[3] Dr. John M. Turner speculates in his 2003 biography of Fanque that "his father was African born and had been brought to the port of Norwich and trained as a house servant.

[10] Fanque's gravestone, located at the base of his late wife Susannah Darby's grave in Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds (now St George's Field, part of the University of Leeds), reads; "Also the above named William Darby Pablo Fanque who died May 4th 1871 Aged 75 Years".

[3] Thomas Frost, in Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, wrote, "We find Batty in 1836 at Nottingham, with a company which included Pablo Fanque, a negro rope-dancer, whose real name was William Darby ..."[16] Once established as a young adult, William Darby changed his professional name to Pablo Fanque.

[17]This same edition of The Illustrated London News provides an example of how contemporaries regarded his performance: This extraordinary feat of the manege has proved very attractive, as we anticipated in our Journal of last week; and we have judged the success worthy of graphic commemoration.

Fanque is described as a "skilful rider" and "a very good equestrian.Sounding almost as grand as the boasts of Fanque's own broadside posters, the paper said, "Mr. Pablo has trained [his black mare] to do the most extraordinary feats of the 'manège' [note, related to dressage], an art hitherto considered to belong only to the French and German professors of equitation, and her style certainly far exceeds anything that has ever yet been brought from the Continent."

"[18] The Hampshire Advertiser documents one instance when Fanque performed before the royal family in Brighton, as part of William Batty's troupe on 3 January 1834.

A history of The Lawns records an advertisement that read, "16th September 1834 – A Grand Scottish Fete with a tightrope performance by Pablo Fanque, gymnastics, a leopardess with dogs, military bands, illuminations and fireworks.

Among the many cities he visited were Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Chester, Chesterfield, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Norwich, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Rotherdam, Ryde, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Wakefield, Wigan, Wolverhampton, and Worcester.

In Ireland, Fanque's circus performed at Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Ballinasloe, Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Clonmel, among other places.

[5][25] In 1869, the front cover of Illustrated London News reported on a near-tragedy at a performance of Pablo Fanque's Circus in Bolton.

Tightrope walker Madame Caroline stumbled on the rope, and hung suspended by her hands 60 feet (18 m) in the air.

The rope was lowered a few feet and, at the exhortation of men who had amassed below, Madame Caroline let go to fall safely into the hands of the crowd.

In 1905, many years after Fanque's death, the chaplain of the Showmen's Guild wrote, "In the great brotherhood of the equestrian world there is no colour-line."

[27] Lennon bought the poster from an antique shop in Sevenoaks, Kent, while shooting a promotional film for the song, "Strawberry Fields Forever", in Knole Park.

"[28] The poster advertises a performance in Rochdale and announces the appearance of "Mr. J. Henderson, the celebrated somerset thrower" and "Mr. Kite" who is described as "late of Wells's Circus."

The verse lyrics read "Couch my disease in chintz-covered kisses, Glazed calico cloth, my costume this is, Come to Pablo Fanque is in Indigo, We'll show you pastel shades of rhyme".

On 24 October 1858, The Herald of Scotland reported: "IN GLASGOW, 'Pablo Fanque's Cirrque Nationale' offered 'A Masonic Benefit.'"

Britain had abolished slavery in 1834 but it was still a legal institution in the United States when Britons made Fanque such a popular figure.

[A] few of the brethren met this evening in accordance with the resolution of the committee meeting of 23rd inst and accompanied the Right Worshipful Master to Brother Pablo’s Fanque’s Amphitheatre to patronage Luin on this occasion of his benefit[.]

Such is [his] character for probity and respectability, that wherever he has been once he can go again; aye and receive the countenance and support of the wise and virtuous of all classes of society.

I am sure that the friends of temperance and morality are deeply indebted to him for the perfectly innocent recreation which he has afforded to our population, by which I am sure hundreds have been prevented from spending their money in revelling and drunkenness.An 1846 Bolton newspaper story epitomized the public's high regard for Fanque in the communities he visited on account of his beneficence: Several of the members of the "Widows and Orphans Fund" presented to Mr. Pablo Fanque a written testimonial, mounted in an elegant gilt frame...Mr. Pablo on entering the room was received with due respect.

Throughout his 1870 autobiography, Wallett shares several amusing anecdotes about his work and friendship with Fanque, including the following about their 1859 engagement in Glasgow: The season was a succession of triumphs.

One of the principal attractions was a little Irishman whom I engaged in Dublin, who rejoiced in the name of Vilderini, one of the best posture masters the theatrical world ever produced.

For which nationality his small eyes, pug nose, high cheek bones, and heavy mouth admirably adapted him.

So his head was shaved, all but a small tuft on the top, to which a saddler with waxed twine firmly attached his celestial pig-tail.

Variegated lanterns, gongs, drums, and cymbals ushered the distinguished Chinaman into the ring, to give his wonderful entertainment.

Reportedly, Fanque sought medical attention for his wife at the King Charles Hotel, but a surgeon pronounced her dead.

Several persons were more or less injured by the fall of the timbers composing the part that proved too weak, and Mrs Darby, the wife of the proprietor, was killed.

[37] On 2 November 1865, New Zealand's The West Coast Times reported on the arrival in Hokitika the previous evening from Melbourne, Australia of the ship Gothenburg.

The paper stated, "She brings to our shores Mr Stevens; English Troupe of acrobats consisting of Mr and Mrs Stevens, the masters Stevens (two), Pablo Fanque and son, Messrs Hatton, Briggs, Rayner, Wilkins, Charles, Wildt, and Master Poono ...."[39] This was not the Pablo Fanque of British fame, but Fanque's nephew, William "Billy" Banham, who used his famous uncle's name as a pseudonym during his time in New Zealand and Australia in the 1850s and 1860s.