Thomas Henry Dawson Walker (GOSH plaque)

Whimsical Walker, the oldest working clown in the world, died at his home, 42 Suffolk Road, Gorleston in November 1934. A few days earlier he was planning to appear once again at Christmas at the scene of so many of his big triumphs; the Olympia Circus. Walker had been 73 years in the circus business. Two years before his death he underwent a serious operation on his throat.  He married his wife in 1910, whom he had met when they were both appearing in a comic sketch in Southend and they lived in Gorleston after the wedding.

Walker was born in Hull in the March of Intellect, a public house, kept by his mother, who had married the manager of Cook’s Circus. As a child he played such parts as a living head without a body, when he showed his head through a trap door with great effect. As a boy he played in a country circus, when admission cost a penny, and he was a link, one of the few surviving, with the heyday of pantomime harlequinade.

At the age of eight years he performed with Pablo Fanque’s Circus, where he learnt the business of being a circus performer. When in his teens, he was called upon to play Little Willie in East Lynn and the ghost in Hamlet. On his second trip to the United States of America in 1879, he travelled by caravan from New York to San Francisco through districts occupied by little else than buffaloes and Red Indians.

In 1874, he was engaged by Charles Hengler to appear at his circus in London, where he was christened Whimsical Walker.

Tradition has it that every successful comedian's ambition is to play Hamlet. If Walker ever had that urge it was satisfied, for in about 1894, he did take the part at Olympia, though it was in a condensed and humorous version. It was a great success, and he played the part eight times a day for 12 weeks.

Walker appeared before Kings, Queens and Prime Ministers. He clowned his way through continents and visited the United States of America several times. His first visit was in 1874, when he joined the John Murray Railroad Circus and later he toured with Barman and Bailey’s Circus. While he was with Barnum’s, he purchased an elephant from the London Zoo, which became known as Jumbo.  He was in pantomime at the Drury Lane Theatre for 31 years and for 13 years he appeared at the Olympia Circus.

In 1882, Whimsical Walker opened a theatre of his own in New York with a pantomime called Three Wishes. Its success brought misfortune, for the top gallery dropped a bit when filled with people and a stampede followed, and actions for damages reduced Walker to the clothes he wore and a few dollars. He had to borrow money to return to Liverpool, where he was engaged by Hengler’s Circus.

Walker has been described as the most versatile clown of his day. He had a great talent for training animals, among them a donkey, which once escaped from a circus procession in Hull and walked into a hotel bedroom and lay down on a bed, thoroughly scaring a chambermaid. One of the animals which he loved most was Whimmy, his dog, who performed with him at Olympia.

Recalling the occasion when he appeared before Queen Victoria at Windsor in 1886, Walker related: the show took place in the riding school, which the Queen had not entered since the death of Prince Albert. Walker took his singing donkey with him and a German groom. She came to see the donkey and patted his back, whereupon the donkey turned around and let fly with his heels. The Queen said: take him away, I have had enough of him. The donkey was taken to the Royal Mews, while the band played See the Conquering Hero Comes. However, Queen Victoria presented Walker with a diamond tie pin. In 1934, he was performing when Princess Elizabeth attended her first circus.  

King Edward, then the Prince of Wales, once called upon Walker to organise a cricket match with children in which the Prince and Dr. W. G. Grace both joined in.

Walker said that: the finest thing in the world for any young boy is the circus business: you get fresh air, you get up early in the morning, you get plenty of exercise, and it teaches you what the world is.

Such was his enthusiasm for his job that he once travelled by sea to Sydney and back, in order to be the clown for five nights and two matinees. Walker was very proud of having had his portrait painted by Dame Laura Knight and which was hung in the Royal Academy. Walker appeared in films including: The Starting Point (1919), The Fordington Twins (1920) and The Knut and the Kernel (1915).

Paul P. Davies

Whimsical Walker’s great grandson, Whimie Walker