Tea Cosy

PeriodCirca 1890

Place MadeAustralia

MediumCotton velvet, silk, cotton wadding, silk embroidery thread

Dimensions11 × 14 × 3 in. (27.9 × 35.6 × 7.6 cm)

ClassificationsHousehold Textiles

Credit LineGift of Miss Ida Showles, 1941

Object number1610

DescriptionTea cosy is olive green velvet with both sides containing an embroidered yellow flower with leaves. There are also yellow, red, and blue butterflies, and a red and tan dragonfly. An olive, brown, yellow, and tan corded piping is stitched along the seams. The interior is comprised of a tan quilted cotton.
NotesThis lushly embroidered and padded tea cosy was donated by Long Branch resident Ida Showles. Miss Showles was born in Missouri in 1865. her parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Manahan Showles were circus performers. Jacob Showles was nationally celebrated as a clown, horseback trick rider, and juggler. Showles moved from circus to circus and performed for Bailey & Company, Antonio & Wilder, and many others. He and his wife adopted William Christian. The boy was performing bareback riding at the age of ten and went on to be another celebrated international circus star. Known variously as "Happy Go Lucky Billy," "Beau Brummel of the Ring," and simply "Billy," William Showles toured the world with such famous circuses as Barnum & Bailey and Dan Rice. Showles struck out on his own in 1887, opening a riding school in Long Branch, Monmouth County, where he taught trick riding and trained circus horses. In 1889-1890, he performed on a world tour which included Australia, where he purchased an embroidered velvet tea cosy for his sister Ida. William Showles was also involved in a murder trial. On December 24, 1896, Showles accidently shot Ansel Croft, a friend and bartender in a local Red Bank, Monmouth County, bar, when Showles slammed a revolver on the bar. The gun went off and struck Croft in the stomach. Before his death, Croft pleaded for leniency for his friend. Showles was tried and was found not guilty at the end of a trial held in Freehold on February 20, 1897. Showles' career ended when he broke his leg during a circus tour in Budapest. His last job was as an elevator operator in New York City. He died a pauper in Bellevue Hospital on March 31, 1924. Showles was described as "most supple and graceful, unrivalled and daring in his jockey riding act and greaet in his forward and backward somersaults."

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