Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/456

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

374 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2 s.ix.xov. 6 , 1921. See also ' Old and New London,' vol. vi., and Thomas Frost's ' Circus Life and Circus Cele- brities.' J. ARDAGH. Astley's was burned down for the third time in June, 1841, while under the manage- ment of Ducrow. In the following year was erected the Amphitheatre which, 31 years later, in 1873, was taken by Sanger. Sanger's Circus still tours during the summer months, its winter quarters being near Horley. FRED. R. GALE. " Astley's " as a circus has ceased to exist. Sangers still continue the tenting business in the person of the grandson of John Sanger. He was in Aberdeen this summer with his circus, and claimed that it started at Aberdeen 100 years ago, but no satisfactory proof was given that such was the case. Between the Astley and Sanger ownership of the Surrey Circus there were many proprietors, the two most notable being Ducrow and William Cooke. The late George Sanger, shortly before his death, contributed a history of his family's connexion with the circus business to a weekly paper, the name of which I forget, and regret I did not preserve the articles. They were most interesting and exceed- ingly well expressed. Among other matters he described how, when he and his brother John dissolved partnership, they divided 100,000 worth of property without the aid of lawyers or valuers by simply taking share and share about of the stud and properties. If G. F. WILSON wants further informa- tion about circus matters he should consult ' Circus Life and Circus Celebrities,' by Thomas Frost, ' Recollections of an Eques- trian,' by C. W. Montagu, and Wallet's ' Reminiscences.' Mr. Frost does not mention one of the most famous of them all, Thomas Ord, but in the current number of The Scottish Field will be found a full account of this very popular entertainer. Sangers changed the name of Astley's to " The Grand National Amphitheatre," but to Londoners it was always " Astley's." Aberdeen. JAMES LAING. R. HENRY NEWELL (" ORPHEUS C. KERR ") (12 S. ix. 273, 313). Robert Henry Newell, who wrote as " Orpheus C. Kerr " and " Avery Glibun" (" A very glib 'un "), was bom in 1836 and died in 1901. BURDOCK. DR. FIFIELD ALLEN (12 S. ix. 329). He was collated to the Archdeaconry of St. Albans, Oct. 14, 1738, and held it until transferred to that of Middlesex in May, 1741. The latter dignity he retained until his death, April 26, 1764. He held in succession four prebendal stalls- in St. Paul's Cathedral: (i.) Sneating, 1734- 1736; (ii.) Rugmere, 1736-1738; (iii.) Mora, 1738-1743; (iv.) St. Pancras, 1743-1764. He was also rector of SS. Anne and Agnes, London, from 1736 till his death, and vicar of St. Paul's, Hammersmith, from 1740 to- 1751, and during the later years of his life was sub -dean of the Chapel Royal. He was the son of one Ralph Allen of Oxford and educated at Westminster, from which school he was elected to Christ Church. ALFRED B. BEAVEN. Leamington. REBECCA GODSALVE (12 S. ix. 170, 218). I may perhaps supplement MR. YOUNGER'* note by stating that, if my memory serve* me correctly, Godsalve is the name of a well- known working-class family at Wansteacl, Essex, with which parish they have been identified, I think, for more than a century. At over 3,000 miles from all my papers I cannot confirm or give details of this state- ment, but I give it for what it may be worth. EDWARD FULLER. Sarator, S.E. Russia. BATHS OR SALTING TANKS (12 S. ix. 310). It may interest MR. H. C. ANDREWS to know that specimens of these receptacles have been met with and seen in use as feed- ing troughs for pigs and other cattle in farm- yards in outlaying districts in Northumber- land and Cumberland on the line of the old Roman Wall. I came across one a few* years ago (and no doubt it is there now) at Housteads (the Roman camp and station of " Borcovicus "). This receptacle lies just outside the camp, which is situate in a bleak and isolated spot on the wild fells of Northumberland near Bardon Mill. It is of quarried stone about 5ft. long, 3|ft. wide and 2ft. deep, as far as I can remember, and with a sloping bottom. Some antiquarians say it was used by the Romans for salting their meat, but an old shepherd who was born (and lives ?) in a lonely cottage near by the camp told me his father, also his grandfather, always described it as a bath in which the Roman soldiers of the legions washed their Scottish prisoners before taking