Bertram Mills Circus in United Kingdom

Bertram Mills Circus

Type	circus

Owner
First elephant arrived	1934
Last elephant left	1964
Closed down	1964
Address	Paddington
Place	London
Country	United Kingdom
Website	Website

Directors

Key People	-: Inge Smaha (animal trainer) -: Hilary Yelding (artist) -1950: Antonin Vinicky (animal trainer) -1964: Joan Kruse (animal trainer) 1920-1925: Henning Orlando (animal trainer) 1921-1927: Baptista Mijares-Schreiber (animal trainer) 1951: Vernon Liedtke (artist) 1951-: Doris Liedtke (artist)

Veterinarians

Elephant department

Head keepers of elephants	1929-1930: Louis Reed (elephant trainer) 1929-1930: Adele Nelson (elephant trainer) 1951-1964: Gösta Kruse (elephant trainer)

Elephant keepers
Relevant literature

Description

Bertram Mills Circus, located at Paddington, in London, United Kingdom and the first elephant arrived in 1934. The last elephant left in 1964. Bertram Mills Circus closed down in 1964.

Comments / picturesBertram Wagstaff Mills (August 1873 - April 16, 1938) was a British circus owner. Originally from Paddington, London, his circus became famous in the UK for its Christmas shows at Olympia in West London. His troupe were the last to perform with live animals on the Drury Lane Theatre stage.
1934-12-18: Six baby elephants, aged between two and four years, came from Hagenbeck (originally from Burma), and arrived from Germany on December 18 1934. They were trained by John Gindl, upon suggestion of Hagenbeck to Mills, until Gosta Kruse took over in 1951 (Source: Bertram Mills, by David Jamieson, 1998) Their names: Manjoulah, Lechmey, Patho ö changed to Pulley, Kathol, Hungoly, Jennie (Source: Jim Clubb, UK.)
1938: Since the death of Bertram Mills, the Mills Circus was managed by his sons, Bernard and Cyril.
1951-1964:: Elephants were trained by Gösta Kruse.

Bertram Mills Circus in United Kingdom United+Kingdom

Bertram Mills Circus in United Kingdom United+Kingdom

Bertram Mills in England, Asian elephant Kamalachi and baby Yvonne Kludsky.

1955: Manjoulah, Pulley and Jenny were sold to Darix Togni Circus in 1957. (Source: Jim Clubb, UK.)
"Gosta Kruse showed three elephants only, Jenny, Pulley and Manjoulah (...)as the other three - Lechmey, Hungoly and Kathol - had been sold to Boswell\'s circus in South Africa" (Source: Bertram Mills, by David Jamieson, 1998)
1957: Three of the 1934 imported elephants were sold to Italy in 1957; "The remaining three older elephants went to a warmer climate in early 1957, having been sold to an Italian circus"(Source: Bertram Mills, by David Jamieson, 1998)
1960s: Another three of the 1934 imported elephants were sold to South Africa in the sixties.(Source: Jim Stockley)

1961: In early 1961 Mills were offered to very young orphans found wandering alone in the jungles of Siam. SAFARI aged approx 9 months and TAMU aged approx 6 months old arrived and were hand fed by my parents every 4 hours on a diet of chopped apples, carrots, diluted milk, boiled Patna rice mixed with glucose and Farex. My Mother hated rice pudding till the end of her days after that.
Yvonne Kruse

1964: "after Mills final tenting season "Mexico\'s Atayde Circus bought the tigers, the two small elephants and some of the horses and ponies, while the four larger elephants were sold to an Italian show". (Source: Bertram Mills, by David Jamieson, 1998)

References for records about Bertram Mills Circus

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan (2023). Bertram Mills Circus, Elephant Encyclopedia. Available online at https://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=838. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Bertram Mills, by David Jamieson, 1998
Raffael de Ritis, Pescara, Italy
http://www.twjc.co.uk/books/thecircusbook.html

Litterature about Bertram Mills Circus

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Links to websites about Bertram Mills Circus

Recommended Citation

Sources used for this article is among others:

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