Obituary: Charlie Ridgway

Circus owner. Died aged 85

The circus was the job, hobby, passion and life of Charles Henry Ridgway, who has died at his home in Levin.

One of his sons, Cary Ridgway, said: "He spent all his life in the business. When you're born into it, it stays with you. He was circus through and through."

Charlie Ridgway senior (he has a son also called Charles) began running what became New Zealand's longest-running family circus in 1932 when his father died. He was only 16.

"When my mother and father first married they were living in a tent and travelled the circus with horse-drawn carriages," Cary recalled.

"Dad was very proud. Later on, if we went out and bought a new truck, to him that was like a spaceship."

But even when Charlie Ridgway sen was a youngster he was just following a family tradition of being in the circus.

He told the Herald in 1975 of documentary evidence of his great-great-grandfather and his show delighting the crowds at English country fairs around 1840.

It was Charlie Ridgway's grandfather who brought his circus to Australia and, since the First World War, it has also been seen regularly around New Zealand by generations of youngsters.

Late in life Charlie Ridgway had to adjust to ideological change when the circus came under fire from animal rights groups in 1994 for using chimpanzees.

After extensive lobbying, two of the chimpanzees were released to a rehabilitation sanctuary in Zambia.

"That was something Dad never quite understood. Back in his day there were a lot of things people never thought about," said Cary. "I don't think Dad ever grasped how the world had changed."

Asked in 1975 if using animals for circus tricks was a form of degradation, Charlie Ridgway replied in his raspy Australian accent: "People don't complain if you teach your dog or horse tricks, do they?

"I can tell you this. I love animals - dogs, cats, lions, leopards, the lot. Even those that have knocked me about. I never destroy a circus animal once its working days are over. I pension them off.

"If they're ponies or horses I rent grazing for them in Australia. I haven't got any lions or tigers ready for pensioning off yet. But when I have I'll build special cages."

Were there no exceptions to this love of animals?

"Snakes. I can't stand the sight of the bloody things. They give me the creeps."

He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and sons Charles and Cary, who took over the business 10 years ago, although Charlie Ridgway remained involved until his death.

- NZPA