Biography

Lionel Bathe was an amateur photographer with a passion for the fairground and circus. He travelled extensively around his native Gloucestershire, the West Country and South Wales recording every visiting fair and circus from an early age, and remained committed to this endeavour throughout his life.

Lionel was born in Nailsworth, a small town in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds in 1919. By 1933 his sensibility for photography was already shining through as he started to produce some of his earliest work, age just 14.

Lionel’s affinity to photography and fairgrounds wasn’t an accident; he inherited his interests from his father, Eddie Bathe, who practiced professional photography and was a keen fairground fan himself. Eddie also had strong professional links with the fairground and circus through his work as a variety agent, a billposter, a smudge-worker, a cinema projectionist and a musician, and was only too happy to have his son following his footsteps.

Lionel’s interest in photography was cemented when his father gave him his very first camera as a young child. This strongly indicates that Eddie saw the potential and commitment in his son, as a camera was quite a pricey present in the early 1930s. To put it in perspective, a basic Kodak model cost on average £2 10s 0d and the minimum weekly salary a man could be expected to bring home was £1 10s 8d. Lionel was quick to learn and soon developed his technical abilities guided by his father. The equipment readily available to him at home, gave Lionel the edge he needed to start experimenting with early pioneer colour processes and techniques. The addition of colour to his images contributed an extra dimension and depth to his photographs and gave them a feel of modernity at a time when everyone else was solely working in black and white.

Lionel, with his kind and generous manner, grew close to the showmen and performers he so much admired and developed personal friendships with them, which allowed him to move around them and step into their private world. This is echoed by the sense of intimacy of his images and the unspoken complicity between the photographer and the sitter reflected on facial expressions and relaxed attitudes. This casual familiarity with the subjects of his photographs, whether intentional or not, has the effect of inviting the viewer to become involved with them at a personal level.

Lionel’s work shows great artistic sensibility and natural talent, he created carefully balanced compositions, beautiful and poignant at the same time. His subjects appear natural and intimate and yet his photographs are intentionally and carefully thought through and rehearsed, to portray and incite an immersive response. The viewer can easily become emotionally attached to the subjects, and drawn into their world.

His photographic portfolio has captured some of the most iconic British fairs, events and circuses of his time, including the Festival of Britain and Battersea Pleasure Gardens, Oxford St. Giles, Barry Island and the circuses of Billy Smart, Sir Robert Fossett, Chipperfield, Bertram Mills, Lord George Sanger, Rosaires, Paulo, Reaney and Robert Brothers.

Lionel produced thousands of images recording the history of this part of the travelling entertainment sector. He also produced meticulously indexed accompanying records of his work and became a respected figure amongst the British fairground and circus enthusiasts. Lionel’s work also evolved into the field of the moving picture and he was one of the founding members of the now extinct Fairground Cine Club. His films were shown in many occasions during the 1960s and his photographic work and expertise was the subject of many articles and collaborations to specialist publications such as The Fairground Mercury and the Merry-Go-Round, in which early editions he featured together with his father. Additionally, Lionel was a member of the Friendship Circle of Showland Fans, the very first fairground enthusiasts’ club formed in Great Britain in 1940, a member of the British Circus Ring, a now dissolved circus fan’s club, and a member of the Fairground Association of Great Britain from its very inception in January 1978.

Lionel’s health deteriorated later in life, the loss of a leg due to an accident prevented him from travelling and put a halt to his photographic work. In 1993 he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered and sadly died two years later in June 1995 age 76.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records: