Wizard Jacobs II

Hi I found this page ( https://jacobstree.co.uk/2008/03/21/jacob-john-jacobs/ ) after finding out my relative Frederick William Dalton Crowther had been passing himself of as son of Wizard Jacobs. Research done by another Kenneth J Lamb as follows..

FWD Crowther (snr) married Hannah Agnes Button in Hobart TAS in 1848.
FWD Crowther (jnr) was born October 1853 in Melbourne VIC to FWD Crowther (snr) and Mary Ann Crowther nee Williams. The parents then married in Hobart in May 1855.
FWD Crowther (snr) then married Jemima Cook in Launceston TAS in 1859.

The much-acclaimed English illusionist Joseph Jacobs (1813-1870), Wizard of the East, toured Australia and New Zealand in 1855-58 and 1865-66, so FWD Crowther (jnr) would have been 12 to 13 years of age during the second visit.

With no known provenance, in October 1872 an entertainer promoting himself as Professor Jacobs, Jun, the Wizard, made an appearance in Melbourne with several other variety performers. By December he promoted himself as ‘Mr Frederick Jacobs in his Temple of Magic’. In April 1873 he was F Jacobs, Professor of Legerdemain, and by March 1874 he was promoting himself as ‘Mr Alberto F Jacobs, son of the Great and World-renowned Professor’. Five months later he was ‘Professor Valentine Alberto Jacobs’, magician, comic vocalist, musician and ventriloquist, and continued to maintain that he was the son of the great English ‘Wizard’ Jacobs.

In January 1875 he sailed from Sydney to Auckland on the Wonga Wonga and toured NZ extensively until November 1875. At about this time, FWD Crowther (jnr) married Elizabeth Clark in NZ in 1876.

After several months he again toured NZ between July 1876 and February 1878. No further NZ appearances were advertised.

He then appeared at Newcastle NSW on 31 July 1878, as ‘Professor Jacobs, the great Wizard, Musician and Unrivalled Ventriloquist in his Wonderful Entertainment of Unparalleled Mysteries’, and toured extensively in NSW.

In 1881 Frederick William Dalton Jacobs, claiming to be an Allusionist aged 25, bachelor, born in Tasmania to Professor Louis Jacobs, Wizard of the East, and Elizabeth Ann Roberts, married Anne Pearce. He was therefore, not surprisingly, NOT the son of the renowned Joseph Jacobs.

No person known as ‘Louis Jacobs, Wizard of the East’ is recorded. Though no connection has been identified, an Elizabeth Ann Roberts died in Hobart in 1866 aged 60. The parent information is almost certainly fabricated.

Thereafter, until March 1883, his performances were assisted by his new wife, and they promoted themselves as Professor Louis and Madame Louise Jacobs.

In 1882 an advertisement requested ‘The wife of Professor Jacobs, Ventriloquist … her mother is most anxious to hear from her. Address, Mrs Henry Marshall, Post Office, Ben Lomond, New England.’ Anne Pearce’s mother Catherine had married Henry Marshall and she died a few months later.

On 22 July 1883 Frederick Jacobs, ventriloquist aged 28, died at Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown NSW of ‘phthisis’ after 6 weeks in hospital.

The movements of FWD Crowther (Jnr) and FWD Jacobs match perfectly, leading to the conclusion that they were the same person. Crowther used the name Jacobs to maintain the illusion of his fake provenance.

I hope this may clear up some details that my relative made unclear.

Kind Regards

Delmer Mason