Isaac Fawkes

Who is Isaac Fawkes?

Isaac Fawkes was an English conjurer and showman. The first record of Fawkes was an appearance by his son at Southwark Fair in 1722, but an advertisement of April of the same year boasted that he had performed for George II, so it is likely that he was well known in London before this time. He was one of the earliest magicians to present conjuring as an entertainment outside of the traditional fairground setting and by skilful promotion and management of his act he was able to amass both fame and a considerable fortune. His simple entertainment was satirised alongside other popularist amusements by William Hogarth in 1723, but he continued to be patronised by fashionable society until his death in 1732. He formed a close professional relationship with the clock and automata maker Christopher Pinchbeck and from the mid-1720s began to demonstrate Pinchbeck's designs in shows both in their own right and for magical effects in his conjuring act.