Rowanne Smith
John MacKenzie (1984) argues that British imperial propaganda was produced not only by the state but also through private, commercial, and popular cultural forms. Although these forms could conflict with official policy or embarrass colonial administrators, their cumulative effect was often to reinforce imperial ideology, including racial hierarchy and the claimed moral and economic benefits of empire. Public reception is difficult to measure, but the prevalence of imperial propaganda ensured repeated exposure to official narratives (MacKenzie, 1984). Two colonial spectacles staged in Bradford — Frank Fillis’ Savage South Africa Show and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West — demonstrate how private entertainment could both unsettle and ultimately support British imperial aims (Birt, 2025; Warsame, 2022).
In 1901, Valley Park football fields hosted Frank Fillis’ nationally popular “Savage South Africa Show”, a reenactment of the contemporary Boer war, interest in which had been reignited by recent increased campaigns; indeed, in Bradford it sold more than 50,000 tickets in the first week, and 20,000 on the final day of a three-week stay (Alvin, 2024). The show simultaneously reinforced and conflicted with official imperial aims. Divided into two parts, the first focused on general entertainments, while the second was dedicated to Boer war re-enactments, beginning with a Matabele war scene was followed by a re-enactment of the massacre of British Major Wilson’s troop and ending with a restaging of the British victory at the Battle of Elandslaagte (Alvin, 2024). During the interval, visitors could visit the living quarters of the ethnographic performers.
This turned out to be the most controversial aspect of the show: the press sexualised the indigenous South African performers, a common reaction to ethnographic shows in the national and local press, with the Bradford Daily Telegraph reporting that the performers were not visible to the public outside of performance times, claiming this was “no doubt from the natural fear that their charm would be destructive to the female heart” (in Alvin, 2024). The sexualization of the performers was so emphasized that some London showground owners banned British women from entering the “village” section of the show, which Fillis opposed (Shepherd, 1986). The most objectified performer was Peter Lobengula, who claimed descent from the Matabele royal family, and left the show to marry a white woman, Kitty Jewell (Mohamed, 2023), heightening the press’ emphasis on his appearance and domestic conduct. This objectification echoes today, with Alvin’s (2024) account of the trial presenting a bipolar characterization of Lobengula based on press accounts, in which he is simultaneously an abusive, adulterous alcoholic, and a charming, well-dressed, happy and loving husband.
The sexualisation of ethnographic performers was encouraged by ethnographic showrunners for its perceived crowd-drawing ability, however, the line between sexualised observation and actual social and physical intimacy was heavily policed (Shepherd, 1986; Andreasson, 2016). This may have been based on showrunner’s own objections to interracial relationships, an attempt to defend their show from negative press, or because a performer’s marriage often signalled the end of their performing career as they settled down with their new spouse (Shepherd, 1986; Andreasson, 2016). Relationships between ethnographic performers and white women were particularly resisted by colonial officials, who feared the rhetoric of racial hierarchy would be undermined (Shepherd, 1986; Andreasson, 2016). Thus, relationships between white Europeans and ethnographic performers were both against the showrunners’ interests and undermined imperial efforts to police race. However, as the performers’ sexualisation helped to underscore the difference between performers and white observers, it also reinforced the ideology of racial hierarchy (Andreasson, 2016). Prince Lobengula and Kitty Jewell’s marriage undermined rhetoric of racial difference and the behavioural expectations of white women (Mohamed, 2023), but their unhappy marriage and divorce was taken as vindication of this same rhetoric (Alvin, 2024). Thus, the contradictory effects of encouraged, but policed sexualisation from ethnographic showrunners and the warnings of official imperial ideology, were ultimately reconciled in their reinforcement of the racial and gender hierarchy.
The Savage South Africa show practically and ideologically frustrated South African administrators, who worried the indigenous South African performers would be morally degraded by their sexualization and their access to alcohol and entertainment while on tour, which they thought would encourage disrespect and disobedience to the white colonizers (Alvin, 2024). Similar to the administrative acrobatics of the Somali Village, the South African ethnographic performers’ travel documentation frustrated the colonial government; Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, told the House the performers had been granted travel passes for work, but whether this was in mining or performance had not been made explicit (Alvin, 2024). Fillis later claimed he had a contract with Cape Government, but this was ambiguously worded, and his advertising mocked the colonial administration and celebrated his outwitting of it, claiming: “We have the material which other proprietors cannot secure, on account of the opposition of the Cape Government. We have with us the real article.” (in Alvin, 2024, p.4). Thus, the Savage South Africa show, in demonstrating British military might and encouraging the dehumanisation of indigenous South Africans, reinforced official imperial aims, while simultaneously ideologically and practically undermining the South African colonial administration.
