Explore a world of stunning spectacle: The Victorian Circus. Let's take a stroll through the dusty sands of the circus ring, and learn what daily life was like for both performer and proprietor. In this episode, we will walk alongside misfits of every kind, color, creed, and identity who used their creativity and ingenuity to create a place, not only of danger, wonder, and excitement… but of belonging.

Some stories to look forward to in this episode: Pablo Fanque: the first recorded black circus owner, Madame Ella Zoyara: a little lady with a big secret, Macomo: an African Sailor who would one day become a king and the various Lion Queens that battled lions and astounded audiences with their strength and bravery.

“ Open the gates, and draw the curtain, Here comes something fine that’s certain; Lounder the band begins to play, Open the gates, and clear the way! Enters a Queen with a King beside her; Every horse is proud of his rider, Two by two they march to the tune, And head the procession that will follow soon...”

-Mcloughlin Brothers

Works Cited:

Frost, Thomas. Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. 1875.

James Redding Ware. Passing English of the Victorian Era. E.P. Publishing, 1972.

Daily News (London, England), Monday, January 14, 1850, Issue 1135

The Annals and History of Leeds, and Other Places in the County of York. 1860.

Manchester Evening News, "A Lion-Tamer Killed by His Beasts at Bolton," January 4, 1872, p. 2

Unknown. The Circus Procession. New York, Mcloughlin Brothers, 1888, www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2003juv12208/. Accessed 28 June 2024.

“V&a · the Story of Circus.” Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A, 2011, www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-story-of-circus.

Burning, Boiling and Beheadings, Oh my! The evolution of the Victorian capital punishment system will surely knock your socks off.

So, call a carriage and break out your best cigars, as we navigate the eerily quiet, early morning streets of London to attend a public execution.

The Devil's Dinner Hour is a one-woman show, written, performed and produced by Evelyn James. ©

Music By: Fesliyan Studios

Like the podcast? Please show your support by visiting my Patreon at https://patreon.com/devilsdinnerhour

Works Cited:

Ackroyd, Peter. London : The Biography. London, Vintage, 2009.

Berry, James. "My Experiences as an Executioner." London : P. Lund, [1892]

Bruce, Alison. Billington. The History Press, 24 Oct. 2011.

Dickens, Charles. “Horsemonger Lane Letters.” The Times, 13 Nov. 1849.

Flanders, Judith. The Victorian City. Macmillan, 15 July 2014.

Higgs, Michelle. “Victorian Capitol Punishment: When Hanging Was a Day Out.” A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England, 17 July 2019, visitvictorianengland.com/2019/07/17/victorian-capital-punishment-when-a-hanging-was-a-day-out/. Accessed 20 Dec. 2023.

McGowen, Randall. Journal of British Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 257 - 282DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/386055

Payn, James. Lights and Shadows of London Life. 1867.

William Makepeace Thackeray. Sketches and Travels in London. 1856.

Prepare yourself for a night of gruesome amputations, crazy drug parties, and mental breakdowns. So, sharpen those knives and put on your best blood-soaked apron as we dissect the Victorian Surgical Revolution.

The Victorian Slang word of the day is sure to leave you in knots.

Music by:
David Fesilyan & David Renda

Sources:

F. B. Smith, The People’s Health 1830-1910 (London: Croom Helm, 1979), 262

Adrian Teal, The Gin Lane Gazette (London: Unbound, 2014).

John Eric Erichsen, On Hospitalism and the Causes of Death after Operations (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874), 98.

Lindsey Fitzharris, Houses of Death: Walking the Wards of a Victorian Hospital, 2017 https://www.drlindseyfitzharris.com/2017/03/24/houses-of-death-walking-the-wards-of-a-victorian-hospital/

Karen Rosa Hammerschlag “The Gentleman Artist- Surgeon in Late Victorian Group Portraiture” 2013
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5125553/

Vipin K Gupta, Chhavi Saini, Meher Oberoi, Gagan Kalra, Md Imran Nas. "Semmelweis Reflex: An Age-Old Prejudice "

Hugh Small, “Florence Nightingale and the Germ Theory of Disease” 2018.

H. Laing Gordon. Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811-1870)

The Christmas tradition of sharing ghost stories was beloved by many in Victorian England. So, put on your warmest clothing as we explore a Victorian mid-winter, when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Where ghosts roam and Scrooge groans a very un-merry, Humbug!

Music By: David Fesilyan

tag: Victorian History

Sources:

Wilde, Oscar "The Soul of a Man Under Socialism" 1891

Picard, Liza. “Education in Victorian Britain.” The British Library. The British Library, 2014. Web. 15 Nov 2016.

Lloyd, Amy J.: “Education, Literacy and the Reading Public.” British Library Newspapers.Detroit: Gale, 2007

London Weather J.H. Brazell HMSO (Meteorological Office) 1968

Roll up your sleeves, and let’s carve into the Victorian’s fascination and love for tattoos- that crossed both class and gender divides, empowering men and women alike to live their best lives and turn their bodies into living, breathing works of art. This episode has got liars, tigers and fairs, oh my!

The Victorian slang term of the day will leave you asking for some baby powder.

