HISTORICALEIGH - The Circus Life

February 9, 2015 by Carole Mulroney

The Circus Life

Ann and Charlotte Partridge were the daughters of Isaac Partridge, a Leigh fisherman and his wife, Elizabeth Bull. Their life in Leigh changed dramatically when the circus came to town.

In 1851 the girls can be found on the census as Ann Ginette, the wife of the leader and participant in an equestrian troupe.

Ann’s sister Charlotte, (christened Rebecca Charlotte) clearly lying about her age (26 when she was actually 31) married to John Samwell, another equestrian and was living in Lambeth.

The Circus Ginnett still exists today but its origins stem from the Napoleonic period. According to circus history the first Ginnetts came to England from France when Jean Pierre Ginnett (or Jinnett) and his brother, who had been in Napoleon's cavalry, were captured at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and became POW's. They were released and Jean Pierre trained some canaries and they performed at Ludgate Circus, London.

Obviously at sometime Jean Pierre and the circus came to Leigh or somewhere nearby and he met Ann Partridge and she left the little fishing village for what must have seemed a very glamorous life in the circus. Jean Pierre died in 1861 and is buried in Kensall Green Cemetery, but the circus continued and prospered through his and Ann’s son Frederick who The Samwells were another famous circus family going back into the 18th Century. Charlotte Partridge married John Samwell in 1849 in Gloucester. John was the son of a circus family and was billed early on as ‘the infant equestrian’ appearing from the 1830s onwards. He travelled with various circuses, including. In later years he was billed as ‘John Samwell, the Great Scene Act Rider’ and travelled with his own circus, but after a serious accident during his act he finally gave up in 1868 and began a famous act with a dog troupe which was the talk of London in the 1870s.

If you would like to know more about these interesting Leigh connections go to www.leighsociety.com click on Leighway and go to January 2010 edition page 4 and January 2012 edition page7.

This article is by Carole Mulroney