The spirited memoir of Harvey Teasdale (1817-1904) tells the story of a wilful child who became a stage-struck youth before achieving success with his celebrated acrobatic performances in a monkey costume in the theatres of Yorkshire. Imprisoned for assaulting his wife, he experienced a religious conversion and travelled around Yorkshire as an itinerant preacher, using his actor's skills to promote Methodism as vigorously as he once promoted himself. Teasdale's highly expressive and dramatic autobiography is a rare example of the voice of a working-class Victorian performer; it also gives fascinating glimpses of life in nineteenth-century Sheffield and its schools, factories, theatres and public houses.

This edition includes: critical introduction, explanatory notes and background material.