Letters

The Showpeople In My Family

My mother-in-law used to tell a story about visiting family who lived in a caravan on Hampstead Heath. They remembered the excitement of going into the caravan and seeing all the polished brass. Nobody seemed to know if the family they visited were Romani or travelling showmen.

After researching the Weatherhead branch of the family, the story started to become clearer. My husband’s great grandmother was a Weatherhead, and the family had owned fairground rides and driven the steam engines to power them. Research showed that a static fairground existed in Deptford High Street, and the family owned gallopers (merry-go-rounds with horses) and swing boats.

It appears that some travelling showmen overwintered in a caravan enclosure in Deptford. My mother-in-law’s great uncle George was a travelling showman as late as 1939. It is possible that my mother-in-law was taken to visit her great uncle George and his family on Hampstead Heath, one of the largest fairs.

Towards the end of 2022 a family member told me about a book that was about to be released by Grosvenor House Publishing entitled Deptford Show Ground: The Last Permanent Fairground in London. I read it and then began a long and interesting exchange with the author.

Angela Cain’s book picks up the story from when her family bought the fairground from the Weatherheads in 1912. Very little was known about the Weatherheads or the origins of the show ground. Together Angela and I have corresponded to take the story further back in time.

I started to research the life of Thomas Weatherhead, who appeared to be the first member of the family to be connected with the show ground. His story, from that of a labourer who bought a steam engine to generate a carousel ride, to that of a wealthy and popular showman, was thrilling for me to uncover.

By using articles from newspapers of the time we have been able to take the history of the show ground back to 1879.

I have also linked up with Phil Barnes-Warden of the Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries (https://www.foblc. org.uk) and, after much scrambling through brambles, he has been able to locate the gravestones of Thomas Weatherhead and his son Alfred Weatherhead in Brockley Cemetery. The inscriptions gave me vital information about other family members.

I now have a wealth of information about the Weatherhead showmen and show women. Angela and I now plan to pay for Lewisham Council to erect a plaque to mark the site of the show ground.

Ann M