written by J.P. Browne

In 1912/3 a branch of the famous Chipperfield family emigrated to Ireland to go work for Chadwick Brothers Circus that was touring Ireland at the time. James and Louisa Chipperfield and their 6 children consisting of 5 sisters Minnie, Pauline, Lilly, Louisa and Evelyn and one brother Jim Jnr all performers in their own right left Bristol via ferry to unwittingly found an Irish Branch of the famous Chipperfield Family. James Chipperfield was born in 1875/6 in Chester, England and was involved in traveling cinema from an early age. In the early days of film it was shown by touring showmen who would move from place to place showing whatever films they had. James’s father called James William owned one of these traveling shows called ‘Chipperfields Electric Theatre’ with his brother Henry Chipperfield. James William would accompany the film to music while Henry ran the projector. As the film business grew and cinemas started to be built they started to add acts to their show. By 1909 a boom in cinema buildings happened and the traveling cinema began to see a decline from which it would never recover from. By 1912 most of the traveling cinemas were gone or playing to small towns or hamlets only. James seeing the writing on the wall and now an accomplished knife-thrower started to look around for other opportunities so when an offer came to perform in a new circus starting up in Ireland called Chadwick Brothers Circus he took it.   

James Fairly in his fantastic book on the Barry Family ‘Fun is our Business’ found the following information in the World’s Fair magazine from 1953 in a letter written by strongman John Moriarty. He ‘claimed that the circus landed in Waterford City in March 1913 and opened on Easter Monday… Chadwick “was the real name of the proprietor’s two brothers”…who had previously worked their own act in the halls and in the tents. This implies the circus’s debut was in Ireland.” Regardless Chadwick’s Circus was up and running in 1914 and touring the country with James Chipperfield and his family staying with Chadwick’s Circus for next two years.

In order to move their entire goods as well as to have a vehicle to move around the country James Chipperfield bought a secondhand lorry to transport their belongings. The lorry which still had the name of the previous owner – Barry or Barr – painted on it. So the newly arrived Chipperfields found themselves being rechristened as the “Barry’s”. There are a few theories as to why the name stuck. ‘Minnie, born in 1900, said later “money was short and we saw no point paying to have our name put on, so we just used Barry”, while Pauline claims that their father was simply tired on people mispronouncing “Chipperfield” (Jamesion, 1997, p 18.). Another reason might simply have been that Barry is an Irish surname so it was good for business especially as the there was strong anti-British feeling in some parts of Ireland at the time and Chipperfield wasn’t the famous name that it was going to be in later decades. James Chipperfield also went and changed his first name to Ernest. No one knows why or if Ernest was his second name as a birth cert cannot be found but from landing in Ireland he was known as Ernest Barry.

In 1915 they started their own show firstly starting off in small country halls and then later moving up to a tent with a ring and a stage. This show, a Hippodrome act to fit in the halls of the day was the usual mix of circus and variety with silent films been a mainstay of their show with Pauline now acting as the musical accompanist. The silent cinema in Ireland was still a profitable gimmick with Ireland been that bit poorer and more rural than Britain. Ernest probably got the equipment from one of his relations or bought one cheap from Britain. Since his family were at this stage still running two of the bigger traveling shows in Britain called ‘Chipperfields Electrograph’ and ‘Chipperfields Palace of Light’ respectively. Through Barry’s Hippodrome many a customer had their first experience of "moving pictures" in Ireland. It would have also helped the Barry’s stand out in a tough marketplace for entertainment.

The Circus acts were also apparently first class with the Barry Outfit expanding rapidly in the early 1920’s. According to David Jamesion in his book on the Chipperfield Dynasty called ‘Chipperfields Circus’ the show included an acrobatic act by the five Barry girls featuring a somersault by Minnie from her sister Evelyn’s shoulders as she was playing the violin. “She commented, “father used to get them cheap – a shilling each at the pawn shop,” and they managed to smash quite a few of them while practicing” (Jamesion, 1997, p 18). In fact, Barry’s Circus were able to attract some of the best acts in Europe to their show such as the world famous Fratellini Brothers (considered the best clowning act of the early twentieth century), equestrian Albert Carré and in 1923 New Zealand wire walker Jack Delino.

Jack Delino stayed with Barry’s Circus for the rest of their time in Ireland marrying Minnie Barry in 1925. They had at this stage invented their own “drunk on the wire” routine which was immensely popular in the day. Jim Barry Jr. and his sister Pauline had also moved on, changing their act by developing a motor cycle wall of death show. Evelyn seems to have moved back stage into management. The circus itself was also doing well adding a Christmas Programme in Dublin at the Rotunda Gardens. Unfortunately, the two other Barry sisters had died by this stage; Louisa in 1921 at the age of 24 and Lillian in 1924 at the age of 23, both from tuberculosis.

The Barry Circus as a family show seems to have dissolved somewhere around 1926-1927 with members branching off and going there own way but the Barry family as an influence in the circus in Ireland still had a large part to play and I will cover that in Part 2.

Reference list

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