Frank Fillis : Nuwe feite rakende hierdie sirkuslegende

Abstract

Previous research dealing with sport in the prison-of-war camps during the Anglo Boer War (1899-1902) and the Boer war spectacle at St. Louis (1904) led to the discovery of a regrettable gap in the chronicled history of a public entertainer in the class of Frank E. Fillis. The latter was described as the greatest showman South Africa has ever seen. This article is an abstract from a biography on Fillis and deals with some of the new facts that were disclosed. Research over a three-year period covered primary and secondary sources in South Africa, Britain, Australasia and the Far East. These new facts cover his date of birth (13 July 1857), his date of death (18 November 1921), the date of his arrival in South Africa (19 August 1880), the date of his farewell to take his circus to the Far East (17 September 1910), and the identity of the third Madame Fillis (Rosa Gilbert). These new facts will enrich the existing information bank regarding circus entertainers worldwide. (S. African J. for Research in Sport, Physical Ed. and Recreation: 2002 24 (2): 93-100)