Tyne Theatre & Opera House Search for Descendants of Victorian Staff Members

Tyne Theatre & Opera House are searching for the descendants of its Victorian stage staff as part of their National Heritage Lottery funded project.

A group photo (pictured below) was discovered by Project Director David Wilmore in a copy of the Evening Chronicle from 1937. It shows the men from the fly staff outside the stage door on Thornton Street in 1901. These men would have worked with the Victorian wooden stage machinery, which the Tyne Theatre & Opera House is currently in process of restoring ahead of a demonstration at an international conference in September 2023. The named men are (top row l-r) John Denton, Wm.Maitland, W.Smith, T.Murray, T.Brumell, J.Diamond, (bottom row l-r) Jim Baker, T.Collins, R.Kelso, J.Younger, J. McEwan, and seated in the centre Jim Preston, the master flyman.

Photo courtesy of Mr W Smith/Evening Chronicle

Tyne Theatre & Opera House are also looking for the descendants of Frederick William Humphrys (pictured below). Humphrys was in charge of the stage machinery at Tyne Theatre & Opera House during the late 1800s. Born in Somerset, he had 6 children with his wife Annie Walkinshaw, 4 of whom were born in Newcastle. Fred first appears in our programmes in September 1884, the same month as his father John Davenant Humphrys (a painter and wood carver) appears as props manager.

Photo courtesy of Theatresearch Archives

Do you recognise anyone? Is one of them your ancestor? Tyne Theatre & Opera House would love to find some of the descendants of the theatre staff and shine a light on their lives as part of their heritage project. If you have any information, please contact Project Administrator Rachel Snape at [email protected].