Biography

The Sanger family of showmen started with James Sanger, who originated from a well to do farming family from Wiltshire. Farming life, however, did not suit James who left for London in his teens. While in London, James was press-ganged by the Navy, who were in desperate need for sailors to fight the Napoleonic Wars. James was just 18 when he was seized by the press-gangs at London Bridge and forced into naval service for 10 years. During his service he fought at the Battle of Trafalgar under Admiral Lord Nelson in 1805. A year later James was finally released from service with an annual pension of £10 and a letter entitling him to pursue any legal trade he wished without restrain. James invested his navy pension on a peep show, a wooden contraption in which the viewer could see dramatic presentations narrated by a showman, and started to travel around the fairgrounds of Great Britain. A popular show with the pundits was the depiction of the battle of Trafalgar, which he accompanied with his own first hand eyewitness account.

James married Sarah Elliott (1787-1852) and they had nine children, including John (1819-1889) and George aka ‘Lord George Sanger’ (1825-1911). Between the two brothers they will turn the name Sanger into one of the greatest names in British popular entertainment history and George into one of the most important British showmen of the 19th century.

John was the eldest son of James and Sarah, born at Chew Magna, Somerset in 1819. He married Elizabeth Atkins (1825-1892), the daughter of Sam Atkins, the owner of the Liverpool Zoological Gardens, in June 1848. They had five children; John (1854-1929), Lavinia (b. c1858), William (1866-1893), George (1870-1947) and James (b 1871).

George was born in Newbury, a historic market town in Berkshire in 1825.