RICHARD CHIPPERFIELD

The son of James Francis and Mary Ann Chipperfield, Richard was born at Sileby, Leicestershire. He first performed in public at the age of five. He succeeded to the management of the circus in the early 1900s. In 1903 Richard secretly married Maud, daughter of Peterborough horse trainer George Seaton, in Bristol.

Richard was no animal trainer, but with his powerful frame he was a skilled acrobat, and a clown. He toured successfully with his parading show in its square canvas booth, with the family clowns, jugglers and acrobats. Then in 1911 he acquired a cinema and a traction engine. The shows were halted when the First War broke out and the family settled at Amesbury. They acquired a building which was converted to a cinema. But as the war continued their audiences dwindled. In 1923 Richard was urged by the family to give up the cinema and go on the road again. They acquired some pythons and a black stallion that performed as a talking horse. Richard gradually enlarged the show, until by 1930 it was a large booth with a ring, and with the addition of Shetland ponies. The Chipperfield's started to become well established in the traditional circus business, and even purchased an elephant. In 1933 they combined the show with that of the Purchase family, creating a large touring circus and menagerie. But Richard, having survived the war, periods of hardship and growth, creating this large concern, had a stroke in 1938, and retired from touring. He died in 1959. He had been a performer, and reluctant entrepreneur, developing the show from one day tenting to a circus with ring, menagerie, traditional circus acts and performing animals.