Owners, lessees and managers of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

The somewhat involved history of the ownership and management of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden can be split up into three main categories: the managers of the various theatrical and operatic companies which played there (historically, a mixture of actor-managers and impresarios); the leaseholders of the opera houses built on the land; and the owners of the freehold (i.e. ground landlords). From the early 20th century the theatre's management tended to be split between a general administrator and a musical/artistic director.

The horizontal alignment of dates in the table is only approximate.

Theatre Management[1] Leaseholder Freeholder[2]
First theatre
December 1732 – September 1808		 1732–1761
John Rich[3]		 1732
3rd Duke of Bedford[4]
1732–1771
4th Duke of Bedford
1761
John Beard, Rich's son-in-law[5]		 1761
Priscilla Rich[7]
1767
George Colman		 July 1767
George Colman, William Powell, Thomas Harris, & John Rutherford[13]
1774
Thomas Harris, sub-leased to
Thomas Hull 1775–1782[12][14]		 1785: Thomas Harris[16]
(owned nearly 75% of the lease)		 1771–1802
5th Duke of Bedford
d. aged 36
1803
Thomas Harris & John P. Kemble		 1806: Thomas Harris and others[18] 1802–1839
6th Duke of Bedford
Second theatre
September 1809 – March 1856		 1809:
Henry Harris[19] and J. P. Kemble
1822: Charles Kemble
1832: Alfred Bunn
1835: D. W. Osbaldiston[22]
1837: W. C. Macready		 1812
Henry Harris & John Kemble; George White & Mrs. Martindale (both descendants of William Powell)[23]
1839: Madam Vestris and C. J. Mathews
1842: Charles Kemble (again)
1843: William H. Wallack[24][25]
1845: ? Laurent
1846: Frederick Beale[26]
1848: Edward Delafield[27]		 1820
Henry Harris
(owned 7/12 share of the lease)[28]		 1839–1861
7th Duke of Bedford,
d. aged 73
1849 – 1877
Frederick Gye
Sub-lessees:
1856: Professor Anderson[30]
1856-64 (part): Louisa Pyne & William Harrison
Various dates: Colonel Mapleson[31]		 1849–1878
Frederick Gye[34]
Third theatre
May 1858 – present
1861–1872
8th Duke of Bedford
1877–1884
Ernest Gye[35]		 1878 - c1890
Ernest Gye and his brothers		 1872–1891
9th Duke of Bedford, shot himself while insane
1885–1887
Signor Lago[36][39]
1888–1896
Augustus Harris,[40]
sub-leased from the Grand Opera Syndicate.[42]		 c1890–1895
Andrew Montagu,
sub-leased to Grand Opera Syndicate.[44]		 1891–1893
10th Duke of Bedford,
died of diabetes aged 40
1897–1900
Maurice Grau as a director of Grand Opera Syndicate Ltd., previously backers of Augustus Harris, with Neil Forsyth as General Manager		 1896–1899
Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, sub-leased to Grand Opera Syndicate Ltd.[46]		 1893–1918
11th Duke of Bedford,
d. 1940 aged 64
1901–1906
André Messager as musical director of GOS Ltd., Neil Forsyth as General Manager		 1899–1929
Grand Opera Syndicate Ltd.[48]

1925–1927
Sub-leased by London Opera Syndicate[50]

1907–1915
Percy Pitt as musical director of the Syndicate, Neil Forsyth as MD. Sub-leased to others, eg Raymond Roze for a winter season of opera in English 1913.
1914: Used as station for swearing-in of police Special Constables.[51]
1915–1918: Used to store furniture from the hotels which had been taken over as offices by the Government[52]
1918: Thomas Beecham[55]

1925–1927: Summer seasons were given by London Opera Syndicate[49]

