Obituary - Joe White, travelling showman

Died: June 18, 2017

Joseph White, who has died aged 84, ran JR White’s travelling fair, which brought fairground rides to towns all over Scotland for decades. He was born into the business, the fifth generation of travelling showmen in the White family.

In its heyday, tens of thousands would attend JR White’s fair when it came to Edinburgh’s Waverley Market or Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall. In small communities, the population flocked to the fair, but when the popularity of fairs declined in the face of other entertainments and they started taking place as part of other events, Mr White changed with the times. He was still travelling with the business in his eighties.

A prodigiously hard worker, he loved contact with people and was known for his generosity in offering free rides to local schoolchildren and pensioners when his fair came to town.

Joseph Richard White (widely known as Joe, or, to other fair people, Joey) was born in Govan, the eldest of three.

The White family was steeped in the travelling fair business. Mr White’s greatgrandfather and great great-grandfather, from a travelling family, had been shooting gallery keepers in the nineteenth century; his grandfather had established his own fair; and his father, also Joseph Richard, acquired half of that fair and built it into his own business, JR White Amusements Ltd, established in 1930. Mr White’s mother, Emma Irvin, was also from a family of showpeople.

Joseph White was tiny at birth and was not expected to survive, but he grew into an energetic boy. His family was on the road a lot and the young Joe was sent to live as a lodger in a house in Coatbridge to attend school.

During the war, Winston Churchill gathered together travelling showmen, including the White family, and asked them to keep the fairs going to boost wartime morale.

Joe White was just a boy but helped his father keep the show on the road.

From his young teenage years onwards, Mr White senior groomed him to run the business.

The fair was renowned everywhere from Aberdeen and Nairn to Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries and northern England. Mr White had no interest in pursuing any other line of work.

While working with his father, Mr White had his own ride – the car track - and operated that as part of the family fair. He built up from there, thinking nothing of working 16 hour days.

In its 50s heyday, the fair had 10 rides and was arguably the best in the UK. Mr White always sourced the attractions himself, bringing crowdpleasers like the Buggs – dodgem-style cars on tracks - the Speedway (a motorbike themed ride) and the Twister to an excited public. A huge supporter of travelling fairs and promoting high standards in the business, he was a stalwart of the Showmen’s Guild, the professional body of travelling showpeople.

Joe White never fitted the profile of a ruthless businessman. He disliked confrontation and loved to make people laugh.

His fair was much anticipated each summer in places like Greenock, where he was a popular figure who, as well as offering free rides to local groups, also provided prizes for charity events and gave gifts to local schools. He paid to ensure that police officers patrolled the site, and always ensured that the site was left spotless.

He married Lillian Newton in 1957, whom he described as the only woman for him.

She was also from a prominent showpeople’s family and the couple had two children, Joseph Paul and Desiree.

To avoid his children having a fragmented education, he sent them to private schools in Glasgow, he and Lillian ferrying them there and back. By that time, the fair was frequently sited in the west of Scotland, in towns such as Prestwick, Saltcoats, Airdrie, Lanark and Hamilton, so each night, the children would return to the comfortable family caravan which was equipped with a bath, shower and separate bedrooms for each of the children.

The family would locate the caravans at Saracen Street in Glasgow during the winter months.

Joe White was an avid footballer and took part in travellers’ football, playing in international matches against England. He and Lillian had a very active social life, attending many dances and other events associated with the football.

Joseph Paul joined him in the family firm after leaving school and the pair were known affectionately as “Steptoe and Son” but once he reached his thirties, the younger Joseph decided his future lay elsewhere, and left to set up a property and leisure business.

Mr White lived from site to site right up until 1988, when he and Lillian bought a house, and even after that, he would live most of the time on the road, in a small comfortable caravan. The couple had a happy marriage for many years though they separated in 2015.

By the last decade of his working life, Joe White had only one ride that he travelled with. He finally retired in 2016, but missed the business so much that he would still go out on the road with his niece and her husband.

Outside of work, he doted on his five grandchildren and enjoyed attending Rangers matches with his son.

He is remembered as a kind, compassionate man and a true gentleman. Joe White is survived by Lillian, his children Joseph and Desiree, his sisters Mary and Elaine, and his five grandchildren, Chloe, Lance, Lewis, Aaron and Freya

REBECCA MCQUILLAN