CIRCUS - Henry Luigi Boswell

[deb usa]

Hi all

Welcome to Rootschat, rram!

I looked back on the thread :  will recheck as Thelma is down as a typist 

Arrival in 1939 states he is 55, circus proprietor,
proposed address = 169 catherine Street, leicestershire
He is travelling with THELMA BOSWELL, 24, Typist

Arrival in 1924
Boswell, Walter L,  circus proprietor, 42
Boswell, Lyle 47
proposed address; Crows Nest, Essex rd, Leicester


It's great to have more details, rram.

Also rram may only use the PM system after having made 3 posts.

deb

[JStockley]

Thanks for that Deb. I didn't know about the '3 posts' rule for PMs .... hope rram comes back ;-)

I'm really interested in those two sisters of Lyle Marr's "Nellie and Lilly" .... it is just too much of a coincidence that Lyle's husband Walter Boswell also has an Aunt Nellie and an (illusive) Aunt Lilly !!

I also look forward to any information on their daughter Thelma. Nobody here in South Africa was aware of her.

The address in Leicester that Walter gave in 1924 and 1939 would have been for his brother Claude Boswell who had left circus and returned to England.

very best

Jim

[rram]

Thanks for the info.  I'll try to get that post count incremented!  The stupid system won't even let me read the PM that was sent to me.

[deb usa]

Hi Jim and rram

I have rechecked the passenger list re; Thelma and her dad, Walter Luigi ...

Thelma is a TypistE  ... is that a word for tightrope walker? 

I also notice the names "Nellie and Lilly" .... where was Lyle born?

deb

added where was Thelma when Lyle and walter Boswell entered the UK in 1924?

[rram]

Lyle was born in Lancashire, sometime before 1892.

I uploaded a picture I have, as my avatar, obtained I forget or know not where, of Lyle Marr in some wild-west type of show, probably Texas Jack's.  She is second from the left.

I think that Lyle and Thelma returned sometime around 1930, give or take a few years, very vague, because they were living in Johannesburg and Durban in the 1930s.

[Added on edit] I found this caption for the picture:  Texas Jack, his common-law wife, (Lil or) Lyle Marr, Clarence Cook and Will Rodgers. "... Dr Jack Boswell, son of the eldest of the four Boswell brothers who founded Boswell's Circus and whose uncle, Walter, married Jack's widow. During the long tedious journey of the circus train from dorp to dorp (before he was sent to King Edward's School in Johannesburg ), she would reminisce to the bored boy about Jack and Rogers." ZA Sunday Times

[deb usa]

Great avatar!!!

now you have 3 posts ...woohooo 

according to the passenger list of 1924, Lyle states her age as 47 ..so bc 1877.

deb

[DJFRENCH]

hello all....

what a  great update! Welcome Rram.

Debs ...hope all is well with you...sorry i have nothing to contribute. 

[JStockley]

The picture in your avatar is indeed Texas Jack with Lyle, Clarence Welby Cooke (ggrandson of Thomas Taplin Cooke, whom I mentioned earlier) and Will Rogers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers].

They say the picture was taken the day they caught and rode a wild zebra at Craddock, Cape Province for a 100 pound bet with local farmers. Rogers fell and cracked his head on a rock and carried the scar the rest of his life.

Regarding "where was Thelma in 1924" ....... I would guess at school? One of the Boswells went to Europe most years to look for circus acts etc. Usually Walter's brother Sydney Boswell. I'm guessing that this was a regular business trip with Lyle visiting family and Walter seeing his brother ?

I'm looking forward to some details from rram 

[deb usa]

I can't find Lyle in the censuses ....    Do you know who her parents were?

deb