Dates

• Existence: 1920 - 1967

Biography

Bertram Wagstaff Mills was born in London on August 11, 1873, the son of Halford Lewis Mills of Smarden, the proprietor of a coach building firm and funerary company.

Bertram became part of the family business as a carriage builder and only became involved in the circus through a wager in 1919 of £100 from Sir Gilbert Greenhall, a fellow coaching enthusiast, who was encouraged by R.G. Heaton, the Managing Director of Olympia to put on a first class circus after watching what was in his eyes a very disappointing show at Olympia.

Mills has originally planned to win the wager by engaging Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey to come to London for the 1920-1921 season but cancellation of the contract resulted in Mills decided to put on his own show. He rose to the challenge and the following year he presented a circus which would become an annual highlight for London audiences and introduced world class performers to the British public.

Between 1930 and 1964, and alongside his annual shows at Olympia, Bertram Mills Circus toured the country under the management of his sons Cyril and Bernard. Following the lines of excellence, production and performance standard set by the Olympia shows, according to Bertram Mills, ‘The Mills Circus will perform like professionals and live like gentlemen."

After approximately nine years of exhibiting in London, he created a tenting show which was said to have cost £40,000 to launch and £2500 to run weekly. With the crème de la crème of circus performers forming part of his touring repertoire, regional audiences thrilled to some of the leading artists of the day appearing in the specially designed German big top which travelled by their town by rail, the first British showmen to do so.

Bertram Mills’ status as an innovator and re-invigorator of the circus was heralded on both sides of the Channel. He only selected the best and most polished performers in the world and one of his major impacts as a producer was his ruthless ability to select the best five minutes of a twenty minute act. Circus historian Don Stacey lists these as part of his five principles the others being the ability to attract and convert influential people to the cause of the circus, using individual acts to promote as the star of the show with his treatment of Koringa being a case in point, and finally his ability in using publicity and marketing for the benefit of the show. As one contemporary commentator observed, 'It is not an exaggeration to say that he brought back the circus to England at a time when it seemed that it was about to quietly expire, killed by the War and mechanical entertainment'.

Mills believed in attracting and encouraging the attentions of the great and the good and following on a tradition laid out in the nineteenth century when circus was patronised greatly by the Royal Family, he aimed to make the Quality Show part of the establishment. From 1926 onwards following a visit of the then Prince of Wales to Olympia, the association between the Bertram Mills Circus and the Royal Family resulted in over sixty visits to the shows during its time in Olympia and other venues.

Bertram Mills became President of the Showmen’s Guild of Great in 1935, only the second circus showmen to hold such a position and the first and only time in its history that the position was occupied by someone not born into the business. He proved to be a successful and capable President, often travelling thousands of miles on Guild business including attending the First International Showmen’s Congress in Paris in 1937. Also this year Bertram Mills was the first circus in the world to be televised.

Mills died at the age of sixty-four of cardiac syncope and bronchial pneumonia on 16 April 1938 at his home, Pollards Wood, Chalfont St Giles, the day the tenting circus opened, at Luton, but the circus opened that evening. His death was greeted by the public and industry alike with shock as tributes to Britain’s No 1 Showman and King of the Circus appearing on the newsstands. However, the legacy he built was second to none, the principals laid down by the Quality Show with its attention to detail, model professionalism and quality of acts would be continued by both his sons and provided a template for the industry to follow.

By 1965 Bertram Mills Circus was in decline due to raising costs and the new way of competition the advent of television brought to the entertainment sector. The last winter season at Olympia was delivered by catering and hotel magnate Maxwell Joseph who leased the business for the 1966-1967 season, which will be the last one. Bertram Mills Circus closed 1967.

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