By David Cunningham.

The last two decades of the nineteenth century are marked as a defining moment in the revival of Irish culture and society. In 1884 the Gaelic Athletic Association had been established; the organisation aimed to promote Irish sports and pastimes. In 1889 W.B. Yeats published his first collection of poetry; he launched the National Literary Society in 1892. A year later, Douglas Hyde and Eoin Mac Neil set up the Gaelic League. The Leaguers primary objective was to revive the declining Irish language. In 1896 Ireland’s first cinema shows were screened by Dan Lowrey in Dublin, and in 1899; Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Edward Martyn established the Irish Literary Theatre. Indeed, by the beginning of the twentieth century Ireland had culturally awakened. The country became a fruitful and opportunistic venue for showmen and entertainers - musicians, singers, dancers, magicians, and acrobats.

With the advent of steam powered roundabouts and other innovative creations, travelling shows and carnivals increased; they were an important source of entertainment for the rural population. New and alluring forms of amusement, especially film, helped bring the Irish people closer to the modern world. One young and ambitious man who availed of this golden age in Irish culture was Henry Dinnage. An acrobat by trade, Henry travelled across Ireland, eventually establishing his own carnival and moving picture show. For five decades, Henry’sn family, ‘The Gazetts’, travelled in the counties of Kerry, Cork, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Galway providing fairground entertainment and film for the countryside inhabitants.

Later Henry erected a cinema in the small town of Rathkeale, County Limerick. By way of interviews with Henry’s grand-children; Elizabeth (Betty), John, and Pauline, and with the aid of a collection of photographs and memorabilia, this research project aims to map
Henry’s life and reveal his family’s contribution to Irish culture and society.

In 1872 Emma Dinnage gave birth to Henry Edward in Horsham in Sussex, South-East England. Henry was half a twin; his twin brother had died at an early age. Henry’s father, Joshua, had married Emma Streets in 1871. Henry was their oldest child; they had five more sons that lived - Joseph William, Francis, George Alfred, Victor John, and Edward, and one daughter – Emma Eliza. The family were of a Protestant background; the Dinnage family had been residing in Sussex for numerous generations.

Emma Eliza Emma Streets Dinnage Francis Barry Dinnage currently resides in London and has researched the Dinnage ancestry in South-East England. Barry is a distant relative of Henry - the marriage of Nicolas Dinnage and Mary Monger in 1693 is where his family line went a separate way. Although, having examined the English census and has discovered that most of Henry’s ancestors were of working-class origin – agricultural labourers, broom makers, or wheelwrights – Joshua Dinnage had some success, he was a tea and wine merchant; eventually, he opened a store in Portsmouth. Barry commented in an email to the author of this project, “Only later did anyone start to get clever”. 

Indeed, in the mid-1880s Henry found work in a travelling show and journeyed to London in search of success. He trained hard and he became a talented acrobat and trapeze artist. At that time Victorian London was a bustling city; stage shows of all kinds were hugely popular, and fairground entertainment faced competition from music halls and theatres. Henry discovered life in London was difficult and hard-hitting. Since the 1850s different acts (The Fairs acts of 1868, 1871, and 1873) had resulted in the loss of traditional sites and various fairs had been abolished in England - the fairground attractions had lost popularity among the London bourgeoisie. In his paper on ‘Country Fair and Revels’, published in 1878, Amery Fabyan noted “the relics are fast dissolving; soon the generation of fair and revel-goers will disappear also, and with it a rich mine of folk-lore, traditions, and customs will also be lost."

Although it seemed travelling fairgrounds were in decline, the appeal of the fair and fairground entertainers increased among the working-class. For sure, Henry learned that Ireland provided great opportunities for young and talented entertainers; undoubtedly, the country had a large rural and working-class population. Finally, Britain’s industrial revolution of the mid-nineteenth century was having a social and cultural impact on the island. Indeed, whether it was Ireland’s island status or the late arrival of technology, by the turn of twentieth century, the country had become a ‘fertile venue’ for entertainers and travelling shows. So, Henry Dinnage left his native England in search of success in Ireland.

