Frank Fillis

Francis Edward Fillis (13 July 1857 – 3 August 1922) was an English and South African equestrian and circus proprietor. He is known for touring globally and for his 1899 exhibition at Earl's Court, part of the Greater Britain Exhibition, Savage South Africa.

Biography Francis "frank" Edward Fillis was born in Lambeth, then in Surrey, the son of Thomas and Esther. Fillis' was related to a number of family members who worked in theatres and circuses, particularly his father who worked variously as an "equestrian jester" and clown. Frank's mother died when he was only six and he was subsequently sent to Wales for schooling where he would first learn to ride horses. He would then work as part of a dog troupe in Glasgow where he would recall being mistreated before circus proprietor Joseph Taylor would take Frank in. Fillis would marry in 1877, the two having a son that would die in infancy.

Exhibitions Fillis is well known for his showing of an exhibition in Earl's Court that involved natives of South Africa living in mock homesteads as well as animals native to Africa. It would involve up to 200 performers as well as well as hundreds of animals, considered the largest of such exhibitions up to that point.

The exhibition received controversy at the time, with questions raised in the House of Commons as to whether the exhibition was ethical, particularly as the participants may have been transported under deceptive recruitment.

In 1904 Fillis also produced a Boer War reenactment at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition which was advertised as "the greatest and most realistic military spectacle known in the history of the world".