 1918–1924: Thomas Beecham & his brother, a long and involved story.[56]
1924–1928: Beecham Estates and Pills Ltd., a privately owned company with Beecham family interests[57]
1928–1933
Summer seasons were given by the Covent Garden Opera Syndicate. Beecham gave a brief season of grand opera in 1932.[49]		 1929–1932
The Syndicate's 30-year sub-lease was due to expire soon, and the building was under threat of demolition[58]
1929–1933:
Sub-leased to Covent Garden Opera Syndicate until February 1933[59]		 1928–1961
Covent Garden Properties Company Ltd., a public real estate company [60][63]
1934–1936
Geoffrey Toye as managing director of the ROH Company, with Beecham as principal conductor and artistic director[64]		 1932–1939
The Royal Opera House Company took a 5-year lease[65]
1936–1939
Managed by Beecham from 1936 after Toye was forced out
1939–1944
Mecca Ballrooms (Mecca Cafés Ltd.) - dancing and entertainment for the troops
1944–1949
Covent Garden Opera Trust
Gen. Admin David Webster
Mus. Dir. Karl Rankl[66]		 1944–1949
Boosey & Hawkes
1949–present
Covent Garden Trust[67] (now Royal Opera House Covent Garden Ltd., Registered Charity Number: 211775)[68][69][70]		 1949–1961
Ministry of Works, with a forty-two-year lease, sublet to Covent Garden Trust[71]
1961–present
Covent Garden Trust
(main lessee)[72]		 1961–1980
Covent Garden Market Authority, a Statutory Corporation established in 1961 by Act of Parliament[73]
1980–present
Government for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Ltd, parent company of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the ROH[74]

