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Hi there lovely people!

I am trying to find any information, photos, videos regarding the family from Dublin in Ireland. The family dates back to working in circuses around Ireland and England noteably Astley's Amphitheatre, the Hippodrome, and the London Palladium, names incuding Eileen, William, Jacky. I beieve Eileen was a contortionist and may have been a historian who wrote some books including "The Circus: Its Art and Its History" and "The Circus in the UK" maybe in 1957 but probably not published any more. If any one has any info, that would be awesome.
Thank you.
Ash

Check out newspapers for the places they toured. There are also theatrical papers which may have something.

The British Library hold copies of all books published in the Uk - so maybe a visit there is needed. Have you googled the books - there are companies who sell out old books.

Contact Sheffield University - they hold a Fairground & Circus archive.

Start by googling.

Then look on here in ‘search all member trees’ IF you know birth years

Contact details for the Sheffield archive mentioned by Nameslessone:

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/visiting/contact

Their collection includes at least a poster mentioning Jacky McCarton - though there's probably not a photo of him on the poster:

Printed by Parkes Mainwarings LTD Birmingham,
233mm x 367mm
Circus Friends Association Collection
178R47.750 poster
1949
Chesterfield, Hippodrome, from 31 January,
The Great Harder and his Forest Bred Lions,
Chas Hankey’s Ponies,
The Longton Troupe, stilt walkers,
Himalayan Bears in ’The Teddy Bears’ Picnic’,
Paulino Troupe, bare-back riding,
Betty and her Foolish Partner, comedy wire act,
Jacky McCartons’s Three Flap-Jacks, <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2 Elephants,
The Embassy Girls,
Jacky McCarton’s Yodelling Rangers, <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Hoop Spins on the Golden Globe by Miss Ciciene,
The 20 Wild Westerners,
Liberty Horses,
The 5 Adamrios, gymnasts,
Blue and red line illustrations of a lion, an elephant and a clown’s head,
background white, lettering red and blue,
Printed by WILLSONS, Printers, Leicester,
507mm x 758mm
Circus Friends Association Collection


But I expect you've seen that.

Yes, all of the above I had found already, I do appreciate that, I live in Canada now, I do have one family member who could try dropping in some of those places in the UK. I also did try an AI app called 'Poe' from the apple store- it is an AI chat GPT bot, that is what gave me the book information and performance locations- not sure how accurate it is if anyone wants to try that for their own research. Struggling to find library emails. I will try looking on peoples trees now i have some credit. I do really appreciate your above responses so quickly! Cheers. Ashleigh

As you have the performance locations it would be worth checking out the local papers - see the search option at the top.
You could also go to the original website of The British Newspaper Archive. You cansearch for free but the results can be most peculiar or subscribe.

I would try emailing or writing to Sheffield Uni and as k for their help.

Olympia “ SMILE A MINUTE”
The Traynor Company provides excellent entertainment in an entirely new programme entitled, “A Smile a Minute" Frank Howard, the Irish character comedian, again leads the comedy side, and he is well supported by Terry Fitzpatrick, Babs Traynor (vocalist), Joseph Quigley (Irish violinist), and Jackie and Eileen McCarton and Cecil Nash supplied pleasing vocal and instrumental music. Other good artistes were the Three gi_lll-Billy Boys and the Olympia irls. Peacock ...

Published: Tuesday 04 March 1941
Newspaper: Irish Independent
County: Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Oh wow great information, maybe ill find more information from your excellent addition from the newspaper . I may even find an image!

COWBOYS FROM DONNYCARNEY!

... is Donnycarney parishioner William McCarton who, circus artiste before the first War, worked with people like Charlie Chaplin and starmaker Fred Kano. On the top of his form, Mr. McCarton is appearing in Dublin this week with sons Jackie and Christopher. tough new routine —a somersault from a standing start to land neatly on his feet on his partner’s shoulders. From the circus Bill went to the front as a World War 1 soldier and, between bouts of the tougher stuff, was physical training instructor to the Forces. When he returned to Dublin there was a depression in show business. He went back to his trade as blacksmith. In 1937 returned to the stage by which time son Jackie, still little more than a tot, was already making a name for himself. The three recalled the circus parade through the streets in Spain. The parade was halted to let another go by—General Franco with his escort of Moorish horsemen. As he passed the McCartons mounted and wearing Western attire, the General gave them a courteous salute. Jackie made a point when he told me that he thought Irish artistes, who could stand up with the best, should be given a better crack of the whip in this country. Funniest memory? The young McCartons were doing an acrobatic rolling act around the stage when part of it collapsed and they disappeared from view! McCarton Senior saved the situation (he was made up [as a] clown) by pushing his head through the hole and poking fun at the audience. But the young McCartons who landed with a crash in the nether regions were not so happy about it! Jackie appeared in a £20,000 revue while he was still eight; billed as The Singing Cowboy while still at school; Later Chris joined the act, and before the last war the trio were touring Ireland and Britain.

Published: Friday 25 January 1952
Newspaper: Catholic Standard
County: Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Thanks Argyll!

I had found a clipping of this but could not see more than a couple of lines text. Great that i can read the whole part of the newspaper, great stuff- thank you thankyou!

ArgyllGran - this is really good information, i cannot find anything like this, and i am still looking, maybe i should pay the sites that look promising. You would of come across any photos or video by any chance. I thought i was good at research, but this is another level, well done, and to all the other kind people to have looked into this.

No, sorry, no photos - but then I wasn't looking at the actual images of the pages - only the transcriptions.

Those snippets are from the British Newspaper Archive.
I don't have a sub - I just manipulated the search terms.