St Thomas Easter Fair in the 1860s:
Fluctuating fortunes
By Dr. Jill A. Sullivan, Associate Research Fellow, University of Exeter
Although a separate fair field had been long established, the Easter Fair evidently still overran into the streets of St. Thomas, as it had done in earlier decades. In 1863, despite a request in the pages of the Western Times that the event would not give any trouble to the shop keepers and householders in Cowick Street, a later report noted that '[s]ome of the streets were lined with stalls' and that 'the grumbling shopkeepers would have found some difficulty in causing their removal according to their threats.'[1] Stallholders who set up their wares in the streets rather than the fair field may have done so for financial reasons. In the main fair field, showmen had to rent the spaces for their shows, exhibitions and booths. This was a formal process for which applications were invited through advertisements printed a few weeks ahead of the fair dates. In 1869 for example those applications were to be made to Mr. Brice of the Plymouth Inn, in St. Thomas.[2]
The applicants could include local as well as national stall holders and showmen, but the owners of the smaller concerns that pitched outside the main field were rarely mentioned in reviews. One exception was Catherine Bowey of Preston Street in Exeter who in 1862 ran a stall at the fair with a Mrs. Trip. Bowey's details were recorded in an appearance as complainant at the Exeter magistrates' court after she was attacked by another woman in the Turk's Head Inn during the fair. The assailant was found guilty and sent to prison for two weeks in default of paying a 15s. fine.[3] This incident was the only reported example of criminal activity associated with the fair, but the concerns that had been expressed in the late 1850s regarding behaviour continued to appear in occasional newspaper reports of the 1860s. According to the Post in April 1860, that year's fair was 'of the usual motley character and attended by the accustomed scenes of riot and dissipation'.[4] A year later, the Western Times stated that 'the annual "carnival of St. Thomas" popularly known as Easter Fair [...] sustained its ancient reputation for revelry and coarse amusement.'[5] Some reports even registered evidence that the fair might be in decline, citing the sad remnants of the fair as examples of the worst kind of entertainment for the working classes. In 1864, a report in the Devon Weekly Times commented on the lack of a theatre and menageries at that year's fair, noting only a range of small sideshows that included a ' "Pavilion of merit," the merit of which was confined to the gyrations of a rheumatic clown; and the exhibition of a live rat-eater'. The reporter concluded:
These are the kinds of exhibitions for the enlightenment and amusement of the masses in the present gracious year of 1864. Save us from a repetition say we. A solitary swinging boat, a roundabout, the average number of nutstalls, and the usual amount of foul language, were the remaining characteristics of the fair.[6]
A sparse selection of stalls and exhibitions in 1864 may well have contributed to the Gazette report of 1865 suggesting that the fair was less popular and would 'soon become a thing of the past'.[7] And the Western Times that year also commented on the reduced state of the fair: 'This annual holiday is growing small by degrees and beautifully less, as far as kickshows and fools are concerned in the field.'[8] Such comments evidently drew on wider social concerns regarding the way in which the working-classes spent their leisure time, and by the late 1860s attempts were being made by some to address those concerns with the distribution of religious tracts at the fair. This action was noted by one reporter in the Devon Weekly Times in a not particularly respectful observation that 'Maw-worm was there to distribute tracts, "in the hope that we should hesitate from stepping into the tremendous abyss yawning at our feet." '[9]
Whilst some reports in the first half of the decade attempted to signal the decline of the ancient festival, others heralded a revival, noting the maintenance of traditions and highlighting the number of shows and exhibitions on offer. In 1860, a Western Times report had celebrated the array of stalls and the banter of the 'Cheap Jack' pedlars:
THE EASTER FAIR has been quite a "Revival" this year. Shows from the "penny peep" up to the "legitimate drama" [...] and the number of portable establishments for the saccharine we shouldn't like to say. Cheap Jack vended wares of the most useful and charming variety, from the "silver spoons for 6d, that sweetened your tea without sugar, provided you puts a lump of treacle in it, and the knife that would cut anybody else's bread and cheese provided you hasn't any of your own" up to - we daren't say what. A new member of this respectable family in the shape of lovely woman did the "cheap Jenny," and eloquence being the great qualification for the profession, we need hardly say the lady was not in that respect behind her tonguey relatives.[10]
