'Artful' Thomas - local character

Frederick Sayer 'Artful' Thomas, was a well known character around Exeter in the early 20th century. It is known that Thomas worked at the Franklin Cinema as an attendant up to 1924 - one of his jobs was to walk up the aisle spraying disinfectant over the audience. Artful Thomas was married two or three times and reputedly had 21 children. There are said to be at least 4 grandchildren still living in Newton Abbot, and Exeter, and there are at least 14 great grandchildren. He was known for his tails, spats and topper, along with a king-size cigar which he referred to as his 'Fleur de Cabagio'. His antics would raise hundreds of pounds for charity.

The following memory of Artful Thomas is taken from People Talking.

"Artful Thomas was in all the carnivals; he must have raised a record amount of money for any charitable organisation who asked for his help. St. Thomas Carnival would not have been complete without him. Artful would be parading and conducting the whole proceedings. In those days the carnival was lit by burning oil flares, carried on a plank with holes cut in for the flares; he would dance around and pinch a flare which he would wave around like a whirling dervish.

One of his big days was the Wonford Fete. This was a very big occasion not only for Wonford but for the city. Artful always spent the day as "Top the Topper" - this meant he was behind a net dressed in a top hat and tail coat, white gloves and bow tie. He walked up and down behind the net with just the topper above it; then everyone would throw tennis balls to knock the hat off; I think it cost 3d for 5 balls. His remarks had all the adults laughing. We thought he was very brave as some of the shots were aimed more at him than his hat.

Our carnivals were marvellous. There was nothing automatic about them - it was everybody's shoulder to the wheel; all had to help. Old Faddy Bolt, the baker, who was huge, used to be dressed as John Bull, with the hat and the flag on the waistcoat. We had these ticklers, a metal handle with a bit of hair stuck at the bottom and we used to go round tickling, specially the boys with the girls. It was such innocent fun.

Artful was also paid to do advertising stunts. Once he dressed as a chicken, a yellow chicken. This was for a film of Charlie Chaplin, "The Gold Rush" in which Charlie turns into a chicken in his partner's mind when they are snowbound. Artful walked around town all week, clucking and crowing and occasionally laying an egg; a golden one, of course.

On another stunt he was advertising the new 'in thing' - interior sprung mattresses. For this he had a bed in a shop window. He made a great show to the audience about a woman in the bed, a wax dummy. Before the days of X films he would hold the attention by doing a kind of strip tease. Then he would get into bed and with a great show of modesty, would climb out and pull the shop blind until the next performance.

Then he would stand in High Street, looking intently at the sky until he had people looking with him, until the first mug would ask what he was looking at, to which he would reply, "I think it's going to rain."

If you have any further information on Artful Thomas, or other Exeter personalities please email me from the link at the bottom of the page.