See also

References
Notes
  1. A fairly compete list of 18th and 19th century managers is found in Wyndham 1906, vol. 2, p. 293
  2. The dates of the Dukes of Bedford as freeholders are from their succession to the title, not their full dates.
  3. The original letters patent from Charles II, dated 15 January 1661/2 (illuminated, on vellum), authorizing Sir William Davenant to form one two companies of actors, are held in the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia. The other company was formed by Thomas Killigrew. The charter is illustrated in Clive E. Driver, A Selection from our Shelves: Books, manuscripts and drawings from the Philip H. & A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation Museum (Philadelphia, 1973), No. 44; a highly reduced facsimile also appeared in The Sunday Times (5 December 1982). Source: "The Rosenbach Museum & Library, numbers 1 through 239". Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts (CELM). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  4. Died September 1732 aged 24, at Coruna, Spain
  5. Beard married John Rich's daughter Charlotte, retired due to deafness in 1767.
  6. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶20.
  7. In his will Rich stipulated that the proceeds of theatre leasehold and patents were to be divided up equally between his wife Priscilla and their four legitimate daughters.[6]
  8. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶21.
  9. Jenkins 2017, p. 256.
  10.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Fisher, John Abraham". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  11. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶23.
  12. Jenkins 2017, p. 262.
  13. These four bought the patents and ground leases for £60,000 from Rich's widow, Priscilla.[8] John Beard's wife, Charlotte, got £12,000.[9] Harris and Powell were in conflict with Colman and Rutherford, and the management seems to have changed several times between various sub-lessees. In 1768 Rutherford sold two-thirds of his quarter share to Henry Dagge of the Inner Temple, and the remaining one third to James Leake of the Strand.
    Powell died in 1769, and his daughter's one-sixteenth share passed to the violinist John Fisher, whom she married in around 1770.[10] He devoted musical time and energy to the theatre, but he sold his share [to Harris?] when she died c1781. Colman sold [part of?] his share to James Leake in July 1774.[11] Another source[12] also says that George Colman sold his share in 1774 to Thomas Hull: this may refer to a separate deal at around the same time.
  14. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). "Hull, Thomas" . Dictionary of National Biography. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  15. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶25.
  16. By 1785 Harris had acquired 46/60 of both the leasehold of the theatre and the two patents, plus a twenty-one-year lease (jointly with Richard Brinsley Sheridan) of the remaining 14/60 of the patents, mainly financed by a long series of intricate mortgages involving Harris's brother-in-law, Thomas Longman, bookseller of Paternoster Row.[15]
  17. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶32.
  18. In 1806 Harris sold back to Powell's descendants (George White and Ann Martindale) 1/60 of the patent which he had acquired in 1781, and a one-eighth share in his lease of 1793 from the Duke of Bedford. They in turn agreed to pay their proportion of the very high rent, and to meet some of Harris's expenses from 1802-3.[17]
  19. Son of Thomas Harris.
  20. Sheppard 1970a, pp. 9-29, para. ¶87.
  21. Sheppard 1970a, pp. 9-29, fn 15.
  22. At a rent of £7,000 per annum,[20] which he had been unable to pay.[21]
  23. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶40.
  24. The father of James William Wallack, owner of Wallack's Theatre in NY.
  25. By 1843, when the Theatres Act 1843 finally abolished the monopoly rights of the two patent theatres, Covent Garden had virtually ceased to be a place of dramatic or musical entertainment and had become the venue for a series of meetings of the Anti-Corn Law League, whose long campaign was finally successful in 1846. See Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶43
  26. Died 1863. Father of Thomas Willert Beale.
  27. Donaldson 2011, p. 12.
  28. Thomas Harris died in October 1820, and soon afterwards John Kemble transferred his one-sixth share to his younger brother, Charles Kemble. Henry Harris, with 7/12, was now the principal proprietor, and therefore succeeded to the management with Charles Kemble (1/6), John Willett (1/16) and John Forbes (1/16) (George White's sons-in-law and heirs): in March 1822 they entered into an agreement with Henry Harris by means of which they were to have control of the theatre for ten years. There was opposition from Francis Const, a lawyer, who inherited a life interest in one eighth (2/16) from Mrs. Martindale, recently deceased. Persistent wrangling between the lessees meant that the theatre did not prosper in the 1820s.[23]
  29. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶47.
  30. This is the conjuror who organised an unruly bal masqé, at the end of which a fire broke out which destroyed the theatre in the early hours of 5 March 1856.[29]
  31. Mapleson went to the USA and put on opera at the New York Academy of Music. His nephew Lionel Mapleson created the Mapleson Cylinders at the 'old' Metropolitan Opera House during the last years of Maurice Grau's directorship there. Grau was also manager of Covent Garden 1897-1900 for the Syndicate.
  32. "Covent Garden". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 April 1929. p. 22. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  33. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, paras. ¶51-2.
