Local historian Andy Aliffe, who sometimes goes by the title ‘Emperor of High Wycombe’, has been extensively researching the occasion when the internationally known American character Buffalo Bill brought his show to High Wycombe. He has kindly allowed me to prepare this article based on his research. For further information contact Andy on andyaliff@yahoo.co.uk

Who was Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill’s real name was William F Cody, who along with P T Barnum of the Barnum & Bailey circus fame, were the greatest American showmen of the nineteenth century.

Cody’s early life embodies and symbolises the history of the American Wild West. According to his autobiography he worked for two years as a buffalo-hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. During that time he claimed to have killed 4,280 buffaloes, so acquiring the nickname Buffalo Bill. He then pioneered the Wild West Show as a form of popular entertainment, achieving success on an international scale.

Another Cody, Samuel F, who incorrectly claimed to be William F’s son, was also involved in Wild West shows, but later became more famous as ‘Colonel’ Cody an aviator.

Early visits to the UK

Buffalo Bill’s first visit to the UK was in 1887, for a Command Performance of the Wild West show at Earl’s Court Olympia for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. This was the first public entertainment that Queen Victoria had attended since the death of Prince Albert in 1861.

Thousands of people lined the streets when the exhibition made its way to Earl’s Court. For the opening night, 28,000 were present to see the travelling history show with genuine living exhibits from the western frontier. The troupe of over 800 people included Annie Oakley the famous ‘sharp-shooter’ and many American Indians. The menagerie consisted of 180 horses and 18 buffalo, with which Cody recreated his days as a buffalo-hunter, and other animals from the American West.

It was said that “the invasion of England by Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1887 was, beyond much question, the most successful ever made by an American aggregation”. This success resulted in the show returning in 1891/2 for a six-day stop in Cardiff, which grossed over £10,000 in revenue (equivalent to over £1.5 M today), and engagements in Bristol and Portsmouth.

Two tours 1902/3 and 1904

Buffalo Bill returned in 1902 for the third time and again in 1904, which was publicised as his final tour.

The Wild West show was performed in London from December 6, 1902 until April 4,1903, then toured England and Wales, closing at Burton on October 23, 1903, having travelled 9,361 miles.

In 1904 twenty-nine Scottish venues were added to the itinerary. The show opened at Stoke-on-Trent on April 26, toured England, Scotland and Wales, closing in Hanley on October 21, 1904, having travelled a total of 10,721 miles.

Over these two campaigns, 333 performances were presented and almost every city and town of any significance received a visit. The vast majority of these were for one day only, with two performances, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Certain English regions, notably Cornwall and the North East, welcomed Buffalo Bill for the first and only time.

The performers for the 1904 tour sailed from New York in April on two ships, arriving in Liverpool after a voyage lasting 7 days. The personnel included 65 American Indians.

Twenty three acts graced the 1904 programme and amongst the new performers was a detachment of Imperial Japanese Cavalry. An innovation in the programme was the intrepid ‘Carter the Cowboy Cyclist’ whose sensational leap through space was acclaimed as “an absolute highlight wherever the show appeared”. It was a dangerous stunt and there were said to be more than one cyclist ready to perform!

The show travelled in its own railroad trains with 800 men and women, 500 horses, equipment and necessary paraphernalia. The approximate length of the carriages extended to three quarters of a mile and weighs 1,184 tons.

It was in 1904 that the Wild West show came to High Wycombe.

The show visits Wycombe

In the edition of Friday June 3, 1904 the Bucks Free Press announced that :

“Buffalo Bill with his Wild West Exhibition and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, will give two performances here on Saturday, June 11,1904. We have the assurances of the management that Colonel Cody will personally appear at both performances and give his wonderful exhibitions of equestrianism and markmanship which have made the name ‘Buffalo Bill’ famous.”

The following Friday, the day before the show, the BFP reported that “Two performances will be given in Wright’s Meadow, Wycombe Marsh, at 2.00pm and 8.00pm” and was at pains to point out “The ‘Wild West is not a circus, but a collection of genuine representatives of different races and nations, associated with perfections of horsemanship and military skill. It is in the open air, with up to 16,000 seats covered from rain or sun so that everyone is assured of a comfortable view.”

On the big day June 10 “the Wild West party reached Wycombe early on Saturday morning and at the Railway Station hundreds of people had assembled to witness the arrival and mode of transit of the mammoth show.” To take the items to the showground, specially constructed trollies loaned from the Barnum & Bailey circus were used.

It must have been a mammoth feat of precision-organisation to transfer in the space of some 12 hours the contents of ¾ mile of rail carriages more than one mile to Wright’s Meadow, assemble it, and then put on a show at 2.00pm!

Apparently, what interested Wycombe residents the most were the Red Indians dressed in their native garb. “Many of them remained in the town during the morning, touring the shops, and making several purchases. Their behaviour, as indeed that of all the men and women from the Wild West show, was marked with splendid civility.”

As expected, the highlight of the show was the daredevil cyclist “it was amidst almost breathless silence that Carter, the cowboy cyclist, performed his highly dangerous part of leaping through space or cycling through the air on a bicycle across a chasm of 56 ft and covering a distance in the plunge of 171 ft. As he made his way down at lighting speed and landed over the chasm, the cheers were great, and they were renewed as he walked through the centre of the arena carrying a small star-spangled flag”.

The weather on the following day, Sunday was “delightfully fine” and hundreds of people again visited the Marsh. “A great amount of curiosity was evinced as the Indians bathed in the stream which passes close to Wright’s Meadow”.

By the evening all the items and equipment had been taken back to the railway station, then left for Windsor for a show on Monday.

Local participation

One resident of High Wycombe was booked to play “several musical entertainments, giving piano performances on a separate small arena stage at the beginning, during the interval, and at the end of the show”.

She was Annie Gunn from Wycombe Marsh. Andy Aliffe managed to track down two of her grand-daughters who told him that Annie was a regular entertainer in Wycombe at the time, playing the piano at the Swan pub in Wycombe Marsh and giving regular piano accompaniment to silent films at local cinemas.

Andy’s article

The full article by Andy Aliffe can be found on the High Wycombe Facebook Pages ‘We Grew Up in Wycombe’ and also on ‘High Wycombe Now and Then’.

Appeal

It is surprising that we have not been able find any further local information about this great event in Wycombe’s history, so do any readers have memorabilia, photos, or family stories about the visit of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to our town? If so, please contact Andy Aliffe andyaliff@yahoo.co.uk, or Mike Dewey deweymiked@aol.com.