Dates

• Existence: Initiated c1850 - 1859

Biography

Ling’s Family Amusements originated in the 1850s with George Ling (1824-1884), when he moved to Alfreton from Suffolk. George created one of the most significant and longest lineages of fairground showmen in the north of England and the East Midlands.

George came from a farming community where his family had strong roots working as labourers and servants. When George moved he seek working for himself taking work in a wide range of occupations including innkeeper, general dealer or hawker and scrap dealer among others, the later occupations being very close to the travelling community.

George married Elizabeth Hartley (c1821-1871) and they had eight children John (1849-1894), Emily (1851-1925), William (1853-1926), Elizabeth (1855-1925), George (1857-1940), Susannah (1859-1936), Sophia (1861-1932) and Thomas (1865-1902). The majority of George’s children followed on their father’s footsteps into occupations typically carried out by travellers such as china and earthenware dealers and hawkers and some of them either became fairground showmen or married into fairground families. The most significant branch of the family would ramify from his eldest son John and his descendants. John and his wife Mary Ann had seven children Annie Elizabeth (1862-1940), Isabella (1874-1941), George (1877-1933), Maud (b.1881), Bertha (1884-1963), Charles Frederick (1888-1940), and Olive Emma (1894-1988).

Annie Elizabeth married Benjamin (Ben) Hobson in 1892, a bricklayer who in spite of not being from a fairground family was accepted into the community and eventually became President of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain in 1931, role which he served for three years until his death on 22 February 1934. Annie and Benjamin had five children, all of whom joined the family business on the fairground and continued travelling shows and rides around Britain well into the twentieth century.

Isabella also married a fairground showman, Enoch Farrar on 31 January 1893. Isabella and Enoch had six children but only two sons survived childhood.

As well as performing their domestic duties and raising their children the sisters were a pivotal part of their husbands’ business as it was customary on showland families, often managing the finances and performing on the shows.

When Isabella died in 1943 the business and her possessions passed on to her two sons, who continued travelling the fairs. Isabella and Enoch also raised Isabella’s cousin, Joseph William (Joe) Ling. Joe started working with Enoch on his shows at a young age, helping with the family business. He was given his first stall by Enoch after his marriage to Annie Elizabeth Julien, an employee of Enoch. This allowed him to start travelling his own small show, which grew over time to include live animals, games and cinematographs and after WWII a wide range of rides including a Steam Yacht, a speedway, dodgems, the famous Chicken Joe stall and many others. Joe achieved a lot of success as a showman and created his own family dynasty, who carried out his business after his death in 1953 under the name Ling’s Family Amusements, which still operate in Skegness and Bridlington in the twenty first century.

Another one of John’s and Mary Ann’s sons, George married Agnes Amy Hunt on 9 February 1899. They had eight and lived in a caravan in Holbeck (Leeds). George also became a fairground showman and had a coconut shy a Theatrescope and a Peep Show, which he travelled around Accrington, Sheffield, Goole and Hull, as well as appearing at the Agricultural Hall, Islington at Christmas 1907.

John and Mary Ann’s sixth child, Charles Frederick also followed the family footsteps into showmanship working as a cinematograph operator. In 1913 he married Victoria Williams, the daughter of travelling showman and cinematograph proprietor Robert Williams of Warrington, and they had had at least five children. A year after the outbreak of WWII Charles enlisted as a Private in the 3/4 Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Charles remained in the Army Reserve until he was mobilised at Pontefract on 1 June 1916 and posted to France the following day. He returned home on 1 February 1917 after being shot on the shoulder. When he recovered from his wound served as a steam lorry driver for the Army Service Corps. He spent the remainder of the war in England and was promoted to Acting Corporal of ‘V’ Company in 1918, he was discharged a year later. After the war Charles returned to his business as a showman in Derbyshire where he remained until his death.

Bertha married Harry Hall in 1905, the son of a publican from Belper. Harry was travelling a roundabout around Derby around 1911 and his business grew over the years to amass a large portfolio of rides. When Harry died in 1954, the fairground business was carried on by his son also called Harry, who later opened ‘Harry Hall’s Amusements’ at Matlock Bath.

Olive married William Henry Hall in 1921. William was the son of William Henry Hall senior, a travelling showmen and proprietor of ‘W.H. Hall & Sons Amusements’. Olive travelled the fairgrounds with his husband until his death in c1970 when she settled in Bristol. Olive and William had three children, some of which continued with the business. Their descendants can still be found travelling the British fairgrounds today.

Found in 16 Collections and/or Records: