The ERA 23 July 1904

ARTHUR LLOYD.

A REMINISCENCE.

BY C. DOUGLAS STUART.

23rd July 1904

Also see the ERA obituary for Arthur Lloyd here...

Arthur Lloyd, whose death on Wednesday in Edinburgh, under such pathetic circumstances, will be deplored by all who remember him in the zenith of his popularity, was born on May 14, 1839, in Annandale street, Leith walk, Edinburgh. His grandfather was a well known hatter in The Strand who was patronised by Yates, Liston, and many other actors of that day.His father having, while in the same business, intercourse with the theatrical profession, eventually the same and became a popular comedian, and afterwards the proprietor and manager of several theatres in Scotland. He married Miss Eliza Horncastle, who was a member of the celebrated Pyne and Harrison opera company, and had eleven children, of whom Arthur was the fifth. His full name was Arthur Rice Lloyd, owing to his godfather being Rice, of 'Jim Crow' fame, who was a great friend of his father.

When children none of the Lloyd family were allowed to visit the theatre often, but Arthur Lloyd had vivid recollections of hearing Jenny Lind, and delighting in the acting of Mcready, Charles Kean, Fabby Vining, Mrs Glover, Agnes Robertson, Robson, Mrs Stirling, Southern, and other celebrities of the day.

 

At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a trade, but he had the family longing to become an actor, and eventually his father arranged an engagement for him with his brother Fred with Mr J. R. Newcombe’s company at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, where in 1856 he appeared as general utility at a salary of 12s a week. After two seasons in that town he returned to his home and for several years travelled with his father through Scotland with an entertainment called “Facts and Fancies.”

Arthur Lloyd’s first music hall engagement was with Mr James Shearer at the old Whitebait Music Hall, Glasgow, when he was engaged at a salary of £4 a week, and made a big success with a song of Sam Cowell’s called "The Railway Porter. Which that performer permitted him to make into a Scotch ditty. Years afterwards Lloyd appeared at the same hall and received a salary of £60 a week, Mr Shearer’s manager then being the late George Ware.

For several years he toured the country with increasing popularity,
performing at such halls as Grainger’s, Newcastle; Holder’s, Birmingham; and the Dog Inn, Manchester; and at the last named place his brother Fred, who was the comedian at the local Theatre Royal, and Henry Irving, who was also in the same company, used to come over to listen to his “turn.”

Ultimately, Arthur Lloyd decided to come to the metropolis, and made his first London appearance on Oct.13 1862, when he performed at the Philharmonic, The Sun, and the Marylebone, his songs being “Beef, pork, mutton, will you buy?” “Acting Mad”, and “The Street Musician.” After six weeks Lloyd quitted the two last mentioned halls, and entered into an engagements with Messrs Sanders and Lacey, of the Philharmonic, and Mr Charles Morton, of the Canterbury, to sing only at their halls. At the latter of these on the first night he was down to at twenty minutes to 12.00, immediately after Unsworth, the stump orator, and nearly all the audience had left the hall before he came on, there being only about 100 present, but so successful was he that Mr Morton, thinking him too good for so late a turn, put him on the following week, and for many months after, at 10o’clock. At the Canterbury Lloyd became a great favourite singing five and six times a-night, amongst them being “Pepper’s Ghost,” The Old Clothes Man,” “A Bundle Rolled Into An Apron,” and “The Song Of Songs.” In the following year he produced a burlesque drama at the Philharmonic entitled The Wicked Squire; or, Muggat’s Brook, which ran for six months, and afterwards at the Canterbury and Weston’s for a long while. There was no scenery, simply a screen at the back of the stage.

After engagements at the Oxford and other halls Mr Lloyd went to the London Pavilion, then under the proprietorship of Messrs Loibi and Sonhammer, where he remained for upwards of a year; indeed so enormously successful did this popular comedian become, and such an attraction to the establishment, that he never received his notice, but remained at the Pavilion as long as he was in London. At this time his songs were being sung all over the kingdom and in America and every English speaking country, as well as being translated into foreign tongues.

After two or three years Arthur Lloyd organised a concert party and travelled the provinces, calling his entertainment 'Two Hours Genuine Fun', and during the summer he visited the different seaside resorts, such as Scarborough, which then only possessed the Spa Saloon and the old Theatre Royal, while Blackpool had the Assembly rooms, What a difference now!

Continued...