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The Sun Music Hall, 26 Knightsbridge High Street, Knightsbridge, London |
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Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here in 1862, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1879, and 1881, and the Sun was in fact the first Music Hall in which he performed when first arriving in London on the 12th of October 1862 - For cuttings see here... Right - Entr'acte Review for Arthur Lloyd at the Sun Music Hall on May 13th 1871 - Courtesy Peter Charlton. The Sun - Extract from 'They were singing' Christopher Pulling - 1952: ...Others opened about the same time included the Lord Raglan, in Theobald's Road, Holborn (described by Edmund Yates under the guise of the Lord Somerset), and two in Knightsbridge--the Sun and the Trevor. On the stage of the Sun in Knightsbridge Leybourne first sang Champagne Charlie in 1867, and Macdermott By Jingo in 1878; Leybourne, on the decline, made his last appearance there in 1884, and Vance dropped dead as the curtain fell in 1888. The Sun was nearly opposite Knightsbridge Barracks, and has long sice disappeared; the name of Trevor is preserved in a public house at the corner of Trevor Square. Above - extract from 'They were singing' Christopher Pulling - 1952 The Sun - Extract from The Era, London, 12 August 1899: ...‘Mr Pat Cashan’s death in its awful suddenness
carries one’s mind back to the Great Vance’s death at the
now defunct Sun Music Hall at Knightsbridge
[London] on Boxing Night in 1888.
The building was crowded, and Vance had given two songs with more than
usual spirit, and had rendered three verses of "Are you guilty?"
for which song he dressed in the wig and robes of a judge, and was walking
off the stage to his dressing-room, when he suddenly fell at the wings.
He was lifted up, but the voice had died away for ever...’
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The Rising Sun, Sun Music Hall and
Knightsbridge Hall
Right - The Sun Music Hall in its latter days, when the premises were apparently associated with the restaurant and buffet on the ground floor of the Princes Gate Hotel. - Survey of London Vol XLV Knightsbridge - Courtesy John Grice. In 1851 the Rising Sun was licensed for music and dancing, and a concert room was erected at the rear of the premises. This 'Sun Music Hall' is-as rebuilt in 1864-6 to designs by the architects Finch Hill & Paraire. Ranking 'with the first class establishments of the metropolis', the new Sun Music Hall was 100ft long and 35ft wide with a cantilevered gallery along three sides, and ornamented with wall panels of allegorical reliefs and a decorative balcony front of carton pierre. It was at the Sun that George Leybourne first performed 'Champagne Charlie', in 1867, and G. H. Macdermott the great hit of 1878, 'By Jingo'. Extensive improvements to bring the hall up to fire safety standards were ordered by the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1884, but before they were carried out the premises were sold, in April 1885, to J. C. Humphreys, owner of Humphreys' Hall adjoining, which was destroyed a few days later, when the Japanese Village exhibition there caught fire. Humphreys refitted the Sun Music Hall as a concert room for 'musical entertainments of a high class'. By January 1886 the old Rising Sun had been demolished, to be replaced later in the year by a restaurant or coffee-room with apartments above - effectively a western extension to Albert Gate Mansions with which it was later united. This work seems to have been carried out by Humphreys' architect for the rebuilding of Humphreys' Hall, Spencer Chadwick, in conjunction with the theatre and restaurant architect Thomas Verity. The new apartments, together with the restaurant, were run for a time as the Princes or Princes Gate Hotel. With the Japanese Village exhibition recreated in the new Humphreys' Hall, the refurbished Sun Music Hall became the Nippon Theatre, or New Shebaya concert