The double life of Edinburgh jester

Making his way to the bright lights of the circus ring, wearing a traditional jester cap and a richly decorated brocade costume, the 2000-strong crowd was quickly hushed as he raised his voice to speak, opening the night's entertainment with a short yet powerfully delivered prologue.

It was just after 7:30pm on Monday, November 8, 1886 in the newly-constructed Royal Circus on East Fountainbridge - in fact, the opening night of the building, owned by city showman and entrepreneur John Henry Cooke.

The crowd, including many elite local dignitaries, had just belted out the National Anthem in unison and the small, dark-haired jester with a bushy moustache - clearly visible thanks to more than 300 gas burners pouring out an impressive light - was Harry Dale, something of a well-known face in the city's music halls, and across Britain. But despite his popularity at the time, his story is virtually unknown nowadays. Even until relatively recently, his ancestors in Edinburgh had no idea of the showman's colourful life spent performing tirelessly across the country.

"Over a period of time I was able to put together a skeleton story," explains city writer Colin Dale, 71, the jester's great-grandson, who has been researching his family history for a new book, The Last Edwardian Jester.

"But then I wanted to put more flesh on those bones and the more I got involved, I realised there was a sub-story to be told - that of the music halls of Britain."

The Last Edwardian Jester tells of exactly that - not only the story of "Mr Harry Dale and his Musical Family", but of a society in which there was no television or cinema, or an all-pervasive press - one where, during the peak years of music hall and circus entertainment, professional performers travelled the length and breadth of the country to play for the masses, making the most of the heyday of the British Empire and the development of rail transportation. "Not many people know that Edinburgh was a major centre for these music halls," says Colin, a retired industrial chemist from Greenbank, who has spent the last nine years engaged in research for his first book.

"I think people are aware that music halls were an important part of our culture, though - they were the TV of their day after all.

"People, usually the working class, often living in poor parts of the city, used them as a form of escape from the daily lives they had to live. It was an important thing to have."

And one Edinburgh thrived on, with John Henry Cooke's Royal Circus at the fore. New York-born to English parents, Cooke was a well-known businessman in the city, as well as elsewhere in Britain where his circus dynasty was strong.

As Colin explains in his book, the Cooke family had taken the circus concept, at one time regarded as low-level entertainment, and brought it to new heights of popularity by introducing the likes of comics, vocalists and skilled trapeze artists to the stage. Originally occupying a tent on Grindlay Street, below Edinburgh Castle, Cooke's moved to East Fountainbridge when theatrical entrepreneurs Howard and Wyndham bought the land and built a new theatre on it, the Lyceum, in 1883.

It was in his new building, a 5000 facility that boasted a permanent circus facility and concert hall, that the talented performer Harry Dale became a regular.

"I have spoken with some people who can remember the building, which was where High Riggs is now," says Colin. "After Cooke retired in 1911, the building was sold to the cinema operator RC Buchanan. Cinema was the way forward."

The building was altered and later became the variety theatre the Palladium, yet closed in 1968 as television became increasingly popular. It was demolished, after a brief period as a dance club, in 1984 to make way for a block of flats.

For Birmingham-born Harry Dale, it is a sight he could never have imagined seeing, living a life that centred around music halls and circus as the main form of entertainment. It is not known how the former engineer ended up as a performer, travelling around the country for decades, before making Glasgow and Edinburgh long-standing homes.

He died aged 69 from pneumonia and pleurisy, boasting a career not only as a jester but as a singer and then a circus manager, first appearing in Aberdeen with John Henry Cooke in 1882 as a musical clown, before ending his career in Warrington.

Off stage, he seems to have lived a double life, marrying twice yet never divorcing his first wife and going on to have more than ten children, including Harry Wamba, a popular conductor, who lived in the Grassmarket with his wife, while also working with Cooke's circus.

"I think my great-grandfather Harry Dale may have been something of a Jekyll and Hyde character," explains Colin.

"I think, professionally, he was very driven and knew what he wanted and ultimately did very well, but, as a private man, I am not sure he would have been very popular. He was a bigamist, but you never know, maybe his first wife was glad to see the back of him!"

He passed his talent to entertain down to his children: the "Sisters Perry", the "Wamba Brothers" and "Lily and Albert" held good positions in the music hall world. But it was never something Colin's own father, Bert Dale, who was born in Edinburgh in 1908, knew very much about, having had little to do with his father, Harry Wamba, who was absent during his childhood.

"I knew nothing about my ancestors," Colin explains in the book. "My father avoided the subject. I pressed him hard when he turned 70 and he thought about it for a while and then agreed to put pen to paper. Once he started, his enthusiasm grew but I realised why he had avoided talking about his early years for so long. He had a very unhappy childhood."

Bert died the following year, but had managed to write about the first 12 years of his life, including the comment: "My grandfather was something in the circus although I never met him".

"Covering almost 200 years in my investigations, I have noted the many changes in society that have taken place and the effect - good and bad - on my ancestors," writes Colin. "This voyage of discovery has been a positive feature for me as I have learnt new things about myself and that must be a good thing."

n The Last Edwardian Jester, by Colin Dale, is published by MPG Books Group priced 15. It is available now from Kay's Bookshop, 390 Morningside Road, or by emailing [email protected].

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