CIRCUS - Henry Luigi Boswell

[DJFRENCH]

sorry Mab i put Deb :-)
Not awake properly- now you what the "z's" are for at the end of my name ! Dozey woman that i am ! - how are you too ? Happy new year.
Doesn't Jim have a fascinating tree ?

Back later
debzzz

[DJFRENCH]

how do we know that Lilly is not Lyle Boswell ?

Debz

[JStockley]

how do we know that Lilly is not Lyle Boswell ?

Debz

Hi Debz ..... Because  Lyle Boswell (Walter 's wife) is Lyle Marr. she was the 'common-law' wife of Texas Jack who ran a circus in South Africa in the early 1900s. When Texas Jack died in 1905, Lyle (nee Marr) married Walter Boswell.

;-)

[deb usa]

Hi everyone

This has been a great read....

found this .....

 The Circus historical society,
Bandwagon, Vol. 26, No. 3 (May-Jun), 1982...I wonder if this magazine has pictures?

Boswell, Alfred , performer, s/o James Clement Boswell  
Boswell. Henry , equestrian
Boswell, James  performer, s/of James Clement Boswell
Boswell, James Clement , performer
Boswell, Nellie, rider
Boswell, Walter, performer, s/o James Clement Boswell

Cattle, Willie  equilibrist, s/o Comical Cattle and Nellie Boswell

there is also this re; The Cooke family
Cooke, Catherine  proprietor
Cooke, Ernestine  rider
Cooke,  Leicester  performer

I lived in South Africa foir 20 years and remember going to the Boswell-Wilkes circus 

Hi everyone

just noticed that the Circus Historical Soc. has ALFRED as a s/o John Clement Boswell ...

The CHS mentions all the children Jim has stated except they have an 'extra' son and no mention of Lily

deb

[jorose]

On Lily's side, Google Books does mention in 1918 an "Alfred Whitmee", manager of a portable theatre. 

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/
 - if you search for Whitmee, Alfred in the phrase box, you'll find a bankruptcy case from 1888 - listing him as clerk to a circus proprietor, late coffee house keeper, 22 Kenilworth-road, Bootle, Lancashire/Alexandra Coffee Tavern, George-street, Luton, Bedfordshire.

However, this Alfred seems to have married Clara Buckmaster Chambers, and she didn't die until 1912.  They're in 1881 as "Whitmel".

[deb usa]

hi Jorose

Thanks for that! Alfred and Clara are also in the 1871 under Whitmer...you can actually follow them right through to 1901 where he is a theatre proprietor/arts.

If James Clement Boswell married Rebecca Cooke in 1850 and  died 1859 then Lilly had to have been born sometime between those dates or was JC Boswell married prior? At this stage we have not spotted Lilly anywhere!

 Alfred Whitmee is bc 1852, Bedfordshire, Cranfield.

from the first post we have this;
" Henry Luigi Boswell,  Proprietor, in opposition to his brother and Alfred Whitmee, in Oxford in 1893, in a tent. He ran a circus in Oxford, in his brother's building1894/5/6/7."

In 1891 Alfred Whitmee is in Derbyshire as a Business manager circus
1901 = Theatre Proprietor in  Fenny Stratford, Bucks
He is with his grandparents in 1861 ..it seems they were farmers.

Where is Lily ...did she even exist?

deb
 

[DJFRENCH]

well done Deb !
I had a feeling that Whitmee was going to be found under something else but i couldn't find it.
It does make you wonder about Lily ! Where is the woman , i wonder if Lily was her second name but all knew her as Lily ?

Debz . . 

[JStockley]

Regarding Lilly Boswell ......... I am beginning to wonder myself if she even existed ;-) Here is one of the many anecddotal pieces of evidence that I have, it's from an old circus book and lists Lilly as a daughter of J.C.Boswell (1826/59) and brother to J.C.Boswell II (1853/1926) ........ some of the Cooke Family tree has been re-arranged since the discovery of WWCole's will. The late Dr John Turner also obviously believed she existed, he has her listed as a daughter of J.C.Boswell (1826/59) in his book "Victorian Arena - the Performers"

[deb usa]

Hi

I wonder  if Lilly could be NELLIE..... the tree mentions JC Boswell II as being brother to Rebecca (woolford?) and Lily ...it makes no mention of Nellie.

deb