James Ward Doughty was born in Bristol in 1818. He was a nephew of Theodore Hook (1788-1841) who was famous as a practical joker and the receiver of the first postcard. Hook was responsible for the infamous ‘Berners Street Hoax’ of 1810 (Google it!). Maybe James picked up on his uncle’s penchant for entertainment as, at the…
Tag: theatre
The Greatest Man in the World
Document Ref: ACC10188/3/27 at the Keep Archive is listed as ‘Miscellaneous Printed matter collected by Captain James Ryder Mowatt.’ Mowatt (1755-1823) was the barrack-master at Eastbourne between 1797 and 1810. He was an experienced soldier have seen action with the Kings American Rangers during the American War of Independence. The Mowatt papers include a flyer for…
A Little Entertainment
Among my family archives I have a postcard showing four dancing midgets. The card is titled “THE WORLD RENOWNED WILLY PANTZER AND HIS WONDERFUL MIDGETS”. A little research found that Willy and his theatrical troupe of acrobats and comedians appeared twice at the Hippodrome in Eastbourne in the summer of 1928 and 1929. I was fascinated to…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 