At the age of eighteen, Henry travelled to Ireland with a friend and fellow entertainer; his surname was “McDonald.” Although Henry was not political, surely, his early experience in Ireland was daunting. It must have been quite intimidating for two young English

Protestants travelling through a Catholic populated countryside. In the early 1890s, Ireland’s ‘revolutionary period’ had been set in motion - the fall of Parnell had caused a political vacuum, the case for home rule had deteriorated, and Fenianism was rampant. Indeed, almost immediately “McDonald” departed from young Dinnage; he headed north! Henry remained; he changed his religion to Catholism and he became a “free-lance” performer, “gaining work in different travelling shows and fairgrounds across the country.”5 In Ennis, Co. Clare, he met Annie Mangan - she was sixteen. Betty recalled “Annie Mangan was a big woman, very strong; usually the swing boats had to be stopped with a piece of timber - my grandmother used to stop the boats with her shoulder” Henry married Annie in the mid-1890s and in 1898; she gave birth to her first son Francis. Victor (Father of Betty, John, and Pauline) was born in 1901, Harry in 1902, and Emma (Queenie) in 1904. Henry and Annie Dinnage.

Based in Ennis, through the winter months, and travelling the remainder, soon Henry learned the craft of showmanship; he had a plan; he wanted to start his very own family travelling show. From the mid-1890s, while travelling and working as an acrobat, slowly, Henry assembled his own carnival rides. Eventually, he had a merry go-around (Hobby Horses), a shooting range, and swinging boats. The early rides were worked manually, “For the hobby horses there was a wheel you had to twist around”. In the summertime, Henry travelled to Kilkee for a couple of months and than Lahinch for another few months. By the 1910s, as the boys got older, it became less complicated and the show was able to travel further distances. Henry trained his boys well. “Once you had a job to do that time you did it no matter what”. Francis was “into the making and the electrical side.” Victor was the painter/decorator and Harry, “Harry was always good with his hands.” He did most of the woodwork. 

In the early days, Henry depended on various talents to keep the crowds at the carnival intact. In the open, numerous acts would be performed by the family and travelling or local entertainers. Eventually, a large tent was made for stage shows. “In those days different acts joined shows; they often remained with that show for six or twelve months

The family orchestrated raffles - “There used to be tickets sold and small prizes given out.” Henry had started with the basics, “the family made everything themselves, my grandfather even built his own wagons.” Eventually, he had six in total. Four were occupied by the family members and two wagons were used for storage. At first the wagons were horse drawn; eventually, Henry was able to purchase a tractor and a motor car. William Casey, a resident of Garryowen in Limerick did a great deal of travelling in his youth identified these wagons as “accommodations”. 

By the 1910s, the Irish landscape had transformed to one of ‘modernity’ and ‘motion’. In 1909, James Joyce had opened the Volta, the first cinema in Ireland. Rail transport had increased dramatically, it was at its peak; the motor car was becoming increasingly familiar on Irish roads, and the use of steam powered and mechanised rides were becoming more common on Irish fairgrounds. In 1912, Henry had been advised to change his name. “When the troubles started, it was dangerous having an English name.” Indeed, by then, the Home Rule Crisis was underway. Up North, while Edward Carson’s ‘hordes’ were signing their name in blood on the Solemn League and Covenant, Henry asked his boys to help him design a display with their new surname painted on it. Thus, the family show name ‘The Gazetts’ was established. “Gazett was our travelling name”

An article written by historian Br. John Feheney on his memories of the Gazettes Film Shows

I am happy to say that I have fond memories of Gazettes Film Shows both in Ballysteen and
Askeaton in the early 1940s. In Ballysteen the usual venue for the film show was in John O'Donnell's field, opposite the Carnegie Library. The plant consisted of a caravan, in which the family lived, together with a tent with form-like seats for the audience. I seem to associate the shows with fine weather, since I cannot recall a wet evening. The main film was advertised in advance but, each evening, the performance was brought to a finish with a serial shortie lasting about 10 minutes. Each episode of the shortie ended with a crisis, thereby leaving the viewer eager to attend the next viewing to see how the problem was solved. As far as I remember the entrance fee was less than sixpence. Though the Cowboy films were very popular with boys, the general audience liked the George Formby films, with their catchy songs and occasional British music-hall double entendre. I recall attending Gazette shows in Askeaton also. The venue I particularly remember was the Green; in the general location of the present Swimming Pool.

In the absence of electric current to power the 16 mm projector, there was some kind of petrol powered motor which made a lot of noise and formed the background to the Talkie films. In retrospect, I think the Gazette family made a worth-while contribution to the social life of both Ballysteen and Askeaton. One thing it definitely did was to make us film-literate. With the nearest cinema in Limerick, where else would we get a chance to see the film stars of the period, Rudolph Valentino, Gene Autry, Buster Keaton, Claudette Colbert, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and Fred Astaire? I recall that when I went to boarding school in Cork in the middle 1940s, I was able to hold my own with boys from towns and cities on the topic of film stars only because of what I had picked up watching the films at Gazettes.
May the Gazette family, benefactors to society that they were, rest in peace!
Keep up your good work in the area of local history. God bless you.

Br. John Feheney