History of Circus Williams 1950-1959
On December 18th 1950 tragedy hit Carola
Williams. Her husband Harry Williams died during a Roman chariot race
act in London's Harringay-Arena. Suddenly she was on her own with the
big circus, but she coped with her fate. She leased out the entire circus
during the 1951 season to her first husband Harry Barlay and did not
travel. Shortly afterwards, in the winter of 1951/52, she was already
on tour in France. Her brother Adolf Althoff supported her during this
difficult time. Carola Williams and her brother Adolf received the "Ernst-Renz-Gedächtnis-Award",
from the Association of Circus Friends in Germany (GCD) on November
4th 1955 in Berlin, West Germany. The siblings parted ways in 1956 and
the circus moved into its new winter quarter in Cologne-Mülheim in November
of 1957. 
Establishing a winter quarter in Cologne also meant having a regular home for Carola Williams' children Alfons and Jeanette, who both had to learn a profession.
Alfons Williams majored in hotel and restaurant management while Jeanette Williams received her trading diploma from the chamber of commerce in Cologne.
Both returned to the circus after graduation. Jeanette became a talented dressage equestrian, while her brother emerged into a promising horse trainer.
Circus Williams toured in the following years the entire Federal Republic of Western Germany and in cooperation with foreign ciruses almost throughout all of Europe. Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and even Italy experienced the “grosse internationale Circus-Show” (Great international circus show), in the huge, oval Strohmeyer big top.
