Waterford’s Spraoi International Street Arts Festival transforms Ireland’s Oldest City into a giant stage where artists from around the world perform for free. Returning this weekend the events culminate with the legendary parade.  The title for this years event – the Quay of Dreams. Ironically in 1903 another showman was in Waterford, providing free entertainment, and he too chose the quay as his stage.

His name was Tom Barton, travelling the country exhibiting a very unique commercial activity. Some say he was from Putney, London, others that he had Irish blood while others said he was a Canadian lumberjack. It’s likely all are true. Tom however, had one unique talent – he was a log roller…a man who balanced on logs in Canadian rivers as they were steered into sawmills.

A crowded quay awaits the performance of Tom Barton with his bovril tin log at the ferry pontoon Waterford. AH Poole Photo. Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

Tom’s time in Canada was now being put to use with a commercial gimmick – Tom’s log was now made of Bovril tins, soldered together to about 10 feet in length, 1 foot wide and upon which Tom would perform. All to promote a nutritious beef laden beverage – Bovril.

Borvil was invented by a Scotsman, John Lawson Johnston, developed from beef extract and originally known as Johnston’s Fluid Beef. He won a contract to supply one million cans of beef to the French army.  With clever advertising Bovril was identified with strength and stamina. These were further amplified by medical-backed marketing, which vouched for its immune-boosting qualities. By 1888 over 3,000 pubs and grocers were serving it and it reached its peak in popularity in the 1930s.

Tom Barton with his bovril tin log at the ferry pontoon Waterford. AH Poole Photo. Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

In Barton, the makers of the Bovril product saw a real win/win. The act was showcased around Ireland in 1903 from North to South and according to the papers of the time included exhibitions in Belfast, Derry, Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Waterford.

His act required the elements to co-operate, including weather and tide and involved him setting off from point A, drifting to point B and doing a series of tricks as he balanced on his Bovril can log! From various reports, a comprehensive picture emerges. It was over nine feet long. It weighed nineteen pounds. It was twelve inches in diameter, composed of nine Bovril tins soldered together .

A sketch of the event featured in the Evening News (Waterford) – Monday 22 June 1903; page 4

Barton would roll the log, sit on the log and lie down prostrate. He could balance while sitting in a chair, he could call for a table to be added, and he would sit, while reading a paper and smoking a cigar– all supplied from a support boat being rowed alongside, and as he drifted along on the tide to the gasps, applause and adoration of the spectators.

Of course it was all about the Bovril, so to seal the deal he would pour a large mug of Bovril for himself and replenish his energy.  The act finished with some flag waving, as he stood on the chair, on the log in the middle of a river.

Local papers were advertising the event – scheduled to take place on the evening tide of Tuesday 23rd June 1903 at 6pm. On Monday 22nd, the Evening News featured a sketch of Barton, floating on his log and stated that the “Champion log roller of the World will give his unique and marvellous aquatic display” The plan was that he would start from Merchants Quay and float down under Timbertoes bridge and down along the quays. It stated that the crowds earlier in the month on the Liffey in Dublin had approached 100,000.   Tom Barton got ill however, and the event was postponed at very short notice.

But in true showman fashion, Mr Barton returned, the time and place Thursday 8th October 1903 between 2 and 3pm, in the Suir off Reginalds Tower. Reportage afterwards in the Cork Examiner states the following:

LOG ROLLING THE SUIR Mr Tom Barton, the famous log roller, gave his long-promised exhibition on the River Suir this afternoon. Three o’clock was the hour advertised for the exhibition, but long before that time the riverside was crowded with spectators, while others, more favoured, got aboard some of the vessels, from which they were afforded a splendid view of the exhibition. Mr Barton started from the Boat Club shortly after the advertised hour. The log was made of a number of tins soldered together, the idea being to advertise Bovril. The journey to the bridge was successfully negotiated, and was watched throughout with the most intense interest.[vi]

Tom obviously made it to the USA too. Image courtesy of Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. June 30, 1903, Image 7. Image provided by: State Historical Society of Iowa

The last appearance that I could find in the newspaper archive was in October 1907, when he appeared at a charity swim event in London. There he entertained the crowd in his usual fashion, but offered another gimmick – a gold medal for anyone who could stand on his “log” for 2 minutes.  Despite several attempts, no one succeeded.   From there he seems to have faded into obscurity, the uncontested champion of the “Bovril log”.

I could find no further appearances of Barton on Suirside after 1903. But Spraoi popped up in this showman’s wake, and boy, has it developed the show! Enjoy the free events this weekend and don’t forget to give a few bob to help defray the costs.

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