The Pet of the Circus

Ethel May Harvey (1886-193) c1895 (The Queenslander, 28 March, 1895)

I was incredulous.

'A contortionist in the circus? Are you sure, Pa?'

'Oh yes. And she travelled the world. She became involved with a man from the circus who took advantage of her'.[1]

My grandfather was in no doubt about what became of his cousin Ethel Harvey.

I, on the other hand, was sceptical. I wasn't the first – and most certainly won't be the last – family historian to hear fantastical tales about interesting ancestors, and my grandfather had form! He had told me how his great-great-grandmother was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch. He had insisted that our family was related to the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley.[2] Neither of these stories had proved accurate, and I was pretty sure this story would turn out the same.

I can still recall the deep sigh I took.

'OK, Pa. Tell me everything you know, and I will see what I can discover'.

Ethel May Harvey was born on 6 December 1886 in Auckland, New Zealand, the first child of James Harvey and his wife, Louisa Grant.[3] Within months of Ethel's birth, the family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia.[4] James found employment at 'The Age' newspaper as a machinist, earning 45 shillings per week, and in 1888 he and Louisa welcomed their second child, Cecil, into the world.[5]

 Tragedy struck when Louisa died on 9 March 1890 in the Melbourne Hospital from phthisis and diarrhoea, aged twenty-two. The details on her death certificate are sparse: the duration of her illness was unknown, her parents' names were unknown, as was her marital status.[6]  Taken with the fact that she died from a wasting disease, this suggests a vagrant woman discovered on the streets, a picture at odds with the family situation we know existed. Whatever the reality of these tragic events, James was now a widower with two young children.

Caring for two young children proved too much for James, and he sent Ethel to live with a man named Sam Bernard, apparently Ethel's uncle.[7]

How did Ethel feel about her situation? She was four years old, her mother had vanished from her life, and her father had given her away. It's tempting to visualise a traumatised, withdrawn, and frightened little girl. However, the truth of the matter appears to have been quite different.

Sam Bernard was a circus man, and when he and his wife took Ethel in, they began training her for circus work. Ethel took to this life with gusto, as she explained herself in 1895.

'My mother died, and my father, who is a printer's machinist, could not look after me, so uncle and auntie took charge of me. I was very sickly then but as soon as I began to train for circus work, I got so stout and strong, and such a good colour! I love my work. I do believe I would die if I was forced to leave the ring'.[8]

Ethel was billed as 'La Petite Ethele, the baby trapezist of Woodloch's circus'. Her skills as a contortionist soon surpassed her skills in the air, and it was for her contortionist act that she became famous. She toured with Woodloch's circus in Brisbane and Sydney in 1895, and by 1896 she and Sam had returned to Auckland.[9]

Sam now had his own circus, and Ethel was the star attraction. Bernard's Circus toured New Zealand for the next four years, from Auckland in the north, to Hawke’s Bay in the east, and Otago in the south.[10]

Around 1905, Ethel married Bert Packer, a jockey and circus rider.[11] They began appearing in circuses together across New Zealand around 1910, with Ethel billed as 'the great lady contortionist of the world', with a 'big Australian and American reputation'.[12]

Bert seems to have been an unreliable and possibly untrustworthy spouse. In 1910 he was jailed for seven days for a 'grossly indecent act'.[13] In 1917 he was conscripted into compulsory military service, which required him to be unmarried or married with no children under sixteen. He fitted none of these criteria.[14]

Bert died in 1918 of influenza, ten months after the birth of their fourth child.[15] Whatever Ethel's feelings about the death of her husband, she must have worried about how she would support her young family. In 1921 she married again to William Sewell.[16] The birth of their son two months later suggests they may have been living as man and wife for some time, which would have offered Ethel and her children the support they needed.[17]

Ethel died of carcinoma of the uterus in 1930, aged forty-three, after a fascinating and adventurous life.[18]

For once, my grandfather had been right. It's always saddened me that he did not live long enough to know that I had proved him right, but in truth, it probably wouldn't have made any difference to him. He had been in no doubt at all.

References

[1] Philip McKinley, interview by Teresa Collis, handwritten notes, 15 June 1993, original held by the author.

[2] Philip McKinley, interview by Teresa Collis

[3] Birth certificate of Ethel May Harvey, born 6 December 1886, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New Zealand, 77/1887.

[4] Birth certificate of Cecil John Harvey, born 26 November 1888, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria, Department of Justice, Victoria, Australia, 5287/1888.

[5] Age archivist, phone interview by Teresa Collis, handwritten notes, 25 January 1994, original held by the author; Birth certificate of Cecil John Harvey.

[6] Death certificate of Louisa Harvey, died 9 March 1890, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria, Department of Justice, Victoria, Australia, 3239/1890.

[7] ‘The Pet of the Circus’, Queenslander, 23 March 1895, p. 553, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21630357. 

[8] ‘The Pet of the Circus’.

[9] ‘The Pet of the Circus’; ‘Bernard’s Circus’, Auckland Star, 2 January 1896, p. 4, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18960102.2.14.

[10] ‘Bernard’s Circus’; ‘City Hall’ Otago Daily Times, 3 August 1896, p. 3, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18960803.2.45; ‘Amusements: Bernard’s Circus’, Hawke’s Bay Herald, 7 October 1899, p. 2, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18991007.2.10.

[11] Death certificate of Bert Packer, died 16 November 1918, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New Zealand, 10523/1918.

[12] ‘M’Mahon’s Circus’, Tuapeka Times, 2 March 1910. p. 3, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TT19100302.2.19; ‘M’Mahon Bros Circus’, Greymouth Evening Star, 19 April 1910, p. 3, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GEST19100419.2.20; ‘McMahon’s Circus’, Northern Advocate, 18 January 1912, p. 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19120118.2.25; ‘McMahon’s Circus’, Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 24 January 1912, p. 3, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/KWE19120124.2.12.

[13] New Zealand Police Gazette, November 1910, p. 496, New Zealand Police Gazettes 1878-1945, Ancestry.com, accessed 5 July 2015.

[14] Entry for Herbert Russell Packer, New Zealand Army WWI Reserve Rolls, 1916-1917, Ancestry.com, accessed 5 July 2015.

[15] Death certificate of Bert Packer; Birth certificate of Beryl Grace Packer, born 2 February 1918, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New Zealand, 025187/1918.

[16] Marriage certificate of Ethel May Packer and William Alexander Sewell, married 21 March 1921, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New Zealand, 3162/1921.

[17] Birth registration of William George Sewell, born 3 June 1921, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New Zealand, 27922/1921 (index only).

[18] Death certificate of Ethel May Sewell, died 8 August 1930, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New Zealand, 2564/1930.

Bibliography

Archivist, Age, phone interview by Teresa Collis, handwritten notes, 25 January 1994, original held by the author.

Auckland Star.

Greymouth Evening Star.

Hawke’s Bay Herald.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo.

McKinley, Philip, interview by Teresa Collis, handwritten notes, 15 June 1993, original held by the author.

New Zealand Army WWI Reserve Rolls, 1916-1917, Ancestry.com, accessed 5 July 2015.

New Zealand Police Gazettes 1878-1945, Ancestry.com, accessed 5 July 2015.

New Zealand Registry of Births, Death & Marriages.

Northern Advocate.

Otago Daily Times.

Queenslander.

Tuapeka Times.

Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages.