In 1729 the Beggars Opera was performed here.
Fielding, the celebrated novelist, had a booth here many years, and depended upon it greatly for his livelihood; authorship being very ill paid and precarious in his time. Mrs. Pritchard, who performed Lady Macbeth to Garrick’s Macbeth acted in his booth.
The great Edmund Kean, and many other actors, also performed in the booths.
A curious custom prevailed, which was a greater nuisance than the Fair itself; at 12 o’clock at night of September 2nd, the day previous, a riotous mob assembled and carried a woman in procession as a representation of Lady Holland; they were called her mob, and the Fair was then proclaimed amidst the most hideous noise and tumultuous uproar.
The following day at noon the Lord Mayor, in his state coach, attended by his Sheriffs, City Marshals, &c., proceeded to Smithfield to proclaim the Fair. His lordship stopped at Newgate, where he was presented with a cool tankard by the keepers. He then proceeded along Giltspur Street to Cloth Fair. On his approach, musical instruments, consisting of drums, fiddles, cracked trumpets, broken bassoons, &c., were in readiness to salute his lordship with a grand concert. He was met by a motley group, consisting of Devils, Emperors, Kings, Harlequins, Clowns, Punch, &c., all splendidly arrayed. Upon reaching Cloth Fair, the Lord Mayor went through a house at the corner under the archway. Here the proclamation was made—whether there should be interludes or not. If the former, he was honoured with a burst of applause from the people at every booth; the concert was renewed, accompanied by the roaring of tigers, growls of bears, and the thrilling shrieks of hyenas. If, on the contrary, the Mayor interdicted shows, a sullen silence reigned for a few moments, when the indignation of the multitude was expressed by hisses, the most horrid yells, and sometimes personal indignities were offered to the Mayor. On such occasions great mischief has occurred. The Fair occupied the whole space of ground extending from the walls of the Hospital to, and covering, the site of the present Meat Market. Smithfield was formerly lined with pens, in which the live cattle were placed previous to their being sold. Here were erected the show booths, the most conspicuous of late years being that of Richardson’s; puppet shows, dancing bears, &c., were in abundance; the effect was greatly heightened by the noise of discordant bands of music, and cries of “Show them in,” “Just going to begin,” &c.
At last the Fair became such an intolerable nuisance that it was suppressed by Act of Parliament in Queen Victoria’s reign.
It consisted latterly merely of gingerbread stalls; and the proclamation of it since 1840 was made without the Mayor’s coach. In 1850, Alderman Musgrave, then Mayor, walked there with his attendants, and found no fair to proclaim. After that no Mayor attended to read the proclamation, which was written on a parchment scroll, but it was read by some gentlemen deputed for the purpose.
Five years afterwards this form was dispensed with, and Bartholomew Fair was proclaimed for the last time in 1855, after an existence of 742 years.