Other attractions included the usual toy and sweet stalls, whirligigs and swingboats. In 1863 the Western Times commented that although the 'annual merry-making was, as usual, well attended by the youngsters of the neighbourhood' heavy rain on the opening day meant that 'many got drenched during their aerial flights.'[11]
By 1866, the Post admitted that '[t]he showman is yet an institution, as a run into St. Thomas will fully demonstrate.'[12] The Devon Weekly Times continued to promote the 'revival' of the fair, adding that the 'shows were good and the sports exciting.'[13] The last refuge for critics of the fair seemed to be relief at the fact that the parish of St. Thomas was beyond the city boundaries, but as the Post noted in April 1867, '[t]he shows, the stalls, the clatter, the booms, the deafening noise and grotesque commotion is nearly within hearing.'[14] The 'grotesque commotion' in part emanated from the many showmen shouting appeals to the passing crowd to visit their exhibitions, including a 'Living Wonders' show consisting of a 'living skeleton and the Lilliputs' and ' "The Temple of Amusements" which comprised two acrobats', 'sparring booths, learned ponies, galvanic batteries, several picture galleries [...] swinging boats, shooting booths, and confectionary booths in abundance.'[15] Amid the spectacle however, and to the concern of a reporter from the Devon Weekly Times, the fun of the 1868 fair was offset by extreme poverty: 'At the entrance several dilapidated human beings, with large families appealed to the "kindness and generosity of the public." '[16]
As in earlier decades the travelling theatres continued to exert a fascination for the local reporters. The Western Times report of 1860 noted that there was an 'abundance' of theatres that year, 'where ladies might do the hysterical over that surpassing tragedy "The battle of the AltenHeights, or Leonora's Grave," &c., &c.'[17] In 1865, the Devon Weekly Times, reported that amongst the 'amusements of a rough and ready character',
There was a Theatre in which such pieces as "The Mistletoe Bough" and "Maria Martin, or the Murder at the Red Barn" were performed. The company comprised every shade of sensational talent, and if they sometimes treated the audience to such choice phrases as "stattik vissheons," and "chappilets," we will do them the justice to say that they were perfect masters and mistresses in the art of "piling up the agony."[18]
In 1868 the principal show was 'Weights Standard Theatre', where the repertoire comprised the Warlock of the Glen followed by a 'Gorgeous Christmas Pantomime', despite the fact that it was Easter. The reviewer of the Devon Weekly Times was unimpressed with the pantomime; it appeared to lack a title or a plot, consisting simply of a series of dances, none of which he thought very promising.[19]
Of the larger travelling shows to visit the St. Thomas fair, one of the most important was the menagerie. In 1863, Edmond's 'Royal Windsor Castle Menagerie' visited Exeter, exhibiting in Longbrook Street at the end of March, before heading to the Alphington Road to feature alongside the Easter Fair.[20] Evidently large crowds were expected at the fair for the menagerie to be sited nearby. Wombwell's Menagerie visited in 1867, and the extended Edmond's 'RoyalWindsorCastle & CrystalPalace' menagerie revisited the fair in 1869, where entry to the spectacle was advertised at 1s. or 6d. for the 'Working Classes'.[21] Major national shows such as Wombwell's and Edmond's would have brought their own retinue of sideshows and exhibitions, and for such large concerns to have included the Exeter fair in their tours of the south west suggests that the fair was well supported, and far from decline.
Footnotes
[1] Western Times, 3 April 1863, p. 5 and 10 April 1863, p. 6.
[2] Gazette, 10 March 1869, p. 8.
[3] Post, 30 April 1862, p. 3.
[4] Post, 11 April 1860, p. 5.
[5] Western Times, 6 April 1861, p. 6.
[6] Devon Weekly Times, 1 April 1864, p. 5.
[7] Gazette, 21 April 1865, p. 5.
[8] Western Times, 18 April 1865, p. 2.
[9] Devon Weekly Times, 17 April 1868, p. 5.
[10] Western Times, 14 April 1860, p. 5.
[11] Western Times, 10 April 1863, p. 6.
[12] Post, 4 April 1866, p. 5.
[13] Devon Weekly Times, 6 April 1866, p. 5.
[14] Post, 17 April 1867, p. 5.
[15] Devon Weekly Times, 18 April 1867, p. 5 and 17 April 1868, p. 5.
[16] Devon Weekly Times, 17 April 1868, p. 5.
[17] Western Times, 14 April 1860, p. 5.
[18] Devon Weekly Times, 21 April 1865, p. 5.
[19] Devon Weekly Times, 17 April 1868, p. 5.
[20] Western Times, 10 April 1863, p. 6.
[21] Gazette, 18 April 1867, p. 4 and Post 24 March 1869, p. 4.