The Killing of Lord George by Shaw Karl;

Author:Shaw, Karl;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icon Books, Limited
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

12

Elephant

In the early 1880s, if you took an early-morning stroll along the beach at Margate, you might have encountered a smartly dressed gentleman in a dark frock coat, britches and black riding boots, wearing a black, custom-made silk top hat, accompanied by what would appear to be a couple of large dogs on a leash. He’s in his sixties, but at a distance could pass for someone twenty years younger. You would have noticed his erect bearing, his shoulders pinned back to make the most of his short stature, although the topper also helps give the impression of someone much taller. Getting closer, you may have recognised his face as one you have seen many times from posters and handbills. You would have seen the hooded eyes, the imperious yet benevolent level gaze, the high cheekbones, the slightly receding chin disguised with a little beard carefully tonsured into the shape of a ring. It is unmistakeably Lord George Sanger, every inch the showman from the top of his hat right down to the lifts in his patent-leather riding boots. As you got nearer still, the top hat and the smartly tailored clothes would not be what immediately caught your eye. The thing that held your attention would be that he’s walking a pair of tigers.

Margate was the home of the latest enterprise in George’s expanding entertainment empire. It was once a playground for London’s wealthy, but railways were changing the habits of the nation and for the first time people of all classes could enjoy pleasure excursions to the seaside. Thanks to a new rail terminus, the once-genteel seaside town was now a thriving coastal resort and was making the most of a new Act of Parliament promising four new annual national public holidays. Directly across the road from Margate’s seafront there was a substantial new single-storey property known as the Hall by the Sea. It was built as a ticket hall to serve as a rival to the existing railway line by the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company, but the frenzy of railway building had exceeded need and the building stood empty. The catering contractors Spiers & Pond bought the premises and converted it into a restaurant and dance hall, but the business struggled. In 1870 the owners sold the lease to local businessman Thomas Dalby Reeve for 3,750 pounds. Reeve was a wealthy local entrepreneur, property developer and one-time town mayor. Large, stout and bewhiskered, he was the very model of a successful Victorian businessman. Having made his fortune from various family business interests, including the manufacture of carbonated drinks, he bought a brickworks, which he used to stamp his name on the local landscape by building Dalby Square, a classy residential area away from the more boisterous activities of central Margate. Reeve would soon find himself in an unlikely partnership with Lord George Sanger, building Britain’s very first permanent seaside amusement park.

It was George’s youngest daughter, nineteen-year-old Harriet, who put them together. George’s son died in

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