Washing tub drawn by geese!

This day in 1851, 14 March, Arthur Nelson, a clown with Cooke’s Royal Circus, sailed from the Chain Pier to the Albion Hotel in Brighton in a washing tub drawn by three geese - allegedly! The stunt, if performed that day, would have been part of the circus’s promotional activities for performances in the town. It is true that the circus came to Brighton a few times, and it is true that Nelson was one of the circus’s stand-out acts - he was nicknamed King of the Clowns after all. But there is, in fact, no written evidence that I can find of him performing the goose act in Brighton - except for the single sentence in the Brighton History website. Some six years earlier, though, it is very much on record that Nelson’s goose stunt caused such crowds in Great Yarmouth that a bridge collapsed killing 79 people. 

Nelson was born around 1816 in Bristol, the son of a musician, which likely provided him early exposure to performance arts and public entertainment. He began his professional life as an actor in provincial and minor theatres throughout England, as well as performing at traditional annual fairs. During these early career stages, he developed a specialisation as a ‘talking’ or Shakespearean clown, distinguishing himself from the purely physical comedy practitioners of the era. His transition, then, from theatrical acting to circus performance marked a significant career advancement - the circus world of the 1840s was experiencing a golden age of innovation and popularity.

In 1842, Nelson was engaged for the first time at Cooke’s Royal Circus, one of Britain's most prestigious circus companies. He quickly became a favourite with the Cooke family, suggesting his performances were well-received and commercially successful. Somewhere along the way he took on the moniker King of Clowns. It was during his time with Cooke’s that Nelson adopted what would become his signature performance: being towed in a washing tub by three or four geese along rivers or on the sea. This unusual act was not Nelson’s original creation but rather an adaptation of a ‘benefit stunt’ previously performed by another entertainer named Dicky Usher. However, Nelson’s rendition became so popular and so closely associated with his persona that it effectively became his trademark. The spectacle of a clown floating in a tub pulled by waterfowl drew enormous crowds whenever it was performed.

Nelson’s playbills from this period provide insight into how he marketed himself and his performances (see this Sotheby’s Playbill Lot). In promotional materials from around 1842, he was advertised with woodcut vignettes depicting him in full clown makeup and costume, accompanied by bold declarations such as ‘Mr. Nelson Will Sail in a Washing Tub!! On the River Tyne. . . Drawn by Four Real Geese’.

Tragically, on 2 May 1845, Nelson was performing this stunt in Great Yarmouth, sailing down the River Bure towards the suspension bridge when, under the weight of so many spectators, the bridge gave way. Some 79 people, mostly children, lost their lives having either drowned or been crushed by falling bodies and sections of the collapsing bridge. Wikipedia has more details about this tragedy. 

Thereafter, Nelson is known to have continued performing the stunt, so the Brighton History statement for 1951 may well have been true: ‘March 14  Cook’s Circus clown, Mr Nelson, sails from the Chain Pier to the Albion Hotel in a washing tub drawn by three geese.’ But, as I say, nowhere online can I find any confirmation of this. Nelson died at the age of 44 - around 1860 - from gangrene of the leg while touring with Pablo Fanque’s circus.