SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: From the Victorian age of gas lamps and music halls, DAVID MORGAN traces the history of one Old Town venue that delighted audiences for a quarter of a century
Star turn: GW Jester’s ventriloquist act was among the famous turns to perform at The Gun
The fire which consumed Croydon Parish Church in January 1867 shocked the local community. People were affected in different ways. The blaze was even the subject of a song which was performed in the Gun Music Hall in Church Street, just round the corner from the church. They would have seen the flames on that fateful night from their windows, possibly even felt the heat from the blaze.
Wednesday February 13, 1867, was a special night for The Gun, as it was staging a show as a benefit for their resident entertainer, Dick Penny. Penny would be singing a beautiful new local song written by him about the “catastrophe at the Parish Church”.
The Gun Music Hall is one of those venues in Croydon which is long forgotten, but which was an integral part of community life in the 1860s. It seems it was located in the heart of Croydon Old Town, on the corner of Old Palace Road and Church Street, just across the road from where the Church Street tram stop is today, the building on the site now operating as a restaurant.
The Gun must have been quite a sight when it opened 161 years ago this month, in September 1864. An article in the Croydon Chronicle was full of praise for the venue, from the comfort of the stalls to the first-class quality of the refreshments.
The “magnificent 600-seater hall” was to open its doors at 6.30pm on Monday September 26, with curtain up at 7pm. A top-quality list of performers had been secured to appear on the opening night. Subsequently, shows would be given on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Song and dance: how the 1867 local paper reported the attractions of The Gun and Dick Penny’s show
Inside the hall, specially furnished for the purpose, were three very elaborate glass chandeliers as well as glass gaslights along the walls “giving forth their brilliant rays”. It would be another half-century before electric lighting was in widespread use in London.
The walls of The Gun were wood-panelled and the ceiling was constructed from the same wood. The three chandeliers hung down from the varnished ceiling.
The reporter was pleased that the hall was devoid of “gaudy tinsel and Dutch metal decoration”, which were found in similar establishments.
The price for a stalls ticket or to reserve a seat was one shilling – 5p in modern currency, but worth close to £8 in today’s prices. General admission was half as much: 6d. No children were to be admitted unless they were accompanied by their parents.
The opening night was a huge success, notwithstanding the fact that a local reporter estimated there to be 1,000 people inside the hall. Health and safety wasn’t so strict back then. The ventilation system didn’t cope with the extra numbers. It was noted that it got rather warm and stuffy.
The proprietor of the venue was Henry Boynton. It was his entrepreneurial spirit which got the hall redeveloped. Together with his wife Louisa, who he had married in July 1856 in St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London, he managed the venue. On the marriage certificate he was described as a dealer. Louisa signed her name on her marriage certificate with an X.
The Boyntons arrived to take up the licence of The Gun Tavern in Croydon in 1859. Before then, Henry Boynton was listed as the licensee of the White Horse pub in Holborn. The Gun was a long-established Croydon watering hole before the Boyntons arrived. In 1803 there was a reference to the pub being one of the Smith’s brewery outlets.
In the 1861 census, along with Harry and his wife Louisa at The Gun, there was their young son Henry, a barman named Arthur Fish and two domestic servants, Caroline Holden and James Smith.
Detailed information: how the 1861 census showed who was resident at The Gun on Church Street
Boynton must have been planning to develop the hall almost as soon as he arrived. A newspaper report suggested that a venue for this sort of entertainment in Croydon had been sorely needed. Boynton had realised this and set about raising some capital.
Back then, the tenders for building works appeared in the press. For the firms wanting the architect’s contract for The Gun, Budd and Pierce sent in the most expensive bid at £640, with Thomas and Jenkins the cheapest at £453. A total of eight bids were received. Research has yet to uncover the winning bid.
“Mr Boynton conducts the place in a manner which speaks well for his liberality and sound judgement,” said a report in the local paper a week after The Gun opened as a music hall.
The 20 acts which were engaged for the new show were going down well with the public, who were supporting the venue in good numbers. One name would have been familiar to them.
Mr GW Jester, “the far-famed ventriloquist”, had appeared regularly in front of large audiences at Crystal Palace with the nickname of “The Man with the Talking Hand”.
