George Washington "Pony" Moore (February 22, 1820 – October 1, 1909) was a New York-born British

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impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...

. Moore was born in New York, February 22, 1820,BROWN, Col. T. Allston, ''Early Days of Negro Minstrelsy'' according to his own account the son of a

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mer who had served under

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

,''The Times'', Saturday, Oct 02, 1909; pg. 13; Issue 39080; col C for whom he was named. He allegedly acquired his nickname 'Pony' as a boy because of his small size; another source attributes it to his having been employed in several circuses as a driver, managing up to forty horses at one timeRICE, Edward L.,''Monarchs of Minstrelsy'',1910 Having first run away to the circus at age 16 he debuted in

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

in 1841 with Welch and Delevan at the Broadway Circus in New York. Moore eventually joined the Virginia Serenaders in 1844, appearing with them as a negro minstrel at the Halfway House theatre, Broadway, and later in the same capacity with other troupes. While struggling to establish himself fully in his stage career he worked as a

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and also appeared in a knife-throwing act. On June 11, 1859, Moore sailed to England, where minstrelsy had become widely popular, and there joined the Christy Minstrels before in 1864 founding a Christy Minstrels company of his own. He was a member of the St. James's Hall Minstrels and, in 1871, founded the Moore and Burgess Minstrels with his partner Frederick Burgess. In 1873 his eldest daughter, the actress Martha Isabella 'Bella' Moore (1854–1913), married the actor and dancer Fred Vokes in London; the marriage proved to be a tumultuous one and she was petitioning for divorce at the time of her husband's death in 1888. Another daughter, Victoria Alexandra Moore (1870–1911), married the boxer Charley Mitchell. He died in

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, England on October 1, 1909.Register Office, (England and Wales): Deaths registered in October, November ,and December 1909: “MOORE, George Washington...89...Marylebone: 1a 355”

References

External links

Col. T. Allston Brown, ''Early Days of Negro Minstrelsy''
1820 births 1909 deaths 19th-century British male singers American emigrants to the United Kingdom {{UK-singer-stub