Sources:

Dawson, Rachel. Inking the Victorians: The Story of Sutherland Macdonald- Britain's First Professional Tattooist.

Nyssen, Carmen. Tom Riley : "The Making of a Tattooist"

Stewart, Jessica. "Amazing Photos Reveal the Work of Britain's First Tattoo Artist in Victorian Times"

Hartog, Kristenden "The Fashionable Craze of Today: A Victorian Tattoo Artist"

"Died After Being Tattooed- A Mysterious Death." Eastern Evening News, 6 April, 1899.

"Tattooing Among the Aristocracy." Nottingham Journal, 7 April, 1899.

“Tatooist’s Exciting Adventure.” Belfast News-Letter, 17 April, 1906.

Music by:
David Fesilyan & David Renda

Tonight's episode will be about the noble art of bodysnatching... with some murder and mayhem thrown in for good measure. There will be tales of graveyard hi-jinks, friendships to die for, and close curtain calls with death. So, please grab your nearest shovel so we can dig into the dark dealings of death and how much doctors were willing to pay in the name of science and discovery.

Music By: David Fesilyan & David Renda

Sources:

Sappol, Michael. “A Traffic of Dead Bodies: Anatomy and Embodied Social Identity in Nineteeth Century America.”

Fitzharris, Lindsey “Coffin Collars and Cemetery Guns: Fortifying the Dead Against Bodysnatchers”

Hamlin, Hannibal. Yale Journal of Biology. “The Dissection Riot of 1824 and the Conneticut Anatomical Law” March 1935.

Woolens British Gazette. October 13, 1822. ‘Advertisement for Bridgeman’s Patent Wrought- Iron Coffin’

Ofgang, Eric. “When Yale Medical Students Robbed a Grave for Science New Haven Erupted in Fury” March 19, 2018 conneticutmag.com

National Museum of Civil War Medicine “A Brief History of American Anatomy Riots”. February 12, 2017. www.civilwarmed.org

Haas, Maya Wei. How Fetus Dissections in the Victorian Era Helped Shape Today’s Abortion Wars. Smithsonian Magazine.

Jones, Richard. ‘The Iron Coffin’ May 21, 2016

‘The Raven Report’ theravenreport.com September 18, 2017 “Welcome to the Grim Underworld of the Resurrectionist”

Richardson, Ruth. “Death, Dissection and the Destitute”

Documentaries:

Magnus Magnussen Investigates: Burke & Hare: Throughout the 18th Century. Living Legends. BBC. 1979.

Dan Cruickshank Investigates: From Bodysnatching to Burning: Victorian Way of Death Documentary. BBC Two. Timewatch. 2001.

Histories Mysteries: Bodysnatchers. History Channel. 2000.

Tonight, do I have a trick or treat, for you! I’ll be carving my way into all the juicy bits and bobs that make up a Victorian Halloween. If you’re ready for a night of fiery fruity fun, then look no further. There’s a bowl of flaming raisins with your name on it. Looking for love? Who needs Tinder, when you’ve got the Magic Mirror Game. Nothing like the ghostly apparition of a future flame to set your heart ablaze. If you haven’t guessed already, this will be a fun one.

Music: David Fesilyan & David Renda

Sources:

Beard, Linda. How to Amuse Yourself and Others. New York: Scribner & Sons, 1893.
Chambers, Robert. Ed. The Book of Days. London: W. R. Chambers, 1832.
“Halloween at Balmoral” Staffordshire Sentinel. Staffordshire, England. Friday 06 November 1874.
Ingalls’ Home and Art Magazine. Vol. IV. Nov. 1890 to Oct. 1891. Lynn, Mass: J. F. Ingalls, 1891.
Miller, Hugh. Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1876.

Matthews, Mimi. "A Victorian Halloween Party" 2015.

Death, Daguerrotypes, and Posing Stands, Oh My! Tonights episode is all about the wonderfully disturbing world of postmortem photography. So grab a spoon to lift up those eyelids as we explore death in all of its copper-coated glory and expose some myths in the process.

The Victorian word of the day is sure to leave you feeling a bit buzzed.

(An example of how a posing stand was used to keep a child still.)

Susan Cantrell's website: https://dealer042.wixsite.com/post-mortem-photos

Music by :

David Fesilyan & David Renda

Sources:

A Victorian Obsession With Death : Fetishistic Rituals Helped Survivors Cope With Loss of Loved Ones. Public Affairs. D. Lyn Hunter.

Jaqueline A. Bunge & Jack Mord. Memory Keepers: Photography as a Form of Remembrance. Beyond the Dark Veil. pg. 8. 2013

Marion Peck. Remembering Death. Beyond the Dark Veil. pg. 6. 2013

Marien, Mary Warner (2002). Photography: A Cultural History. New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Philadelphia Photographer. 1875 volume 11. Page 27.

Clearing Up Some Myths About Postmortem Photography

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/victorian-post-mortem-photographs

Kelly Christian. The Unpleasant Duty: An Introduction to Postmortem Photography. http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/unpleasant-duty-introduction-postmortem-photography

Caitlin Doughty. Victorian Standing Corpse Photographs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8DxI8Pn1Uw