William Coetzee

There are two people by this name, both circus performers.

William Coetzee Snr

A circus performer in South Arfrica

Husband of Hester C. Coetzee, they had five children Andre (Coetzee) Baenhoff, William Coetzee Jr, Johanna P. (Coetzee) Gould, Dolly J. (Coetzee) Netto and Dawn P. (Coetzee) Struwig.

He worked as lion tamer and ringmaster, inter alia for Pagel's Circus in South Africa, and died tragically on July 4, 1954 in Durban during a live performance in Durban in 1954, when his lions attacked and mauled him.

William Coetzee Jnr

(19*-) A circus performer.

Also known as Willie Coetzee, he was the son of the lion tamer William Coetzee, and he worked in various capacities in circuses for a number of years. His stage names where The Human Ostrich, Prince Ben Alli Kassiem, Don Montenegro and Willie the Clown.

Sources

Private correspondence from Roslyn Lord, granddaughter and niece of the performers (2015-03-08)

Townsville Daily Bulletin Monday 5 July 1954, from Trove Digitised Newspapers [1]

The Billboard, p.52[2]