Charles Morton (15 August 1819–18 October 1904) was a

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

manager. Born in Hackney, east London, he built the first purpose-built ''Tavern Music hall'', the

Canterbury Music Hall The Canterbury Music Hall was established in 1852 by Charles Morton on the site of a former skittle alley adjacent to the Canterbury Tavern at 143 Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth. It was one of the first purpose-built music halls in London, and ...

, and became known as the ''Father of the Halls''.

Career

Canterbury Hall

Morton and Frederick Stanley, his brother in law, purchased the ''Canterbury Arms'', in Upper Marsh,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, south London, in 1849. Morton had been impressed with the entertainments at

Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms was an entertainment venue for music and singing in the early nineteenth century, located at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, London. The venue provided the type of entertainment which later evolved into music hall. ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

and decided to offer a ''harmonic meeting'', held on Saturdays, in the back room of the public house. Soon, a Thursday evening programme was added to accommodate the crowds and admit women, giving the venue wider appeal than the old-time song and supper rooms, which were male preserves. Entry was free, but the profits from the sale of food and drink allowed the construction in 1852 of a 700-seat hall on the site of an adjacent skittle alley. This made sufficient profit to fund the building of a 1,500 seat hall, around the old hall. The old building was demolished in one weekend and the ''New Canterbury'' opened in December 1856. In 1855, and again in 1856, Morton was prosecuted under the

Theatres Act 1843 The Theatres Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict., c. 68) (also known as the Theatre Regulation Act) is a defunct Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It amended the regime established under the Licensing Act 1737 for the licensing of the theatre in Great B ...

for the presentation of 'legitimate drama' in sketches – this still being reserved to a small number of licensed theatres. Even this setback was turned to advantage by taking advertisements in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' – the first such for this type of behaviour. Their success at the Canterbury allowed Stanley and Morton to build The Oxford, in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, as a competitor to the nearby

Weston's Music Hall Weston's Music Hall was a music hall and theatre that opened on 16 November 1857 at 242-245 High Holborn in London, England. In 1906, the theatre became known as the Holborn Empire. History Early years The theatre was constructed on the site of ...

, opening on 26 March 1861. The pair managed both the Canterbury & Oxford halls, with acts moving between the halls in coaches.''Charles Morton''
(Arthur Lloyd) accessed 27 March 2008 With their interests now established in the West End, on Boxing Night 1867, Morton relinquished management of the Canterbury to William Holland. Acts included

Vesta Tilley Matilda Alice Powles, Lady de Frece (13May 186416September 1952) was an English music hall performer. She adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley and became one of the best-known male impersonators of her era. Her career lasted from 1869 until 192 ...

and

Harry Champion William Henry Crump (17 April 1865 – 14 January 1942), better known by the stage name Harry Champion, was an English music hall composer, singer and comedian, whose onstage persona appealed chiefly to the working class communities of Ea ...

Variety theatre

Grave of Charles Morton in Highgate Cemetery

In 1877, Morton became the manager of the

Alhambra Theatre The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as the Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two yea ...

, in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

. The theatre fell into financial difficulties following the decision by the Middlesex Magistrates not to grant a Music and Dancing Licence in October 1870. It was destroyed by fire in December 1882. Morton took it over and made a success, presenting a programme of variety. The theatre reopened on 18 October 1884, with Morton in charge. Morton announced his retirement in 1891, but in 1893, at the invitation of Sir Augustus Harris he took over the management of the Palace Theatre of Varieties, which he ran successfully with a programme of

variety theatre Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compèr ...

, until his retirement shortly before his death in 1904.Mander and Mitchenson, p. 124 He is buried in a family grave on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Legacy

His biography, ''Sixty Years Stage Service'', was published in 1905 by his brother and

Henry Chance Newton Henry Chance Newton (13 March 1854 – 2 January 1931) was a British author and theatre critic for '' The Referee'' magazine. Newton had written about the stage since 1875 when he joined the staff of ''Hood's Comic Annual.'' He wrote using the ps ...

, and did much to establish his reputation as The Father of the Halls. Morton appears to have been the first to coin the term "music hall" and popularised the concept through aggressive advertising in ''

''. Many aspects of the entertainment had already been tried elsewhere, especially in the northern provinces and by the 1840s, the artistes themselves had already formed a

benevolent society The Benevolent Society, founded by Edward Smith Hall in 1813, is Australia's first and oldest charity. The society is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose main goals include helping families, older Australians and people with disabili ...

. Morton was able to combine these ideas into a package of entertainments and make them widely popular with many imitators. He went on to anticipate the move from the halls to the large

s of the

Edwardian era The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

and to manage some of the most profitable and notable.Russell, Dave ''Popular Music in England, 1840-1914: A Social History'' pp. 83–87 (Manchester University Press, 1997)

References

* Green, Benny (ed) (1986) ''The Last Empires: A Music Hall Companion'', (Pavilion, 1986) * *Morton, William H. and Newton, Henry Chance.
''Sixty Years' Stage Service: Being a Record of the Life of Charles Morton''
(1905,

Gale and Polden Gale and Polden was a British printer and publisher. Founded in Brompton, near Chatham, Kent in 1868, the business subsequently moved to Aldershot, where they were based until closure in November 1981 after the company had been bought by media m ...

, Ltd.)

External links

''Charles Morton''
(Arthur Lloyd) {{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Charles 1819 births 1904 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People from Hackney Central British theatre managers and producers 19th-century British businesspeople