Nell Gifford, owner of Giffords Circus, dies of breast cancer

Despite illness, co-founder appeared in shows over the summer before her death at 46

Nell Gifford, the owner and co-founder of the retro-chic Giffords Circus, has died of cancer, it has been announced.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago. After doctors told her earlier this year it had spread and she had a year to live, Gifford continued running between hospital and the circus ring, performing in this year’s summer show on a white horse, with a long blond wig hiding her cropped hair.

On Monday, it was announced that Gifford, 46, had died. She leaves twins, Cecil and Red, aged nine, who also often appeared under the Giffords big top.

A familiar figure striding around the circus’s headquarters on a farm in Stroud, Gloucestershire, most often in fluorescent orange builders’ trousers and a baggy sweatshirt, or sitting for makeup and hair extensions, Gifford was never one for self-pity.

“Cancer is boring,” she would tell visitors.

In the circus world, among staff and performers, she inspired loyalty and admiration.

The writer and journalist Lucy Cavendish described meeting Gifford 20 years ago, describing her as “majestic, beautiful, slightly terrifying, talented, inspirational”.

“I was in awe of her back then and that feeling never left me … she was interesting, fascinating, passionate,” Cavendish wrote on Facebook.

“She was magical. She will be much missed but she lives on in every single one of us who ever sat in that big top and glimpsed, even for a nanosecond, the glory of Nell Gifford.”

Gifford had undergone several rounds of chemotherapy for breast cancer in the last four years, but told her local paper a few months ago that doctors had given her 12 months to live after discovering it had spread to her bones and lymph nodes.

Gifford had four siblings. She was close to her father Rick, a television producer, and her mother Charlotte, who had three children from her first marriage, including Emma Bridgewater, the celebrated pottery maker.

She was no stranger to tragedy. Gifford was 18 and had been offered a place studying English at Oxford when Charlotte, then 52, fell from a horse while hunting and suffered a catastrophic brain injury. She never fully recovered but lived for a further 22 years needing round-the-clock care.

“Some people really close to me have never had a family tragedy, they’ve never experienced severe loss when they were young, but that’s just good luck. My sisters and I did. We lost our mum and when something like that happens you realise at what point things can go really wrong in your life,” Gifford told the Guardian two years ago.

Gifford took a gap year and ran away to New York, where she joined the circus. After returning to the UK to take up her studies, she then worked in various European circuses before meeting her husband, Toti, a farmer’s son. The couple, who separated several years ago, set up Giffords Circus together.

“The circus is my raison d’être, I suppose. This is my job and I feel lucky to have it. The circus is very therapeutic. It’s a community and a really fun way of living,” Gifford said.

“The circus has been a great support network, especially when I’ve been ill. When you walk into the tent, you leave your troubles at the door and celebrate. It’s escapist, magical, beautiful, funny.”