OUR HISTORY

The roots of Pinder's Circus go back to 1784 with the birth of Thomas Ord, the son of the reverend Selby Ord. Young Thomas ran away from home at around 14 and joined the circus. 200 years ago, by 1812, he had started his own circus. He soon became a household name all over Scotland and the north of England. Ords Equestrian Arena became the most famous circus of the early part of the 19th century.

After Thomas Ord died in 1859, his daughter Selina Ord carried on with the circus. In 1861, Selina married Edwin Pinder, whose uncles, George and William Pinder, had founded Pinders Circus in 1854. Edwin left his uncles, and he and Selina continued with Ord Pinders Circus in Scotland.

Edwin's uncles went to Europe with Pinder's circus and became France's most famous circus, where it remains to this day in name only, as no members of the Pinder family are involved. Pinder's Circus in Scotland also became famous, including 3 command performances for Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle in 1877, 1892, and 1898.

Edwin and Selina had 1 daughter and 4 sons to carry on the circus. The eldest son, William, also had 4 sons, one of whom was George, who married Eileen Connor, daughter of F.J. Connor, owner of Connors Grand Circus on the Isle of Man.

In 1967 their son George Pinder married Christine Fossett of the world-famous Fossett Circus, and it is their son Eddy, along with his wife Erika Piinder and their children  Edward Pinder Jr , George Pinder and Eileen Pinder. 

who runs this present-day Pinders circus 200 years after it all started with

just a young boy running off to join the circus.