Billy Waters is Dancing
Or, How a Black Sailor Found Fame in Regency Britain
Mary L. Shannon
Yale University Press
The story of William Waters, Black street performer in Regency London, and how his huge celebrity took on a life of its own
Every child in Regency London knew Billy Waters, the celebrated “King of the Beggars.” Likely born into enslavement in 1770s New York, he became a Royal Navy sailor. After losing his leg in a fall from the rigging, the talented and irrepressible Waters became London’s most famous street performer. His extravagantly costumed image blazed across the stage and in print and his legend would live on for decades.
For all his contemporary renown, Waters died destitute in 1823.
Mary L. Shannon’s biography draws together surviving traces of Waters’ life to tell his incredible story. It recovers his life from historical obscurity—and gives a fascinating account of what it meant to find fame in the Regency metropolis.
“A masterful piece of storytelling, in which the author ensures that the real Waters, and his talents, are entered into popular memory.” — Lizzie Rogers, BBC History Magazine
“A riveting tale of a flamboyant character, thoughtfully and vividly evoked. . . . [shows how] the past is abundant with wonderful stories and remarkable lives that are waiting to be rediscovered.”–Alice Loxton, The Telegraph
“In this thoughtful book Mary L. Shannon sets about unpicking Billy Waters’ rackety rise to proto-celebrity to see what it might tell us about life on the edge in the early years of the 19th century.”–Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times
“Dazzling! Read this book to discover the dramatic life and legacy of one indomitable man, among the delights and diversity of Regency London.”—Penelope J. Corfield, author of The Georgians
“This book is a powerful illumination of the life of one of the most influential Black people in nineteenth-century popular culture, a vital story that fell through the cracks in the rejuvenation era of individualised Black British history.”—Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Member of Parliament for Streatham
“Compassionately researched, Billy Waters is Dancing provides a thrilling example of how much we still must learn about our pasts. Shannon creates a brilliant roadmap for the future of history writing.”—Ayanna Thompson, author of Blackface
“How to atone for the great imbalances of history writing and representation, asks Shannon? Her answer is simple: produce the most sumptuous, intelligent, enjoyable excavation possible, and render the marginal magnificent!”—Oskar Jensen, author of Vagabonds
“Deeply researched and generously illustrated, Billy Waters is Dancing recovers a forgotten figure and opens a window onto London street-life and popular culture in the early nineteenth century.”—Michael Bundock, author of The Fortunes of Francis Barber
“Shannon…tells a fascinating and important story” – Folk Music Journal
Hello! I’m Mary L. Shannon. 
I research and write about Regency and Victorian popular culture, fiction, plays, images, and the press. I’m fascinated by the cultural world of nineteenth-century London and its teeming history: the places, the people, and the streets. My book on the famous 1820s African-American London busker Billy Waters, Billy Waters is Dancing: Or, How A Black Sailor Found Fame In Regency Britain is published by Yale. I speak on the Radio and TV about nineteenth-century culture and I do historical consultancy work.
Mary L. Shannon 