THE GREAT WIZARD OF THE NORTH : THE LIFE OF JOHN HENRY ANDERSON.

EARLY LIFE.

John Henry Anderson

John Henry Anderson (1814-1874) Born in Aberdeenshire. Anderson is credited in bringing magic from the streets into theatres as a form of professional entertainment. One of three children, his brother Sandy; a night-watchman at Justice Port would die at sea. and Gordon; a gardener who fell in to poor health and would die in the Nelson St. Poorhouse. Anderson would be Orphaned from the age of 10, and go on to join a travelling drama company in 1830, performing at the famed 'Scottie's Show.' in a Penny Theatre. It is thought that here he would learn 'Scottie's Great Gun Trick.' An effect he would later make famous under the title of 'The Bullet Catch.'

Later moving to The Theatre Royal in Marischal Street, working as a stage hand for travelling performers, before being integrated into the show as an Actor himself. Here would learn advanced sleight of hand on the road, giving his first performance at the age of 17. At 23 He would perform in the castle of British Politician, Lord Panmure. His endorsement would motivate Anderson to put together a touring show.

Anderson Promotional Playbill

This show would last three years, where in 1840 the Young Anderson, would settle down in London and open the New Strand Theatre.

It would be Scottish novelist Walter Scott who would attribute Anderson with the stage name, 'The Great Wizard of the North.' Anderson would garner success through his ability to market his popular show, through extensive advertisements. Whenever Anderson visited Aberdeen, he often travelled up Deeside, near Kincardine O’Neil where he had been born. At Potarch Bridge, he once sat with peat-cutters during their midday break and recognised an old acquaintance. Wanting to play a trick, he pretended that silver and gold could be found in peat. He broke open one peat and produced a sixpence; another produced a shilling; one he dug himself produced a gold sovereign. He left the money with them, and the story spread quickly—excellent publicity for his show.

One of Anderson’s keys to success was his boldness. Very early in his career he began calling himself “Professor.” 

DANCING WITH THE DEVIL

Many ordinary people, especially older women in the north of Scotland believed Anderson was in league with the Devil. One example happened in Forres. Anderson visited a printer there and asked about lodgings. The printer sent him to an elderly woman who agreed to let him a room but asked for a deposit. Anderson gave her four half-crowns and left his umbrella for a couple of hours.

When the woman noticed the inscription “The Wizard of the North” on the umbrella, she became terrified. When Anderson returned, she accused him of being the Devil, insisted he take back his money and umbrella, and said the coins were burning her fingers. She fainted, injured her cheek, and neighbours ran in, panicking.

Two men seized Anderson on suspicion of robbery and murder, and he was locked in Forres jail. Only when the old woman recovered did she explain, and the matter was dropped. Anderson later admitted he had been “caught out for once,” though the incident ended up attracting huge crowds to his shows in both Forres and Elgin.

A perfectionist who often removed effects from his show if they weren't well enthusiastically received, operating under the ethos that "It is the duty of all magicians to give entertainment.". A committed philanthropist, Anderson would often support the poor and finance fringe early theatre. A trait that would make him one of the earliest magicians to attain a level of World renown. Anderson is credited with being the first magician to pull a rabbit from a top hat; an effect Carl Herrmann would witness and later influence his younger Brother Alexander to perform the effect within his live routine, cementing it into the schema of The Conjurer.

MARRIAGE, FAMILY & THE FIRST GREAT THEATRE FIRE

He would go on to marry Hannah Longherst from Aberdeen, an assistant he'd employed within his show. He would have one son John Henry Jr. a year later. In 1845 his mistress Miss Prentice would pass in labour birthing Anderson's second son Philip Prentice Anderson, a child he would support for the entirety of his life. He would also have two daughter Helen & Alice. Both would go on to assist him in his show, later becoming successful magicians themselves. A suspected illegitimate son was also born with a member of his touring group. Anderson's second theatre, the City Theatre, Glasgow would be completed in 1845. The theatre would burn down only four months after opening; a hefty blow to Anderson's financials at the time.

Burning of the Glasgow Theatre

Anderson wrote and published his only work a Hand-book of Natural Magic in 1846, detailing 128 tricks that could be done at home without expensive equipment.

ANDERSON vs HOUDIN, EUROPE & PLAGIARISM

He would launch a European tour in 1848, financed through a series of his friend's in show business. This tour would take him through Hamburg, Stockholm & St. Petersburg where he would meet Czar Nicholas I, who would issued a command performance from Anderson after an awkward chance encounter. On his return to London in 1849, Anderson would perform for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert before embarking on his second world tour spanning America, Canada, Australia and Hawaii. On returning to Britain he discovered he had been upstaged by a new rival magician in London, a French Mechanical Illusionist under the name Robert-Houdin.

Anderson would make contact with Houdin's prop maker Le Grand and commission duplicate illusions being performed by him in London as a means to match his competition. Compars 'Carl' Herrmann would do the same and Le Grand would later be arrested as a result. The Wizard of the North would take the Pirated effects across the pond landing in Boston, America in 1853. Causing legal controversy with the 'inexhaustible tea kettle' after dispensing alcoholic beverages in the midst of the Temperance movement. He thought it best to retire and held a fairwell show in 1854 in Aberdeen. The show was such a success he decided not to retire entirely but dedicate his efforts to the exposition of mediums and spiritualists. His daughters would duplicate the effects of mediums, and Anderson was one of the first magicians to expose the method's of the Davenport brothers and their Spirit Cabinet.

Anderson's Spiritual Expose

LATER LIFE, BANKRUPTCY & THE SECOND GREAT THEATRE FIRE

This show would play at the Lyceum Theatre in London before transferring to the Covent Garden Theatre in 1855. A theatre that would burn down on March 5th 1856, This would destroy all of Anderson's props bankrupting him for the second time.

His son John Henry Jr. would part from his fathers side and start his own solo career as a conjuror, starting a bitter feud between them. This would result in Anderson becoming absent from his son for the remainder of his life. During this period, Anderson would soon rack up debts as a result of poor business and publicity in the states after trying to recoup losses on a third world tour. He'd return to England going bankrupt in 1866.

Burning of the Covent Garden Theatre

Anderson died in Darlington in 1874, he asked to be buried in Aberdeen beside his mother in St Nicholas Churchyard. Houdini, who considered Anderson a mentor, visited the grave in 1909.

Copyright © 2025 by Sid Quatrine, Author, Editor