Eleanor Rayner Collection
Content Description
Small collection of souvenir newspapers, newspaper cuttings, articles and printed ephemera, relating to the Rayner family and their involvement in the Goose Fair, compiled by Eleanor Rayner.
Dates
- Creation: c1960 - 2006
Creator
- Rayner, Eleanor, Born 1938 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Items are available to view by appointment in our reading room
Conditions Governing Use
Copies may be supplied or produced at the discretion of the National Fairground and Circus Archive, subject to copyright law and condition of the material
Biographical / Historical
Eleanor Rayner was born in 1938. She was the daughter of William Rayner and Louise Rayner (nee Danter). William Rayner (often referred to as Billy Rayner) was the ringmaster of flea circus, which he took to fairs across the country, notably the Goose Fair. In an interview with the Nottingham Evening Post in 1957, he talked about the scarcity of human fleas: 'People are much cleaner and flea conscious these days'. The article mentions how he was trained by a German professor before the Second World War. He died in 1992.
William Rayner was the grandson of James Rayner, a play actor, who was born in 1849. James Rayner was married to fellow actor Elizabeth Rayner (nee Perkins), born in 1856. An obituary for James Rayner (also known as Jimmy Rayner) appeared in The World's Fair on his death in 1926. William Rayner's sister, Nellie Rayner married into another showman family on her wedding to Walter Chadwick.
Extent
1 Box(es)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Catalogued according to type
Subject
- The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain (Established 1889) (Organisation)
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Clare Sexton
- Date
- 27/11/2024
- Description rules
- International Standard for Archival Description - General
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the National Fairground and Circus Archive Repository
The University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
0114 222 7231
lib-special@sheffield.ac.uk