Merchant, Billy (Little Billy), 1919 - 2001
Dates
- Existence: 31 July 1919 - 26 May 2001
Biography
William Alfred Merchant, aka Little Billy, was an English dwarf clown born in a workhouse in Bristol on 31 July 1919. Billy was abandoned by his parents as a child and brought up in an orphanage in the city.
From a young age, Billy became fascinated with his local variety theatre, the Bristol Empire, where he was eventually recruited into John Lester’s midget troupe in 1937. From this point Billy’s career as a performer took off and he started to tour around the leading variety theatres in England with several troupes.
During the Second World War Billy worked as an aircraft fitter for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. He also performed for wounded soldiers and in 1944 was engaged to work at Chessington Zoo Circus in a double act with clown Fiery Jack during the summer season. In the late 1940s he started a partnership with Jacko Fossett which will last thirty years and turned the pair into one of the most popular clowning acts in Britain and Europe, where they travelled extensively. The duo also became a household name at the Belle Vue annual Christmas Circus until Billy retired in 1979 and spent six summer seasons at the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome.
Billy became one of Britain’s best loved circus clowns and received a lifetime achievement award from the Circus Friends' Association of Great Britain in 2000.
Found in 11 Collections and/or Records:
Billy Merchant Correspondence, 1974 - 1988
Correspondence between Cyril Betram Mills and Billy Merchant, including some Christmas cards, one photocopy and one envelope.
Christopher Palmer Collection
Circus programmes and VHS tapes from Billy Smart’s Circus and Chipperfields’s Circus collected during the 1970s and early 1980s by the TV producer, Christopher John Palmer. There are also a number of promotional photographs of artistes and other ephemera related to the circus.
Circus Friends Association Collection
This collection consists of a large library of books and journals, as well as archival material including posters, programmes, photographs, films, handbills, research material, scrapbooks, original artwork and many other items of ephemera relating to British, Irish and European circuses
Correspondence, c1900 - 1999
Items of correspondence including personal and business letters and Christmas greetings.
Films, c1930 - 1990
Amateur and commercial films on multiple formats, focusing mainly on Circus but also including transport, fairs, fairground rides and other types of travelling entertainments.
Newspaper Cuttings and Scapbooks, 1838 - 2007
A collection of newspaper cuttings on circus, circus proprietors and performers and scrapbooks containing newspaper cuttings, posters, programmes and other items of ephemera, covering mainly British circuses and venues such as Belle Vue and also some international circuses.
Noel Drewe Collection
A large collection of films entitled Circusama containing amateur and professional films on the themes of circus, performing animals and zoos, and edited clips from commercial Western and comedy films. The films are in a variety of formats including 8mm, Super8, 9.5mm and 16mm and contain related correspondence and notes. This collection also contains some sound reels mainly of fairground music.
Obituaries and Funeral Cards, 1911 - 2019
Obituaries and funeral cards for George Sanger, Dame Laura Knight, Billy Merchant and Carmen Rosaire among others.
Photographs and Postcards, c1800 - 1999
Black and white and colour photographs, negatives and photographic albums mainly containing images of British circus, circus performers, animals and circus personalities but also some menageries such as Bostock and Wombwell and other associated entertainments and non-British circuses taken by David Jamieson, Lindsay Temple, Den Curtis, Capt. Middleton, Jack Niblett and other photographers.
Programmes, 1970 - 1981
Programmes for various British and international circuses including Billy Russell's, Blackpool Tower, Fossett's, Chipperfield's and the Toni Boltini's Circus.
Programmes, c1800 - 2019
A collection of mainly British and international circus programmes and some variety and music hall programmes containing circus acts.