George Claude Lockhart

George Claude Lockhart
George Lockhart (c.1960)
Born	George Claude Locker 1885
Died	1979
Nationality	English
Occupation	Ringmaster
Employer	Belle Vue (Manchester) Ltd, Forte Holdings Ltd, Blackpool Tower Circus
Known for	Famous ringmaster for Belle Vue International Circus and Blackpool Tower Circus.

George Claude Lockhart (1885–1979) was the first ringmaster to wear the "pink" hunter tails and top hat, and was referred to in his World's Fair obituary as "The Doyen of Ringmasters". He was best known for being the ringmaster of the International Circus at Belle Vue, Manchester, England, and Blackpool Tower Circus.

George Claude Lockhart (real name Locker) was the son of George William Lockhart, the famous elephant trainer. According to various accounts he broadcast on radio and in his book "Grey Titan", George was brought up around elephants. However, he made his first independent performance at the age of four in a child-only cast of the pantomime Cinderella along with other music hall/circus children. He apparently played the role of the prince. When he was not at school, George spent a lot of his time with the elephants Boney, Molly and Waddy and toured all over Europe with them. His father sold his original troupe of elephants in 1901 and bought four more from the animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck. This group would be known as "Lockhart's Cruet" and would become notorious for causing the death of George William Lockhart. According to George Claude Lockhart, they regularly stampeded and it was in one of these stampedes at Walthamstow station on 24 January 1904 that they killed their owner. The elephants were sold by his widow and George Claude Lockhart went to pursue a career not involving animals. He worked for George Hengler in Glasgow with his water productions undertaking various roles until 1914.

On 14 July 1914 Lockhart began his career as a ringmaster at Blackpool Tower during their summer seasons. This was interrupted when he did military service in World War I. He returned to work at Blackpool and continued to work there until 1945. He worked for the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia for the 1923–24 Christmas season. He began working as the Belle Vue International Circus ringmaster in 1928 and worked there until he retired at the age of 90 in 1970.