Another ambiguous colonial spectacle, the Bufallo Bill show, was performed in Bradford on the 5th and 6th October 1903, proving highly popular despite poor weather (Welbourne, 2023). The show promoted American imperialism, which, having concluded its conquest of territories in North America, was looking outwards, thus increasingly seen as an ideological, economic and security threat to the British Empire (Flint, 2020), yet the show could still be harnessed for British imperial aims. The Royal Family tied itself to all the show’s British tours, beginning with Queen Victoria in 1887, taking the opportunity to promote British imperialism by contrasting its projected benevolence with the performers’ treatment by the showrunners (Flint, 2020). The British press and colonial administrators perpetuated this narrative of benevolence, juxtaposing the US’ government’s treatment of Native Americans with the “kind” administration of Canada (Flint, 2020). More generally, stereotypes of First Nations peoples could be conflated with other colonized groups and fitted into more basic, less political narratives of savage and primitive vs civilized and modern (Flint, 2020). The showrunners knew how to adapt their show to their audience, and how to win political and public support. The 1902-3 tour explicitly played into British colonial narratives, with publicist Major John Burke stressing the transformation of the West from the Wild West depicted in the show, to a grain-producing powerhouse, suggesting such productive economic transformations could be soon expected in Canada, South Africa and Australia (Flint, 2020). Crucially, the 1902-3 tour also incorporated a Boer War reenactment (Flint, 2020), linking the tales of colonial conquest in America and in South Africa, and flattering its British audience.
The Savage South Africa Show and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West therefore support MacKenzie’s (1984) argument that imperial propaganda did not need to be centrally controlled to serve imperial ends. Both spectacles generated tensions: they embarrassed administrators, depended on commercial sensationalism, and sometimes unsettled the racial boundaries they were meant to reinforce. Yet in Bradford they also translated empire into popular entertainment, giving local audiences accessible narratives of conquest, hierarchy, civilisation, and economic transformation. Their popularity cannot reveal exactly how audiences interpreted them, but it shows that provincial spaces such as Bradford were not peripheral to imperial culture. They were active sites where private spectacle helped make empire visible, consumable, and ideologically persuasive.
Bibliography
Alvin, N. 2024. Savage South Africa: The Prince, the Lion Skin and the Kidnapped Zulus. The Bradford Antiquary. 85. Pp.1-21.
Andreassen, R. 2016. ‘Gender, Sexuality and Romantic Relationships’. In: Human Exhibitions. London: Routledge. [Online]. Available from: https://www.perlego.com/book/1633232 [Accessed 14 March 2026].
Birt, Y. 2025. ‘A Somali Village in Colonial Bradford – An Introduction’. [Online.] Available at: https://somalivillage.org.uk/a-somali-village-in-colonial-bradford-an-introduction/ [Accessed 27 July 2026].
Britain’s Human Zoos. 2023. [Film]. Nadifa Mohamed. dir. UK. Red Bicycle.
Flint, K. (2020). Chapter One Figuring America and Chapter Nine Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and English Identity. In: The Transatlantic Indian, 1776-1930. Princeton University Press. [Online] Available from: https://www.perlego.com/book/1351499 [Accessed: 12th March 2026].
MacKenzie, J.M. 1984. Propaganda and Empire: The Manipulation of British Public Opinion, 1880-1960. Manchester University Press.
Shepherd, B. 1986. Showbiz Imperialism: The Case of Peter Lobengula. In: MacKenzie, J.M. ed. Imperialism and Popular Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp 94-112
Warsame, B. 2022. “3. A Brief History of Staging Somali Ethnographic Performing Troupes in Europe, 1885–1930”. In: Demski, D. and Czarnecka, D. eds Staged Otherness: Ethnic Shows in Central and Eastern Europe, 1850–1939. [Online] Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press, pp. 77-100. [Accessed 9th October 2025]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633864401-004
Welbourne, D. 2023. When Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show rolled in to Bradford. Bradford Telegraph and Argus. [Online] 14th October. [Accessed 12th March 2026]. Available from: When Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show rolled in to Bradford | Bradford Telegraph and Argus
Rowanne Smith studies Liberal Arts at the University of Leeds, majoring in Philosophy. Born and raised in West Yorkshire, the story of the Somali Village is close to home for her.
Somali Village 
Leave a comment