Banvard, nee Carroll, Jane [Horley]
Nationality - British
Birth - Upton, Warwickshire, 1854
Marriage - Edward Henry Horley (professionally known as "Ted Banvard") and Jane Carroll married Halifax, Yorkshire in 1872
Death - Darlinghurst, NSW 1912
Career - Arrived in Adelaide with family from England in 1883. Banvard’s Circus active in Australia, 1883 – 1889. Family active in circus in Australia into the 1920s.
Copyright - Jane Banvard, c.1888. Photographer: A.W. Burman, 209 Bourke Street East, Melbourne. Courtesy: Mark St Leon Collection, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW. This photograph was taken in Melbourne about 1888, several years after the Banvards’ arrival in Australia. That year, Banvard’s Grand Circus toured Victoria.
The Banvards
Extract from the Memoirs of Marizles Wirth
Whilst in Warrnambool, we played opposition to Banvard’s Circus and afterwards we amalgamated with the Banvard family. Their family consisted of Mr and Mrs Banvard, and their children, Teddy, Willie, Walter, Bertie and Florrie, a girl about two years old. They also had an adopted son, Peter. He was about seventeen years old. He did a nice wire act dressed as a girl. He also tumbled and did some acrobatic work … The two families played a few towns and then decided to rest the winter in Ballarat [1884]. We decided to use this time to make a larger tent and paint everything up ready to start out in the spring. We rented a stable for the horses and rented two cottages for ourselves. The family, except for Louisa and Johnny lived in one cottage while the Banvards, Louisa and Johnny lived in the other … Philip [Wirth], George [Wirth], Banvard and Peter went to Smythesdale to break in a horse that Philip had bought for forty pounds. He was a lovely grey and his name was Badger. In the meantime, George and Peter learnt to ride and were ready to do a nice act when we started out in the spring. George was the better of the two, of course. He came up as a natural performer … We started out again with everything spick and span. We had a nice show. We played on the Melbourne showgrounds. The weather was so awful that our tent was blown to bits one morning. When we went to the grounds, there was nothing left but rope. Mother, Louisa, Mrs Banvard and a groom had stayed in Murtoa to take care of that part of the show that we did not need in Melbourne. Everything went smoothly until Louisa and Mrs Banvard had a row. Their husbands interfered and then there was a general break-up. Philip hated the way Mrs Banvard used to ‘spiel’ on the showgrounds and racecourses. Philip told Banvard he did not like her coming to the show after she had been on the racecourse as it gave the circus a bad name. Banvard took his belongings and went his own way.
Banvard, nee Carroll, Jane [Horley]
British
Upton, Warwickshire, 1854
Edward Henry Horley (professionally known as "Ted Banvard") and Jane Carroll married Halifax, Yorkshire in 1872
Darlinghurst, NSW 1912
Arrived in Adelaide with family from England in 1883. Banvard’s Circus active in Australia, 1883 – 1889. Family active in circus in Australia into the 1920s.
Copyright - Jane Banvard, c.1888. Photographer: A.W. Burman, 209 Bourke Street East, Melbourne. Courtesy: Mark St Leon Collection, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW. This photograph was taken in Melbourne about 1888, several years after the Banvards’ arrival in Australia. That year, Banvard’s Grand Circus toured Victoria.
The Banvards
Extract from the Memoirs of Marizles Wirth
Whilst in Warrnambool, we played opposition to Banvard’s Circus and afterwards we amalgamated with the Banvard family. Their family consisted of Mr and Mrs Banvard, and their children, Teddy, Willie, Walter, Bertie and Florrie, a girl about two years old. They also had an adopted son, Peter. He was about seventeen years old. He did a nice wire act dressed as a girl. He also tumbled and did some acrobatic work … The two families played a few towns and then decided to rest the winter in Ballarat [1884]. We decided to use this time to make a larger tent and paint everything up ready to start out in the spring. We rented a stable for the horses and rented two cottages for ourselves. The family, except for Louisa and Johnny lived in one cottage while the Banvards, Louisa and Johnny lived in the other … Philip [Wirth], George [Wirth], Banvard and Peter went to Smythesdale to break in a horse that Philip had bought for forty pounds. He was a lovely grey and his name was Badger. In the meantime, George and Peter learnt to ride and were ready to do a nice act when we started out in the spring. George was the better of the two, of course. He came up as a natural performer … We started out again with everything spick and span. We had a nice show. We played on the Melbourne showgrounds. The weather was so awful that our tent was blown to bits one morning. When we went to the grounds, there was nothing left but rope. Mother, Louisa, Mrs Banvard and a groom had stayed in Murtoa to take care of that part of the show that we did not need in Melbourne. Everything went smoothly until Louisa and Mrs Banvard had a row. Their husbands interfered and then there was a general break-up. Philip hated the way Mrs Banvard used to ‘spiel’ on the showgrounds and racecourses. Philip told Banvard he did not like her coming to the show after she had been on the racecourse as it gave the circus a bad name. Banvard took his belongings and went his own way.
