In the 19th and early 20th century Greater Kennington was home to many entertainers as it was a cheap place to live and close to the theatres of the West End. This fine culture of performers and eccentrics influenced a young Charlie Chaplin and other people we’ve written about such as Henry Evanian, a trailblazer in the field of cutting people in half, and also circus performers The Craggs, who found fame by tossing their siblings around a circus bigtop. And today we meet jugglers Pierre and Mathilde Chambeyron, aka The Mongadors, a family of comedy jugglers who toured the world from their base at 132 Kennington Park Road.
Pierre and Mathiide were French and worked in the circus world for a number of years before jumping the pond in 1914 to immerse themselves in a much larger music hall circuit. They started as a double act, but incrementally included their children and were amongst the first European acts to feature the passing of objects. The objects included tennis racquets, gloves, plates, flowers, and specialised clubs. This was highly choreographed and undertaken while on the floor, leapfrogging or jumping. And while all of this excitement was transpiring Pierre himself was stage right doing magic tricks. We’re not sure about the child protection issues related to throwing plates and tennis racquets at children but at least it paid the bills.
As the family matured and the children hopefully recovered from wounds inflicted by flying tennis racquets, they evolved into performing a criss cross routine, which is their biggest contribution to juggling culture (it’s a thing). When the parents retired the younger ones evolved into presenting more intimate shows. As hard as it is to comprehend, under different guises the family continued to perform until the early 1970’s, which means this amazing family’s profession persisted from the late Victorian era to the trouser suit era (below). And if you don’t have friends and need a new hobby there is even an online Juggling museum in which the family figure prominently.
