William Morton (theatre manager)

William Morton
William Morton, age 96
Born	24 January 1838 Royston, Cambridge, UK
Died	5 July 1938 Kingston-upon-Hull
Resting place	Cottingham cemetery, Kingston-upon-Hull
Education	Royston 'British School'
Occupation	Amusement caterer, theatre & cinema proprietor
Years active	1865 - 1935
Spouse(s)	Annie Todd, married 50 years
Children	Constance, Bertha, George, William F, Tom, Eliza, Eleanor (Nellie)
Parent(s)	George and Maria Morton

William Morton (24 January 1838 - 5 July 1938) was an amusement caterer, a theatre and cinema manager in England for 70 years.

After an erratic start in Southport, Morton's career stabilised when he took on struggling illusionists Maskelyne and Cooke. He developed their careers, managed them for sixteen years, established them in the heart of London and presented them by Royal Command for Prince George's 14th birthday.

For sixteen years he was manager of the Greenwich Theatre where he further speculated, developing theatrical businesses in southeast London and the provinces.

In his sixties, he moved north to Hull where he established new companies, developed and built both theatres and cinemas. From 1920 onwards he was interviewed each birthday at his office by the local press who dubbed him the Grand Old Man of Hull. Morton had become an observer and commentator on a century of English life and entertainments.

Morton contributed to the development of Victorian entertainments and the flourishing of legitimate theatre. He prospered during its heyday and saw theatre's eventual acceptance by the 'respectable classes'. In the twentieth century, he embraced new technology and successful pioneered cinematographic entertainment. Only in the 1930s did the decline of theatre-going, and the boom and bust years of cinema, take its toll.

William Morton, son of George and Maria Morton, was born in the small village of Royston near Cambridge on 18 January 1838. George, an upholsterer, was a leading light in Royston Tradesmens' Benefit Society which spent its profits in building houses. Morton Street bears the family name. Childhood memories included riding on top of a stage coach to Cambridge, and travelling by train (the third-class carriages were like cattle trucks) to see the 1851 Great Exhibition at Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.

Morton received a limited education at the local British School, further impeded by a severe stammer which lasted into his middle years. By the age of 12, Morton's entrepreneurship and fascination for entertainment was already evident. He offered his services free to a promoter to sell programmes, thus gaining admission to concerts. He also found himself a job looking after the Mechanics Institute reading-room for 4 hours each evening where he studied the daily papers and monthly magazines, beginning a lifetime habit of self-education.