  34. After the second theatre burned down, the 7th Duke granted Gye a new 90-year lease in 1856. To fund the rebuilding, a syndicate of 15 wealthy individuals invested £80,000. On 1 October 1857 Gye assigned the agreement for a 50-year sub-lease to three trustees, to hold on behalf of this London Opera Syndicate,[32] which included E. M. Barry (£1,500), the principal contractors, C. and T. Lucas (£21,159 jointly), the sub-contractor for the ironwork, Mr. Henry Grissell (amount unknown) and the 7th Duke of Bedford (£19,600).[33] Gye died in 1878, leaving the business to his sons.
  35. Parker 1900, p. 8.
  36. Parker 1900, pp. 10-15.
  37. Hurst 1959, p. 97.
  38. "Signor Lago's failure". New York Times. 6 November 1892. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  39. Signor Lago had for several years been regisseur and general factotum to Frederick Gye and his successors.[37] In 1892 Lago, who had managed the Imperial Opera Company of St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre, engaged Henry Wood to conduct an autumn season of opera at the Olympic Theatre (later demolished to make the Aldwych). Lago's enterprise failed: for example, he put on Lohengrin with Emma Albani: and Augustus Harris at the ROH—competing directly with Lago—gave Lohengrin with Adelina Patti.[38]
  40. Parker 1900, p. 23.
  41. Inwood, Stephen (2011). City Of Cities: The Birth Of Modern London. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9780330540674.
  42. Out of the main spring season of Grand Opera, masked balls had again become popular: in the 1890s those with a guinea for ticket could dance from midnight until 5 am to the band music of Lt. Dan Godfrey, father of Sir Dan Godfrey.[41]
  43. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶60.
  44. Montagu acquired the lease from Gye, having bought up the mortgages of the surrounding properties. Montagu d. 1895, leaving the real estate to Denison Faber, who at the time was registrar of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and later 1st Baron Wittenham. Faber sub-leased it to the Grand Opera Syndicate Ltd., formed out of the Grand Opera Syndicate after by Augustus Harris's death.[43]
  45. Chamier 1938, p. 95.
  46. In 1896 the Syndicate consisted of: the Marquess of Ripon, Lord Esher, Lord Wittenham (ie Faber), Mr. 'Harry' V. Higgins, chairman & managing director, and later Baron d'Erlanger.[45]
  47. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶63.
  48. The syndicate's previous 50-year sub-lease ran out in 1899: they purchased the leasehold from George D. Faber and negotiated a 30-year lease from the freeholder, the 11th Duke. This was due to expire in February 1929.[47]
  49. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, paras. ¶62-3.
  50. The London Opera Syndicate, formed by the industrialist and art collector Samuel Courtauld, took a three-year sub-lease from the Grand Opera Syndicate which was described as 'though still alive, had ceased to function, [and] the "Phoenix" seemed really dead'.[49]
  51. Reay, W. T. (1920). The Specials, how they served London; the story of the Metropolitan special constabulary. London: Heinemann. p. 22. On August 17, 1914, 2,000 special constables were sworn in under Capt. Stuart, Commander of E Division.
  52. Chamier 1938, p. 185.
  53. Lucas 2008, pp. 153-6.
  54. Lucas 2008, pp. 157.
  55. Beecham had been involved with Covent Garden since 1912. The Beecham 1919 and 1920 seasons resulted in a financial fiasco. The liquidators were called in to the Beecham Opera Company,[53] and Beecham was likely to be personally petitioned for bankruptcy.[54] He was left with a white elephant which no-one wanted, and retired from public life in 1921 for several years to sort out his financial affairs.
  56. Lucas 2008, pp. 111-12.
  57. Lucas 2008, p. 163.
  58. By 1929 the 90-year lease of 1857 from the 7th Duke of Bedford had about two more years to run. In the meantime, the freeholders, Covent Garden Properties Co. bought in the remainder of the Royal Opera Syndicate lease, and thereby became freeholders in possession.[32]
  59. Sheppard 1970b, pp. 71-85, para. ¶62-3.
  60. Lucas 2008, p. 111-176.
  61. Sheppard 1970a, pp. 9-29, para. ¶108.
  62. Sheppard 1970c, pp. 48-52.
  63. Also associated with Covent Garden Estate Company Limited[61][62]
  64. Lucas 2008, p. 216.
  65. The Chairman of the Royal Opera House Company was Viscount Allendale, with Philip Hill, Lady Cunard, and other peers of the realm.[64]
  66. Sadlers Wells Ballet first prod. Sleeping Beauty (1946); Covent Garden Opera Co., first prod. The Fairy Queen (1946?)
  67. Not to be confused with the Covent Garden Area Trust, set up in 1988 to conserve the historic architecture, environment and unique qualities of the 97-acre Covent Garden area.
  68. "Gen Trust SA as Trustees of the Covent Garden Trust". Panama Offshore Leaks Database. 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  69. "The Trustee for the Covent Garden Trust". Australia businesses. (ID no. 29059746252). 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  70. "Royal Opera House Covent Garden Limited: A public benefit assessment report by the Charities Commission" (PDF). The Charities Commission. 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  71. "Royal Opera House (London)". Theatres Trust. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  72. "£600m Covent Garden plan launched". Property Week. Retrieved 18 April 2017. (Subscription required.) NB The lease of 1949 was theoretically up for renewal in c1991, but this needs confirmation.
  73. "Covent Garden Market Authority: Report & Accounts for the accounting period 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014" (PDF). p. 31. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  74. "Royal Opera House". AIM25. Retrieved 19 April 2017.

Sources
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