In 1904 the Wild West came to Torquay.
William F Cody (1846-1917) was better known as Buffalo Bill.
He pioneered the Wild West Show as a form of popular entertainment on an international scale. In so doing, he laid the foundations for the birth of rodeo and successfully marketed the myth of the American frontier.
Some of the titles he acquired included buffalo hunter, US army scout and guide, Pony Express Rider, Indian fighter, and author.
It wasn’t until 1883 that Cody first got his idea for a Wild West Show and by the turn of the 20th century he was known as “the greatest showman on the face of the earth”.
Buffalo’s Bill’s Wild West Show continued to captivate audiences and tour annually for a total of 30 years (1883-1913).
On 28 May 1904 ‘Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World’ visited Torquay. The year before Bill’s production was in Newton Abbot on 29 July 1903.
The show was a huge production.
Some 560 men of different nationalities with 593 horses arrived, travelling in three of their own trains. A nine-acre field on the Newton Road was just large enough for the tents which could seat 12,000-14,000 people under cover. The site was just about where Asda now is.
The spectacle began with a parade on horseback, with participants that included: American Indians; Japanese; Russian Cossacks; English lancers; US cavalry and artillery; Mexican lassoers; American cowboys ‘US coloured troops’; Bedouin Arabs; American western girls; South American Gauchos; Cubans; Roosevelt Rough Riders; American scouts; hunters and guides.
Visitors to this pageant could see feats of skill, staged races, and sideshows. Many authentic western personalities were part of the show.
A particular attraction was “a thrilling and daring bicycle feat of descending from a height of 85 feet and cycling through the air over a chasm of 41 feet beside the many acts, tableaux, Indian war dances, riding of wild bucking horses, and general feats of athletic skill”.
The show ended with, “A grand spectacular effect… the realistic scene of General Custer’s last battle”. Taking the role of Custer was, of course, Buffalo Bill himself.
The showman was apparently a fan of Torquay. Bill announced to the press,
“It is the prettiest place I have ever seen in my life. It takes the blue ribbon, and I have fully made up my mind when I retire from public life to come here for a winter. It is a corker. I have been out on Daddyhole Plain this morning and it is simply splendid; the blue waters of the bay and the giant rocks quite captured me. Torquay is different from any other place I was ever in.”
The savvy impresario, of course, may have said this about every place he visited.
‘Torquay: A Social History’ by local author Kevin Dixon is available for £10 from Artizan Gallery, Lucius Street, Torquay, or:
https://www.art-hub.co.uk/product-page/torquay-a-social-history-by-kevin-dixon
