Billy Waters is Dancing
Or, How a Black Sailor Found Fame in Regency Britain
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Yale University Press
Published:11th Jun '24
Should be back in stock very soon
The story of William Waters, Black street performer in Regency London, and how his huge celebrity took on a life of its own
Every child in Regency London knew Billy Waters, the celebrated “King of the Beggars.” Likely born into enslavement in 1770s New York, he became a Royal Navy sailor. After losing his leg in a fall from the rigging, the talented and irrepressible Waters became London’s most famous street performer. His extravagantly costumed image blazed across the stage and in print to an unprecedented degree.
For all his contemporary renown, Waters died destitute in 1823—but his legend would live on for decades.
Mary L. Shannon’s biography draws together surviving traces of Waters’ life to bring us closer to the historical figure underlying them. Considering Waters’ influence on the London stage and his echoing resonances in visual art, and writing by Douglass, Dickens, and Thackeray, Shannon asks us to reconsider Black presences in nineteenth-century popular culture. This is a vital attempt to recover a life from historical obscurity—and a fascinating account of what it meant to find fame in the Regency metropolis.
“A riveting tale of a flamboyant character, thoughtfully and vividly evoked. . . . The past is abundant with wonderful stories and remarkable lives that are waiting to be rediscovered.”—Alice Loxton, The Telegraph
“In this thoughtful book Mary L. Shannon sets about unpicking Billy Waters’s rackety rise to proto-celebrity to see what it might tell us about life on the edge in the early years of the 19th century.”—Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times
“An uplifting twist to a tale of resilience and ingenuity by a poor, disabled, Black immigrant in the face of enormous challenges.”—Tony Montague, Songlines
“Dazzling! Read this book to discover the dramatic life and legacy of one indomitable man, among the delights and diversity of Regency London.”—Penelope J. Corfield, author of The Georgians
“This book is a powerful illumination of the life of one of the most influential Black people in nineteenth-century popular culture, a vital story that fell through the cracks in the rejuvenation era of individualised Black British history.”—Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Member of Parliament for Streatham
“Compassionately researched, Billy Waters is Dancing provides a thrilling example of how much we still must learn about our pasts. Shannon creates a brilliant roadmap for the future of history writing.”—Ayanna Thompson, author of Blackface
“How to atone for the great imbalances of history writing and representation, asks Shannon? Her answer is simple: produce the most sumptuous, intelligent, enjoyable excavation possible, and render the marginal magnificent!”—Oskar Jensen, author of Vagabonds
“Deeply researched and generously illustrated, Billy Waters is Dancing recovers a forgotten figure and opens a window onto London street-life and popular culture in the early nineteenth century.”—Michael Bundock, author of The Fortunes of Francis Barber
ISBN: 9780300267686
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
384 pages