Came upon this bit of Leicestershire ephemera today.
Leicestershire is the home of my brother, John, so I always enjoy delving into local history and ephemera.
This one is fun. An attempt to set up a seaside resort -- donkey-rides, pierrots -- in semi-rural Leicestershire. Date? Well, the experiment seems to have lasted only from 1905 to 1910 . Unless they are 'The Japs' subsequently at Old Aylestone ... I see Mrs Herbert of Aylestone arranging a Japanese tableau in 1913 ... and she's still selling ice-cream cornets in 1920!
'for school treats, picnic parties, Saturday afternoon rambles, tea ot hot water provided, cricket field, swings, donkeys, skittles, mineral water, ices ..' (May 1905)
I see the Sacred Heart Sunday School Treat of 1906 took place there .. then Edgar Fernie's Comedie (sic) Pierrots ('Mr and Mrs Fernie and their clever sons and daughters' Horace, Ted, Lillian &c) ...
And look! The Leicestershire Pierrots .. the Hamoril Concert Party! 'The original Leicester Pierrots'. There they are at the 'Japanese Garden' in 1910 ...
Mr Len Morris, Mr [Her]bert Wright (piano), Mr Donald M Adcock, Mr T Fleming Birch, Alfred Morley, J B Tomlin. Mr Arnold Navin (baritone), Mr Eddie Reilly (ventriloquist), Francis Edwin Godfrey who died of dysentry in Italy in the Great War, Billy Butler, Will Blackwell (banjo) ...
The group -- amateur -- was still going in the 1920s, with its core members mostly still in place. J James Mawby, H Miles Carter ... By the 1930s I think largely the name remained .. they were officially disbanded in 1929.
Bert Wright's marriage to 'Norah' Carr made the photo papers.
I had to look. And here's a little history from the local press. Founded by a group of members of the choir at St Saviour's Church, musical director: Joseph Haines. Harold Elson, A[rthur] G[eorge] Beeby municipal clerk (b 22 April 1882; d 1968), Johnny Mott, Herbert G Riley architect (b Leicester 1888; d Market Harborough, 1963), poor Mr Godfrey, and Haines's two sons, one of whom was also killed in the war. The other, Charles (d Syston December 1972), became a fire-insurance surveyor.
The rather elvish sounding HAMORIL came of course from HAines, plus MOtt, plus RILey.
[William] Arnold [Shield] Navin (8 October 1889- 13 March 1964) was a pork butcher and member of the Oxford Street choir
Donald M[ackintosh] Adcock (b Belgrave Gate, Leicester 1894- 6 January 1939) worked as a clerk to bootmakers Stead and Simpson.
T[homas] Fleming Birch (b Northamptonshire 23 March 1881; d Cuckfield 1974) chartered accountant's clerk and rising
John ('Jack') Barker Tomlin (b Leeds 13 July 1887; d Nottingham 11 May 1971) paper maker and merchant
Harry Miles Carter (d Brighton 28 February 1966) of the Leicester Amateur Operatic Society, organist and choirmaster
Leonard 'Babyface' Morris (George Formby imitations) alive 1974
Herbert Wallace Smith Wright (b Leicester 5 June 1891; d Narborough Rd, Leicester 12 January 1946) married local vocalist Leah Denorah (ka Nora) Carr. Engineer. Cardboard box maker.
William (Billy) Butler (b 3 November 1887; d Burstall, August 1982) hosiery factor, stalwart of the Leics cricket club.
