P. T. Barnum, the famous American showman, was born in Bethel, Connecticut, on 5 July 1810.

Barnum’s travelling fair was promoted as the ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’, and was a sensation during the Victoria era.

To give you a taste of how Barnum’s shows were celebrated at the time, here are two newspaper reports from 1884 and 1898 about his circus coming to town, which include illustrations of some of the performers.