ROSE  FOSTER

Rosina Kathleen Wilkinson

Unfortunately, I don't know much about this English entertainer.  Rose was born in Southampton in 1884 and besides appearing in England she also exhibited in America 1917-1920's.  She was married around 1923.     Rose's feet have much the similar appearance as Eli Bowen with whom she appeared at Dreamland, Coney Island in 1917.  Though bereft of lower arms, Rose would demonstrate how she could easily write and draw, sew and knit and even use scissors.      Vanessa Toulmin, head of the National Fairground Archive at Sheffield University refers to her as "Rose Bishop" (Sideshow World: The Good Old Days) but it is not clear if this was Rose's maiden or married name.       I have been having great difficulty finding Rose in ship passenger arrival records leading me to believe that perhaps "Rose Foster" was a showname.

"Rose Bishop - or Mermaida - who appeared with Tom Norman in the 1900s or sometimes she was known as Little Miss Tiny - a living marvel who could crotchet with her feet" -  Vanessa Toulmin

UPDATE

The author has since found out that in 1922 Rose Foster was known as Mrs. Rosina Wilkinson and had been married for a number of years.  At the time she was earning $150 weekly but had recently sued her husband "for maintenance" (the judge awarded her $7.50 a week)     It would appear Rosina was divorced shortly thereafter so that the report of her marrying in 1923 would reference a second marriage.     Rosina arrived in the U.S. in March 1921 to appear at Sam Gumpertz' Dreamland Circus Sideshow for six months. When asked if she had ever before been to the U.S. she stated "no".  This was confusing,  as I knew she had appeared at Dreamland in 1917 also.     I found another passenger arrival record (1917) for a "Rose Bishop".  She was 33 years old, so the birth year (1884) agrees with above.  She was a U.S. citizen, born in Baltimore, Maryland and was arriving at the port of New York from the Panama Canal Zone. (Sometimes travellers on the West Coast of the U.S. would travel to the East Coast via ship by sailing down the western coasts of the U.S. and Mexico and cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the Panama Canal and then proceed up the Eastern coasts to their chosen port of entry.)     Is this the same woman?  Was Rose an American born oddity who changed her name and national origin for show business purposes?     Is so, this would explain why she stated she had never been to the U.S. before (as an alien).  The 1917 record for "Rose Bishop" stated she was single, so maybe shortly after entering the show business Rose was married and moved to the U.K.   However, when arriving to the States in 1921, Rosina affirms she was born in Southampton but this would not be the first time I've seen a show business traveller telling a white lie.