Jack Hay

From the list of elephant persons Family: Hay

☨ Jack Hay
Profession	circus artist
Personal details
Born	1903 Forbes, NSW in Australia
Dead	1952-06-17 Parkville, VIC in Australia

Spouse(s)	Dorothy Ashton

Country	Australia

Locations
Title	artist -
Location	at Ashtons Circus in Australia

Biography details

Albert Edward Hay , circus artist in Australia

Born 1903 in Australia dead 1952-06-17 in Australia .

Jack was a Trumpet player in the Ashton circus band.
During the Depression in the 1930s, things were so hard that Jack used to supplement his meagre circus bandsman's wage by making tin dishes, pots and pans to sell to farmers. Their only taste of meat was the occasional rabbit he caught. With no money but plenty of "stock" (in the form of eight children), the Hays decided to leave the Ashton circus and develop their own acrobatic act. At Lithgow, they lived in a tent while Jack made a few shillings from busking in the streets and chopping wood. Having moved around so much, Dossie had never heard of child endowment, but when she did, collected £60 accumulated in her favour. The family's improved financial position enabled them to move down to Sydney where they took a little house in Newtown. In the backyard, the children practiced spinning brooms with their Feet and balancing an old armchair. Soon they progressed to a stage performance where one artist, after a series of somersaults in mid-air, landed on the upturned Feet of another. Although their family name was "Hay", they used their mother's famous name of Ashton for professional purposes.
Seven of the eight children became the Seven Ashtons.

Family

Total: 7 children

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). artist Albert Edward Hay in Australia. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/person.php?id=1166. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXE85W6RPi4

Selected publications

Links about Gloria Ashton

Search more with Google for Jack Hay The link will automatically include Jack Hay and open a new browser window.

Search this site www.elephant.se AND Googlewith google for keyword Jack Hay
OR search the Internet (with any chosen keyword you type below)

Search more on the Internet Web for Jack Hay The link will automatically include Jack Hay and open a new browser window

About this documentWebsite online since 1995. This document was created: . Latest update: 2022-03-30 08:48:51 included characters with valid HTML5