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May Emmeline Wirth (6 June 189418 October 1978) was an Australian circus and vaudeville performer famous for her ability to do somersaults forwards and backwards on a running horse. She was born in Queensland and adopted by Mary Elizabeth Victoria Wirth as a child into the Wirth circus family.
In 1901, Wirth was adopted by Mary Wirth, an equestrienne and the sister of Wirth's Circus proprietors George and Philip Wirth.
Wirth performed with the Barnum and Bailey circus in the US, and was the star of Wirth's Circus in 1916, as the "greatest bareback riding star".
When aged 19, during her second year in the United States, she suffered severe injuries while performing in Brooklyn after her horse shied and she was dragged around the ring when her foot became caught.
She stopped performing in 1937 and started living in New York.
Wirth and her step-sister appeared on an Australia Post commemorative postage stamp issued on 13 March 1997 commemorating 150 years of circus in Australia.
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