Star-studded bill: the line up of acts booked for The Gun Music Hall’s opening night in 1864
For the local reporter, Jester’s ventriloquism was by far the best he had ever witnessed. “He is clever in the way he changes his voices and the conversation he has with a little old lady, who is represented by his hand, is highly amusing and of a superior class.”
Richard Penny, the artist who composed the song about the fire at the Parish Church, performed as a black-faced minstrel. Prior to coming to Croydon, he was on-stage at the music hall in Islington.
Some people in the audience compared him favourably with EW Mackney, the leading minstrel performer of that kind in the country at the time. If Mackney was inimitable, then Penny was seen as irresistible. “He is a good singer, a clever dancer and a wit of the first order,” the reviewer wrote. In all the Victorian reviews and articles about him, Penny was described as American, though this is thought to be a description of his act, rather than his nationality.
There was burlesque on the bill, too. Bessie and Ruth Edwin, together with Mr HC Hazelwood, were signed up for The Gun after they had played for more than 350 nights at the Highbury Barn.
The new season in 1865 saw different acts booked. The conductor of the music hall band, Mr de Lacy, persuaded Boynton to give his daughter a singing slot. This must have been at the beginning of her career. She became well-known and even had her photo on a “Golden Butterfly” cigarette card.
Boynton also hired Mr Petersen and his troupe of performing dogs. This act must have gone down well, as by 1880 and 1881, “Mr Petersen” and his dog act had become “Professor Petersen” on the bill at Crystal Palace, though he had been performing on the London stage with his doggy friends since the winter of 1869-1870 in the Drury Lane pantomime Beauty and the Beast.
Sold for scrap: it was not too long before the music hall was broken up and sold off
Petersen’s act was still going strong in 1904 when he appeared at the Royal Aquarium, a large London entertainment complex where the Methodist Central Hall stands today.
The Gun Music Hall’s 1864 bill contained a young entertainer, Herbert Campbell, who went on to a have a hugely successful career. One of his most requested songs was “It’s enough to make a parson swear.” He appeared as the dame in pantomime at the Theare Royal Drury Lane alongside the great Dan Leno for many years.
When The Gun’s 1867 season was announced, there were some well-known favourites on the bill. Dick Penny was still there. At his benefit evening, as well as his comic song about the fire at the Parish Church, there was to be a competition to find the best amateur singer in Surrey. Penny, himself, was giving a handsome eight-day timepiece to the winner, with a banjo being awarded to the worst.
But after several good years of old-style music hall, Boynton would soon be moving on. In August 1867, the lease was put up for immediate sale.
The property was described as having the potential to “conduct a trade of magnitude” and that there was a “highly profitable trade” and that it was “an opportunity for investment rarely available”.
In October 1867, an advert appeared in a local newspaper from the new proprietor, Mr W Bennett. Informing the readers that he had taken on the licence of the Gun pub from Harry Boynton, he hoped that the public would support his new venture as he sought to pay strict attention to the business, selling stock of the best quality. At the end of the piece was this news: “The spacious music hall to be let.”
The music hall seems to have continued for another 20 years or so, until in September 1889, it was all dismantled and a clearance sale was held.
Up for offers was 7,000 feet of match boarding, door sashes, pan tiles, slates, marble… in fact everything that could get a price was put in the sale.
The Gun itself survived as a pub right through to 2012, famous locally as a music venue that hosted some star rock names.
But the music hall performers had long gone, memories of them faded away.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
David Morgan, pictured right, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- The prodigy with a tin whistle who took music around the world
- Shakespeares who made music part of their family business
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
Fascinating history of the Gun Tavern and its music hall.
I remember there was a large hall and backyard in the 1970s, presumably where the music hall was located. I thought it might have been stables at one time.
My dad (Roy) would hold fancy pigeon shows and competitions there on Sunday mornings. Homing pigeons were judged not on their racing record but how they looked – their plumage, beak and head shape, feather quality and other characteristics. I’d help him keep a record of the entries, the fees paid and calculate how the prize money would be distributed. I did it for a few years until I became a teenager and pigeons were decidedly uncool.
The backyard of the Gun was sold off and built over many years ago. It’s interesting to hear how that space was used in the past.
Another great contribution from IC’s star columnist. May I suggest a Morgan’s Croydon coffee table book?