hall, used for Japanese as well as conventional Western-style musical entertainments. Following the closure of the village in 1887 the theatre enjoyed a brief renaissance under its old name the Sun Music Hall. On Boxing Night 1888 the Great Vance, clad in judicial robes and wig, sang his last song, 'Are You Guilty?', before collapsing in the wings with a fatal heart attack." The Sun, together with the former restaurant and buffet was subsequently hired out for receptions and meetings as Knightsbridge Hall, Humphreys having given an undertaking to the London County Council that it would never again be used as a music-hall. Knightsbridge Hall was later taken over by the John Griffiths Cycle Corporation Ltd as a cycle-riding school and showroom, which it remained for some years. In 1905 a plan to use the building as a restaurant was abandoned when Humphreys was refused a renewal of the licence, which he had held for ten years without making use of it. An extension to Knightsbridge Hall, on the sites of Nos 225-229 Knightsbridge (the former Nos 1-3 Trevor Terrace), was erected in 1918 by J. C. Humphreys' firm, Humphreys Ltd. About 1921 the enlarged premises, known as the Knightsbridge Halls, were taken by the decorators and furnishers Robersons Ltd and fitted out as galleries for displaying panelled interiors salvaged from historic houses. By the late 1930s the Knightsbridge Halls were used for motor-trading. They were demolished after the Second World War for the building of Mercury House. Text and plan - Survey of London Vol XLV Knightsbridge - Courtesy John Grice. |
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Arthur Lloyd at the Sun Music Hall - Cuttings from 'The ERA' in 1870 The Era – 3rd and 10th July 1870 SUN MUSIC HALL, KNIGHTSBRIDGE (Proprietor Mr. E. Williams) Great Change of Company. Fresh talent. Arthur Lloyd (the great Comedian), Leggatt and Allen (Comic Duettists), George Leybourne (The Lion Comic). Miss Emma Day (the Eminent Serio-Comic), Harry Liston (the Star Comic), La Petite Taglioni (the smallest Serio-Comic lady in the World). E. D. Davies (the Great Ventriloquist), W. H. Barry (Comic), Culleen and Atrato (the Daring Gymnasts), Stanley Grey (the Pleasing Tenor), and Sisters Duvernay. Manager Mr. T. Gordon.
SUN MUSIC HALL, KNIGHTSBRIDGE (Proprietor Mr. E. Williams) Great Change of Company. Fresh talent. Arthur Lloyd (the great Comedian), Leggatt and Allen (Comic Duettists), Marian Isaacs (the Great Soprano), Kate Garstone (the fascinating Serio-Comic), Sam Bagnall (Shakespearian Comic), Sisters Lindon (Characteristic Duettists), Miss Emma Day (the eminent Serio-Comic), Harry Liston (the Star Comic), La Petite Taglioni (the smallest Serio-Comic lady in the World). E. D. Davies (the Great Ventriloquist), Culleen and Atrato (the Daring Gymnasts) and Sisters Duvernay. Manager T. Gordon. The Era – 3rd July /10th July and 17th July 1870 (Four small ads underneath each other).
MR. ARTHUR LLOYD CANTERBURY HALL ………………………………..9 O’CLOCK MR. ARTHUR LLOYD PAVILION……………………………………………10 O’CLOCK MR. ARTHUR LLOYD SUN, KNIGHTSBRIDGE………………………..10.45. Immense Success in all his New Songs. MR. ARTHUR LLOYD Will commence his Annual Tour in August. All communications respecting Tour to be made to Mr William Morton, Secretary and Business Manager, Box 28, Post-office, Southport, Lancashire. The Cuttings above were kindly sent in by Emmi Birch whose Great Great Grandfather was Thomas Culeen of 'Culeen and Atrato' who often appeared on the same Bills as Arthur Lloyd (See above). Culeen and Atrato were a Circus act, Trapeze Artists and Gymnasts. Thomas ended up in the 1880's as a famous (locally) Circus and Theatre proprietor at The Gaiety Theatre in Burnley, Lancashire. If you have any information you are willing to share on Culeen and Atrato then please Contact Me here... |
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The
Sun Music Hall in Knightsbridge, originally licensed as the Sun Public
House in 
The
Rising Sun tavern at NO. 26 High Road was opened about 
