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Pablo Fanque (born William Darby 28 February 1796 in Norwich,〔Gretchen Holrook Gerzina, Editor, "Black Victorians-Black Victoriana" (Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NJ, 2003)〕 England; died 4 May 1871 in Stockport, England) was an English circus proprietor and equestrian performer who became the first non-white British circus owner in Britain. His circus, in which he himself was a performer, was the most popular circus in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a period that is regarded as the golden age of the circus. Today, Pablo Fanque is best known from his mention in The Beatles song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" on the album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.'' ==Early life== Little is known about Pablo Fanque's early life. Church records suggest that he was one of at least five children born to John and Mary Darby (née Stamp) of Norwich.〔 They were believed to have resided in Ber Street. Fanque reportedly declared his late father's occupation as "butler" on his marriage certificate in 1848.〔 Dr. John M. Turner speculates in his 2003 biography of Fanque that "his father was African-born and had been brought to the port of Norwich and trained as a house servant." Fanque was reportedly orphaned at a young age. Another account has Fanque born in a workhouse to a family of seven children. There is a debate, started shortly after Fanque's death in 1871, over his date of birth. Biographer Turner has popularized the belief since 2003 that Fanque was born in 1796,〔 The newspaper Era records on 14 May in 1871 that Fanque's coffin bore the inscription "AGED 75 YEARS". 〔''Era'', May 14, 1871.〕 Fanque's gravestone, located at the base of late wife Susannah Darby's grave in Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds (now St George's Field, part of the University of Leeds), reads "''Also the above named William Darby Pablo Fanque who died May 4th 1871 Aged 75 Years''". However, throughout his life, Fanque had listed his age in records including the 1841, 1851 and 1871 censuses of England that suggests he was born in 1810. There is a birth register at St. Andrews Workhouse in Norwich that reports the birth of a William Darby to John Darby and Mary Stamp at the workhouse on 1 April 1810.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12395-232381-86?cc=1824706&wc=9019704 )〕 A blue plaque commemorating Fanque's birth installed by the city of Norwich near the purported location of his childhood residence records his birth as 1810.〔(Norwich Eastern Daily Press 18 February 2010 ) "-Blue plaque for Norwich man immortalised by the Beatles〕 Genealogists have noted a marriage record of John Darby and Mary Stamp on 27 March in 1791 at St. Stephen's, Norwich, and the records of children born to John Darby and Mary Stamp, a John Richard on 4 Jul 1792, Robert on 27 Jul 1794, William on 28 Feb 1796, Mary Elizabeth on 18 Mar 1798 and William on 30 March 1810, and two burial records, William on 30 Apr 1797 and Mary Elizabeth on 10 Feb 1801. 〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11683-112931-68?cc=1416598&wc=MMVP-7PP:n377844661 )〕 〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12395-232381-86?cc=1824706&wc=MMBR-R2Y:n1747223836 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pablo Fanque」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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