and leader of the party, seated far left) (probably) Charles Thomas (entertainer, standing at back) Greta Graham (soprano) Grace Ivell (contralto) Adelina Leon (cellist) Kenneth Ellis (bass, seated far right) I cannot say for sure which lady is which, so the order does not necessarily match the line-up in the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 5 August , 2005 Share Posted 5 August , 2005 Hi Jim The people in this photo are: Theodore Flint (pianist, and leader of the party, seated far left) (probably) Charles Thomas (entertainer, standing at back) Greta Graham (soprano) Grace Ivell (contralto) Adelina Leon (cellist) Kenneth Ellis (bass, seated far right) I cannot say for sure which lady is which, so the order does not necessarily match the line-up in the photo. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thank you, Kate. A little disappointed as I had hoped that one of the women would have been Emily Pickford. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 5 August , 2005 Share Posted 5 August , 2005 See this book on eBay about Cicely Hamilton. Regards Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gem22 Posted 6 August , 2005 Share Posted 6 August , 2005 Aurel The publishers of this weekly newspaper may be able to help. http://www.worldsfair.co.uk/wf/ The paper is published for show and fairground people. Garth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan Posted 8 August , 2005 Share Posted 8 August , 2005 .So : Does anyone know of or have information about British (or other) soldiers fallen in the Salient (or Flanders), and with a known grave, who had a career in the world of circus and variety show and theatre, as jugglers, acrobats, clowns etc. ? And if possible, with a story. I fear that the response to this will be rather scarce, but I thought it was worth giving it a chance. Aurel <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What about "close"? I had two acrobats attestations that I kept out of curiosity... One turns out to be a casualty, but died in 1919. Enlisted in 1914, so he could have been in Flanders at least... And he is also buried in Ottawa, Canada, which might be a little far for your guests (but then you only said "known grave" )... Attestation: http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gpc003/301401a.gif CWGC: http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/casualty_...asualty=2756544 Pascal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartoss Posted 8 August , 2005 Share Posted 8 August , 2005 Came across this photo. Its Sheffield during the Great War. Lizzie, belonged to a circus and was loaned for war work. Thought it may be of interest to those in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grabur Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 Hi Jim The people in this photo are: Theodore Flint (pianist, and leader of the party, seated far left) (probably) Charles Thomas (entertainer, standing at back) Greta Graham (soprano) Grace Ivell (contralto) Adelina Leon (cellist) Kenneth Ellis (bass, seated far right) I cannot say for sure which lady is which, so the order does not necessarily match the line-up in the photo. Kate im not sure you are right about charles thomas. photo looks like my grandfather who was one of the entertainers a ventriloquist. He was in charge of the party which were involved in the drowning accident on the somme feb 1919 when mrs pickford was drowned. he was instrumental in saving jean nolan who later presented him with an inscribed silver inkstand whic is suitting on my desk as I write. grahame burrows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 Grahame - I suggest you PM Kate to alert her to this information. I am sure she will be fascinated. Regards Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 Thankyou Grahame, and welcome to the Forum. Would your grandfather be Tom Burrows? There was a George Burrows too, who did much organising, and also played the piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grabur Posted 19 May , 2006 Share Posted 19 May , 2006 I don't know if I have a picture of her or not. I have a photograph of the Lena Ashwell Concert Party taken in Malta 1916 but I don't know if Emily Pickford is one of them. jim do youhave a higher res of the photo? I need it to identify one of the persons grahame burrows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grabur Posted 19 May , 2006 Share Posted 19 May , 2006 Thankyou Grahame, and welcome to the Forum. Would your grandfather be Tom Burrows? There was a George Burrows too, who did much organising, and also played the piano. kate thanks for your response. he was definately tom burrows and was a ventriloquist. I have photos and also photo of the inkwell presented to him after the somme drowning incident. I have also obtained the lena ashwell book "modern troubadors" written in 1922 which lists all the entertainers and contains a thanks in the foward to tom burrows and others for their letters and diaries she used in writing the book (where are those letters and diaries now?). The book is very interesting although it does not specifically mention any of the prerformances or entertainers by name. I have also e mailed terry powell twice but without reply asking where the information about the somme incident came from. do you have any further information re tom burrows? grahame burrows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 29 May , 2006 Share Posted 29 May , 2006 Grahame, Please excuse the delayed reply, but I have been otherwise engaged recently. It is marvellous to make contact with the family of a Modern Troubadour. Thanks for the information on Tom, which adds to the picture of the tragedy at St Valery. As to your question about Lena mentioning so few of her artistes by name in her book, my theory is, that as they were all self-employed and relied on good reviews and promotion for bookings, Lena may have felt she was giving an unfair advantage to those she was able to mention by name; so the fairest solution was to give everyone equal billing via the roll of names that concludes Modern Troubadours. I don't know what has happened to Terry Powell, but I do know that a lady called Pat who also belongs to the WFA branch in Cardiff, was investigating Mary Pickford's story (who, as you know, came from Cardiff). Have you had any more thoughts on the photo? Best wishes Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 8 March , 2007 Share Posted 8 March , 2007 To return to the circus, here is a story I found in a mid-1915 magazine: Saved by a Circus Horse A French soldier named Private Ambroise Perrichon owes his life to a circus horse, which carried him from the field of battle into his own lines. Both the soldier's legs were shattered, and he lay helplessly on the field waiting for death. A riderless white horse, feeding on the grass near where he lay, attracted the Frenchman's attention, and he whistled to it. To his surprise the animal immediately walked over to him and pushed its nose into his hand, whinnying with delight. The horse showed such intelligence that Perrichon was struck with an idea. He pushed the horse's nose on to the leather belt round. his waist, and the animal, with almost human intelligence, grasped it in his teeth and lifted the unfortunate soldier from the ground. It was thus that the white charger carried the wounded soldier back to the French lines, and saved his life. Though in a state of collapse when he reached his friends, Private Perrichon recovered after hospital treatment. He has adopted the charger which saved his life, and ithas transpired that the animal is an old circus horse, and before the war had performed in a scena in which he had to carry his master round the sawdust ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 17 December , 2008 Share Posted 17 December , 2008 Aurel, This fellow is not in the Ypres Salient, but circus folk are few and far between, and I thought he might be of interest to you.. Private THOMAS JAMES KILDARE Spts/1603, 23rd Bn., Royal Fusiliers who died on 27 July 1916 Remembered with honour SERRE ROAD CEMETERY No.2 Thomas was an equestrian acrobat. He rode a horse while doing a trick called 'The Fireman's Ladder'. Makes you wonder why he didn't join the cavalry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 27 August , 2020 Share Posted 27 August , 2020 Interestingly, I have been reading up on convalescent depots, which included entertainments as a key form of therapy. Conv. Depot 4 held pows and during june 1919 they put together several circus performances. I have visions of ragged trousered clowns having read that upon inspection most of the camp divisions were found to have trousers in poor repair and obtaining replacements was apparently extremely difficult. Alas there are no names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 28 August , 2020 Share Posted 28 August , 2020 I started a thread 4 yrs ago called "uncommon civilian occupations" amongst which were a contortionist, an acrobat and a professional roller skater. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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