Nell Gifford born Eleanor Rose Stroud (24 January 1973 – 8 December 2019) was a writer and the founding director of

Giffords Circus Giffords Circus is a traditional English circus that tours the Cotswolds every summer. it is also performing at Chiswick House. Established in 2000, Giffords Circus is a small circus company, founded by Nell and Toti Gifford, that tours market ...

Life

Gifford was born in Oxford in 1973 at the

John Radcliffe Hospital The John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-century physici ...

. Her parents were Charlotte (born Pumphrey) and Richard Peter (Rick) Stroud. Her father was a television director and producer and he was the second husband of her mother who had been Charlotte Bridgewater. Nell had three half-siblings including the designer

Emma Bridgewater Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramics manufacturing company founded in 1985 which is named after Emma Rice (''née'' Bridgewater). It is run by her and her husband Matthew Rice. Noted for their polka dot design among others, the company "Emma B ...

. Her mother was a key figure and she encouraged her children to have a long childhood. She fell in love with horses and she was educated at a convent school, before she went on to New College, Oxford. Her university place was put on hold for a year after her mother was in a riding accident that sent her into a coma and although she came round she never recovered. Nell spent a gap year at the Circus Flora based in St. Louis Missouri which had been founded in the mid-1980s. She completed her degree in English and went to work in circuses. She had a hard time at one circus but she persevered and she became a ringmaster at the French Santus Circus. There she renewed her love of horses and hoped one day to train them to do

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

. Gifford write her story of being someone who works in a circus but was not born into a circus family. These people are named Jossers and her book was ''Josser: The Secret Life of a Circus Girl''. In 2000 she was married to a farmer's son named Toti Gifford and they founded Giffords Circus which was based at a farm. The marriage ended after they had twins. In 2003 she published her second book. This was a children's book about one of the founders of the original circus,

Philip Astley Philip Astley (8 January 1742 – 20 October 1814) was an English equestrian, circus owner, and inventor, regarded as being the " father of the modern circus". Modern circus, as an integrated entertainment experience that includes music, domes ...

. Her book was titled ''Sgt. Major Philip Astley: Inventor of the Circus''. She was involved with reshaping her circus to meet modern tastes. She was awarded a £10,000 grant by the

Jerwood Foundation The Jerwood Foundation is an independent grant-making foundation in the United Kingdom. In 1999 the Jerwood Foundation established the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, a registered charity under English law. History The Jerwood Foundation was establi ...

and that enable more people to be involved with producing a show. Three important women were involved; they were the horsewoman Rebecca Townsend and her pony, the trapeze artist Emily Park on the trapeze and Isabelle Woywode. In the following year, 2004, Giffords Circus had their first themed show titled "Pearl". Barry Grantham was involved with the choreography. She knew five years before she died that she had breast cancer and in time she was given a year to live, after it was discovered that it had spread. She described cancer as "boring" and she lived her last months between hospital appointments and continuing to appear in her circus albeit with her cropped hair covered by a large blond wig. One of her last enthusiasms was painting which she discovered while recreating a Picasso on the side of a circus van. In a year she created 60 paintings which were later auctioned. Gifford died in

Gloucestershire Royal Hospital Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is an acute District General Hospital on the Great Western Road in Gloucester operated by the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History In 1912, construction on a 149-bed infirmary started on Great Wes ...

of cancer and her niece took over the circus. Her younger sister the writer Clover Stroud later wrote a book that described their life together titled ''The Red of My Blood''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Nell 1973 births 2019 deaths People from Oxford British circus owners Alumni of New College, Oxford 21st-century British women writers 21st-century British writers 21st-century British women artists 21st-century British painters 21st-century circus performers Deaths from cancer in England