James Boswell

From the list of elephant persons Family: Boswell

☨ James Boswell
Profession	circus artist
Personal details
Born	1826-01-04 Halifax, West Yorkshire in United Kingdom

Dead	1859 Paris in France


Spouse(s)	1850 Rebecca Cooke

Residence
Country	United Kingdom

Locations
Title	artist 1851
Location	at Hengler’s Circus in United Kingdom

Title	artist 1850-1851
Location	at Cooke’s Circus in United Kingdom

Title	artist 1843-1845
Location	at Battys Traveling Menagerie in United Kingdom

Title	artist-1859
Location	at Cirque d´Hiver Bouglione in France

Biography details

James Boswell , circus artist in United Kingdom

Boswell was born * 1826-01-04 in Halifax, West Yorkshire United Kingdom dead 1859 Paris, in France

⚭ Married 1850 to Rebecca Cooke born 1814 .

James Boswell, born 1826, performed as a clown and horseman in circuses in United Kingdom and died 1859 in Paris.

Records about James Boswell from the Circus Historical Society

Acrobatic and Shakespearian clown. Born 4th January 1826 in Halifax, Yorkshire. Noted at Astley's, 1843, Hughes'circus 1845, and Hengler's, in Dover, 1845, as clown contortionist. At Cooke's, 1850-1, and again at Hengler's, Cheltenham, in 1851, providing mirth and Shakespearian jests with rival clown Knight. At Astley's in the 1850s. Became all the rage in Paris, establishing the English school of clowning. Also performed daring aerial acts and the 'broken ladder' stunt. Married Rebecca Cooke (1814-1898). Father of James Clements II, Henry Luigi, Nellie, Rebecca (Woolford) and Lily, All riders. Died lst May 1859, of Heart failure during a performance at the Cirque Napoleon, Paris.(Ref: Victorian Arena by Dr John Turner). The building is now Cirque d'Hiver and is still in daily use as a circus.

James and Rebecca had three children, two sons and a daughter: James Clements (J.C.) and Harry and Ellen Clara, known as Nellie. They were all expert in horsemanship.

Family

Total: 3 children

Harry Boswell. Born: ?.
James Clements Boswell II. Born: 1853.
Nellie Boswell. Born: 1858. Dead: † 1938

James Boswell is mentioned on 5 other person pagesBrian Boswell, James Boswell, James Boswell, Marjorie Chipperfield, Rebecca Cooke,

James Boswell is mentioned on 4 location pagesBoswell Circus, Brian Boswells Circus, Chipperfield's Circus, Firma Carl Hagenbeck,

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). artist James Boswell in France. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 14 June 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/person.php?id=1763. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Circus Historical Society (CHS), http://www.circushistory.org
https://studylib.net/doc/8741272/the-boswells--the-story-of-a-south-african-circus

Selected publications

External links about James Boswell

Search more with Google for James BoswellThe link will automatically include James Boswell and open a new browser window.

Search this site www.elephant.se AND Googlewith google for keyword James Boswell
OR search the Internet (with any chosen keyword you type below)

Search more on the Internet Web for James BoswellThe link will automatically include James Boswell and open a new browser window

About this documentWebsite online since 1995. This document was created: . Latest update: 2022-04-18 06:24:57 included 1109 characters with valid HTML5