The Old Showmen and the Old London FairsFrost, Thomas
History
The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs
Frost, Thomas
Fairs -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
The soldiers, having driven their opponents off the field, began
destroying the front of the theatre, and smashing the lamps, which,
fortunately, were not lighted. If they had been burning, the result would
probably have been a terrific conflagration, which might have swept the
fair, and destroyed many thousands of pounds' worth of property. Nelson
Lee, resisting with all his might the destruction of his property, had a
rope made fast round his body, and was about to be hoisted to the top of
the front, when a dozen constables arrived, and the assailants immediately
abandoned the field, and, leaping off the parade, mixed with the crowd.
Many of them were captured, however, and, being taken before a magistrate,
were committed for trial at the ensuing Old Bailey sessions. Johnson and
Lee withdrew from the prosecution, however, expecting that their
forbearance would be rewarded by pecuniary compensation for the
destruction of their property, which the Recorder had suggested should be
given by the officers of the regiment to which the offenders belonged;
but, on application being made to the officers, they informed Lee that
there were _no regimental funds_ available for the purpose, and I believe
not a penny was ever received by Johnson and Lee by way of compensation.
During the Whitsuntide Fair, the soldiers were confined to their barracks;
but, as many of them were in the habit of visiting the theatre with their
friends, this measure diminished the receipts, and thus added loss to
loss. Johnson and Lee attended no other fairs that year, but removed the
theatre to Croydon, where they erected it in a field adjoining the
Addiscombe Road, near the Brighton and South-Eastern railway stations.
Henry Howard and Mrs. Campbell played the leading characters here, and
afterwards at Hertford and Uxbridge.
Wombwell died this year in his living carriage at Richmond, at the age of
seventy-three. He was buried in Highgate cemetery, his coffin being made
of oak from the timbers of the _Royal George_, which sank off Spithead in
1782. As his executors were instructed by his will to have no nails used
in its construction, it was put together on the dove-tailing system. The
menagerie was divided in accordance with his will into three parts, which
were bequeathed respectively to his widow, a niece named Edmunds, and
another relative named Day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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