Circus began in late 18th century London with displays of horsemanship by Philip Astley, and equestrian acts remained a great favourite of all circuses. The feats of horsemanship illustrated on this lithograph were being executed by Miss Kate Cooke and her sister Miss Caroline Cooke, otherwise styled 'La Petite Mlle. Caroline.' Since both printer and artist came from Exeter, the Cooke family was probably performing in Exeter when this was produced. The Cooke family dominated the British circus scene in the 19th century. Thomas Taplin Cooke, a horseman, leaper and rope walker, had seven sons who became circus performers - Thomas, William, James, John, Henry, Alfred and George. By the early 1820s the Cooke family was running the Olympic Circus in Liverpool, and in the 1850s William toured a Hippodrome and ran Astley's circus for seven years.

This print is undated but it was probably produced around 1871 when a census return showed that Kate, 12, and Caroline, 9, were living in Clapham with their grandparents William and Mary Ann Cooke, 62, their sister Ellen, 10, and their uncle Victor, 22.