Buffalo Bill visits Newport on 16th July 1903 and put on a show in Shaftesbury Park.
Buffalo Bill had been persuaded to come to Wales by the famous opera
singer Adeline Patti, who
lived in Craig y Nos Casle in the Swansea Valley to visit Britain. Newport Parks
Committee decided in February 1903 to permit Colonel Cody's Wild West Company
(Buffalo Bill) to use a section of Shaftesbury Park on 16th July,
subject to the Council agreeing that this did not fall within the definition of
circuses or menageries, which the Council had decided in April 1900 would not
be permitted. The highlight of his shows
was Buffalo Bill riding at full speed across the arena shooting targets thrown
into the air. He went on to Cardiff where over four days, he performed to
126,400 people, with families coming from the Valleys and beyond to see the
spectacle.
Evening Express 17th July 1903
THE WILD WEST SHOW.
INTERESTING INTERVIEW WITH COLONEL CODY AT NEWPORT.
Colonel Cody ("Buffalo Bill") finished up his
South Wales tour at Newport on Thursday, and in the course of the day gave a
representative of the "Western Mail" his impressions of the visit.
"Right through Wales, from Bangor and Rhyl in the north, and through the
south, I have been more than delighted with the reception which has been
accorded to the show and to myself. If for no other reason I am naturally
pleased with the excellent financial results. But, in addition, it has enabled
me to resume many old acquaintanceships and friendships. As you probably know.
I had the pleasure again of meeting Mr. Dan Radcliffe at Cardiff, and I was
entertained by the mayor and some of the leading citizens. Then at Swansea,
where on the first day we topped all previous provincial receipts, I had the
pleasure of meeting officially the mayor and Sir Robert Morris. As you have
seen, 1 stopped a week-end with an old friend, Colonel Corfield, at his Place
near Chepstow, and he is returning me the visit here at Newport today. The
first day's takings at Swansea were twelve thousand dollars (£ 2,400). I have
been very well received everywhere in Wales, and I love the scenery. Whilst at
Aberdare I got up at four o'clock in the morning and enjoyed the beautiful
mountain scenery from the door of my observation tent. No one can help admiring
the beautiful choral singing that I have heard in Wales. At our evening
performances, as you know, it is our custom to open doors at seven o'clock, but
the crowds were so great that we had to open at a quarter past six and the
people passed the time of waiting by singing. It was very impressive. I was
very much struck with 'Sospan Fach' by the big audience at Llanelly, and there
was another thing that the people sang which I had always thought was American.
I mean 'Break the News to Mother.' That I had believed was produced at the time
of the American and Spanish War. But, of course, it is possible that we may
have written the words round an old Welsh melody. Here, at Newport, we have had
today about the poorest matinee I have experienced in the tour, except,
perhaps, at Manchester and Liverpool during the wet weather. I can only
attribute it to the fact that the wet weather again came on just as people were
making up their minds to leave their homes to pay us a visit. And it is not
unlikely, also, that we tapped Newport a considerable deal whilst we were at
Cardiff for a week." "A question has been asked," said the
"Western Mail" representative, "whether you had wild buffalo with
the show when it was in these parts some ten or a dozen years ago. "Yes, I had a herd of buffalo over
here then, and have a herd still in America, but I could not bring them with me
on this visit because your late Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Hanbury, was
taking precautions against the introduction of foot and mouth disease. "Buffalo Bill's
Wild West Show arrived at Newport from Swansea, early on Thursday morning, and
pitched on the fine level expanse of Shaftesbury Park, where two performances
were given a matinee and an evening show- exactly similar to that which had
been given in other parts of South Wales. There was not what could be called a
great house at the afternoon performance, but at night there was a very big
attendance. At both shows Colonel Cody was enthusiastically received, and keen
satisfaction was expressed. After the second performance the show left for
Bath.
Buffalo Bill crossing Canton Bridge in Cardiff in 1903
During the 1890s, the Marshes district of the town witnessed a large-scale development of working-class housing. A section of land in this area, formerly part of the Marshes Estate, had been used for recreational activities for a number of years previously. In May 1900, the Corporation decided that an application should be made to the Local Government Board to sanction the appropriation of Shaftesbury Park as a pleasure and recreation ground under Section 109 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. The area was fenced with unclimbable fencing and a public entrance gate was placed in Wheeler Street. Another gate, located in Pugsley Street was only to be used for access to the scavenging tip [to be covered with soil]. Four cricket pitches were made and were available from the beginning of May until the end of September; the football pitches were in use from the beginning of October until Easter Monday. Both ends of the ground were utilised for hockey in the winter, and rounders and baseball in the summer.
ReplyDeleteThis park proved to be the automatic choice for visiting circuses and shows. On 16 July 1903, Shaftesbury Park played host, for a day, to 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West and his Congress of the Rough Riders of the World'. Colonel W.F. Cody, on his provincial tour, brought 800 hundred performers to the town. This company, which included 100 American Indians and 500 horses, arrived by means of four special trains, before moving on to Bath the following day. A picture exists of this event, but I am unable to post it here at present.
Ray Stroud