Tom Duffy's Circus is an Irish family-run

travelling circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicycl ...

, headquartered in Navan,

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is Ireland's number one circus and has one of the oldest big tops in the world, dating back to the 18th century.

History

Duffy's Circus was originally founded in 1775. The Duffy family's involvement in circuses stretches back to a young

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Patrick James Duffy, who performed as an acrobat in circuses in the 1840s in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He had seven children, six of them got involved in the circus. In the 1870s, Duffy's second son, John, founded the John Duffy Circus. The family toured for three seasons before family divisions caused them to split in 1917 into two separate companies. Following John Duffy's death in 1956, the circus split between his son James and his uncle. By 1961, there was one company left which took another split, for Tom Duffy's Circus to come in existence. In the late 1970s,

Tom Duffy Thomas Duffy (4 May 1894 – 24 February 1989) was an Irish hurler. His career included All-Ireland Championship success with the Tipperary senior hurling team. Playing career After playing hurling and Gaelic football during his schooldays, ...

became the owner and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the circus. Duffy's son David is the current ringmaster of the circus and is run by his sons, Tom and Jamie, the sixth generation of performers from their family. Tom Duffy's Circus is Ireland's number one circus and includes acts from all over the world. In 2018, Tom and Jamie won a ''Silver Clown Award'' at the Monte-Carlo Circus Festival in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. On 20 April 2020, owner and former ringmaster Tom Duffy tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in his nursing home. He recovered one month later on 20 May. On 15 March 2022, it was announced that Duffy had died aged 92.

2018 Donegal circus incident

On the night of 17 April 2018, a number of people were hurt after a circus performer fell through a

safety net A safety net is a net to protect people from injury after falling from heights by limiting the distance they fall, and deflecting to dissipate the impact energy. The term also refers to devices for arresting falling or flying objects for the ...

at the circus in Donegal Town in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

. During the performance, a

trapeze artist A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...

fell through the safety net onto a number of people below who were watching the show. The performer, as well as one other person watching the show, were injured. They were taken to

Sligo University Hospital Sligo University Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Ollscoile Shligigh) is an acute general hospital in Sligo, Ireland. It is managed by Saolta University Health Care Group. History The hospital has its origins in the Sligo County Hospital which was built ...

by two ambulances called to the scene.

References

{{reflist

External links

Tom Duffy's Circus - Official Website
Irish circus performers Circuses Family-owned companies

History

2018 Donegal circus incident

See also

References

External links