Fred Abel – One of life’s characters
Camping at the road side
Over several summers, I had seen Fred Abel and his entourage camped by the roadside near Southam. One day back in the 1970’s I again spotted Fred camped on the grass verge at Kites Hardwick and pulled up to have a chat with the little man.
Fred appeared to live in a small bow-topped caravan covered by a tarpaulin and which was pulled by two white donkeys which when not on the road were tethered to a stake. He told me that their names were Benjy and Bill. He also had several dogs of indeterminate breed. A hand-painted sign on the caravan proclaimed ‘Abel’s Animal Antics’ and another ‘Fred Abel’s one man circus – as seen on TV’. I was rather mystified as to exactly what sort of performance Fred put on. After some rummaging in the van, Fred produced a number of tame white rats which he said were the stars of the show. He told me that he also had a flea circus in a glass-lidded box in which a flea rode a tiny chariot. So that was the show that Fred travelled with through the highways and byways of south Warwickshire and Oxfordshire each summer. He proudly showed me an ancient, wind-up gramophone with a steel needle and an old LP record which were used to augment the animal antics.
Fred Abel moving on
I had several conversations with Fred before he struck camp. He told me that he was a Norfolk man and that he had been on the road with his show for many years. He was a quietly spoken and inoffensive little man whose simple lifestyle endeared him to many of the people who had got to know him over the years. He agreed that I could take some photographs for the local newspaper and after harnessing Benjy and Bill and with a certain element of drama, they were gone.
In 1976 the Banbury Guardian newspaper reported that Fred’s caravan had been raided by thieves who had stolen what savings he had managed to put aside from his old age pension. The story had so touched the people who knew Fred that an appeal launched by Sir George Beaumont of Deddington soon raised more than the reported £200 that had been stolen. Fred was persuaded to give up the travelling life and Colonel Lewis from Tadmarton renovated a large chicken house on his farm in which Fred lived happily until suffering a heart attack in 1979. He died in the Horton General Hospital in Banbury in February 1982 at the age of 72.
An old historian described history as being a gallery of pictures. It is important for us local historians to add to that gallery word pictures of our own about such original characters as Fred Abel and his one man circus.
Alan Griffin March 2016 April 2017 Update See ITV Wales video interview with Fred Able from 1960 and Deddington History (www.deddington.uk) for further information on Fred
I’m so excited to see this article. I was born in Chipping Norton in 1968 and lived in Warmington until 1979. My mum had friends in Mollington and we used to visit regularly. One of the highlights of my early childhood was being taken to see Fred, his caravan and animals. Every now and then, he used to park his caravan on the Mollington/Cropredy road verge where it crossed the Banbury to Southam main road. I was always so disappointed when he wasn’t there as I loved visiting him and was deeply fascinated by the inside of his caravan which I loved to peer into – it was so dark, mysterious and inviting. For years after, I would look out for him and always wondered where he went.
That’s a lovely little story Mark, thank you very much for adding it to the comments on the article. I’ll make sure that Alan Griffin, who wrote the article and provided the other references, gets to hear about it. Thank you.
The following comment was made by Alan Griffin in a reply to Mark.
Your reminiscences of Fred Abel have been forwarded to me by Bernard Cadogan of the Southam Heritage Group. I wrote the piece about Fred. It is quite rare for visitors to the website to take the trouble to email and add to the information there and your reminiscences of Fred are very welcome. I recently published a little book of local historic photographs under the title Days Gone By and this has a photograph of Fred on the front cover (see the publications list on the Southam Heritage website)
When Fred was hospitalised in Banbury’s Horton Hospital just prior to his death, a thoughtful lady who remembered Fred contrived to harness up his two donkeys and walk them to the hospital where Fred was able to see them through the window of his ward. What a lovely thing to do for the old boy. Many thanks for your contribution to our website.
I remember Fred the donkey man. Used to visit Coates village Near Cirencester. This was back in the late 50s used to give us kids rides for small fee and put on a show with the rats and fleas. This was before he had the three wheel cart only remember the two wheel. Used to stay about a week then move on. He was always welcome and when he left you wouldn’t know he’d been. A real gent and man of the road. He must have been good to leave a lasting memory of over 60 years.
RIP Fred the donkey man
One of my big childhood memories is visiting of visiting Fred. My paternal grandfather took me to see him, which dates the visit to when I would have been five or six, 1972 or 1973. I lived in Bloxham, and my grandfather would have been in his early 70s.
My grandfather had only moved to the area a few years beforehand, but it seemed to me that they had already had some acquaintance. Which must have been struck up in that short time since he’d moved there.
When I visited Fred he was parked up on the road between Adderbury and Deddington, and it was a visit just with my grandfather and me. And the flea circus, the rats, and the donkeys. It captivated my imagination.
I got to this site just now as I was looking at photos of US eccentrics and their vehicles painted with political slogans and verses from the bible. It made me think of Fred’s wagon, and how that was painted with words, but not of a political or religious nature. And then I found this site.
That brief visit made a good and lasting impression on me. And also made me rethink about my grandfather, who moved back to this country not many years before his death, and how he had managed to take the time to (now I realise) befriend, or at least aquaint himself, with this unique character.
Many thanks Sullivan for taking the time and trouble to add your comment – its great to see feedback from people with lovely memories of the past like yours. Thank you.