Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Sanger, George
SANGER, GEORGE, known as 'Lord George Sanger' (1825–1911), circus proprietor and showman, born at Newbury, Berkshire, on 23 Dec. 1825, was sixth child of ten children of James Sanger (d. 1850), a naval pensioner who served on board the Victory at Trafalgar and was afterwards a showman. His mother, a native of Bedminster, was named Elliott. John Sanger [q. v.] was his elder brother. George, who was born to the showman's business and to caravan life, made his first appearance as a performer on the day of Queen Victoria's coronation, 28 June 1838. In 1845 he joined his brother John in a conjuring exhibition at the Onion Fair, Birmingham, and in 1848 he and his brothers William and John started an independent show at Stepney Fair; here George was the first to introduce the naphtha lamp to London. In 1853 George and John Sanger inaugurated on a very modest scale a travelling show and circus, which first appeared at King's Lynn in February 1854. Their equipment steadily increased, and Sanger's circus gradually outstripped its American and English competitors. In 1860 a 'world's fair' was established at the Hoe, Plymouth, with about one hundred separate shows — waxworks, monstrosities, balloon ascents, circuses, and the like. The Agricultural Hall at Islington was soon leased for winter exhibitions ; circuses were built in many of the chief towns of Great Britain, a hall was purchased at Ramsgate, and the headquarters of the enterprise was fixed at the Hall by the Sea at Margate. In November 1871 Astley's Amphitheatre in Westminster Bridge Road was bought for 11,000l. Soon afterwards the brothers dissolved partnership, George, who outdistanced John in enterprise and public repute, taking over Astley's and the Agricultural Hall and retaining some interest in the Margate centre. Astley's flourished under his management till its demolition in 1893. His shows there were staged on a lavish and generous scale. In 1886 he exhibited the spectacle of 'The Fall of Khartoum and Death of General Gordon' at 280 consecutive performances, in which 300 men of the guards, 400 supers, 100 camels, 200 real Arab horses, the fifes and drums of the grenadiers, and the pipers of the Scots guards were brought on to the stage. Even more ambitious was his pantomime of 'Gulliver's Travels'; the performers in which included three elephants, nine camels, and 52 horses, as well as ostriches, emus, pelicans, deer, kangaroos, Indian buffaloes, Brahmin bulls, and living lions.
Meanwhile Sanger paid some eleven annual visits to the Continent, making summer tours through France, Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, and Holland. On leaving Astley's in 1893 he toured continuously through England and Scotland. On 19 June 1898 he appeared before Queen Victoria at Balmoral, and he repeated the experience at Windsor next year (17 July 1899).
Sanger was in later life hampered by the rivalry of American travelling circus proprietors. In 1887 he took the title of 'Lord' George Sanger by way of challenge to 'the Hon.' William Cody ('Buffalo Bill'), who was touring England with his 'Wild West' show. Universally regarded as the British head of his profession, Sanger owed his success mainly to his gift for patter and pompous phraseology in advertisement, and to his influence over animals, which he tamed by kindness, forbidding his subordinates to employ the harsh methods in vogue elsewhere. He was a tireless worker, a considerate employer, and a generous friend of circus folk. In 1887 he established the Showman's Guild, of which he was president for eighteen years, making generous contributions to its funds. He was one of the last of a calling which decayed in his closing years before the rising popularity of music-halls, football matches, and cinematograph exhibitions, innovations which seemed to Sanger to be symptomatic of degeneracy.
Sanger disposed of his circus in October 1905, and retired to Park Farm, East End Road, Finchley. He published his autobiography, 'Seventy Years a Showman,' in 1910. He was shot dead at Park Farm by one of his employees, to whom he had shown much kindness, on 28 Nov. 1911. The murderer committed suicide. Sanger was buried with municipal honours by the side of his wife at Margate.
He married in November 1850, at St. Peter's church, Shefiield, Ellen Chapman (d. 30 April 1899), an accomplished lion tamer, who till her marriage performed at Wombwell's menagerie as Madame Pauline de Vere ; they had issue a son (who predeceased Sanger) and a daughter, Harriett, wife of Mr. Arthur Reeve of Asplins Farm, Park Lane, Tottenham. To his daughter he left his property, which was valued for probate at 29,348l.