Donizetti Marton Hall Amateur Opera Company, Baschurch, Shropshire, England - 1870s

Lots of information found by Chris Goddard (Webrarian here on Flickr):.This is Marton Hall, Baschurch, Shropshire. At this point it was the home of David Francis Atcherley (1818 - 1887) and his wife “Minnie” Caroline Frances Amherst Stacey. Minnie seems to have been driving force behind their productions, which ran for most of the 1870s, raising funds for the Shropshire Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary...The names along the bottom read: (top row) Miss Newton, Lady Egremont, J.C Griffith, Miss Edwards, De Merick [Sophie de Meric, b. 1840?], Miss Needham, H Morley (?), Mrs Catty, Newton, (middle row) Miss Tyssen Amhurst, Mr Atcherley, General [Charles Parker] Catty, (bottom row) Miss [ Rosamond Minnie Margaret ] Atcherley...Judging from the fact that they are outside, I strongly suspect that this photo was taken at Marton Hall in the early summer of 1878, and that they are dressed in the costumes of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" ("The Love Potion")...Here's as a complete a list of their performances that I've been able to put together. All performances were given in Italian...November 1871: Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore". Cast included: Mrs Atcherley, D.T. Gabbett, Miss Hurlock, Lieut-Col Stracey, J. Marlow, Lady Harnage, Miss Tyssen Amherst, Miss Egremont, Miss Hazlehurst, Miss Parlby, Miss H Hurlock, Earl of Mar, Mr Barrington Kennett, Mr Corbett Catty, Mr Dacre Trevor Roper, Lieut-Col Catty, Captain Atcherley, Mr Hurlock,..January 1874: Verdi's "Il Trovatore". Cast included: Mrs Atcherley, Lady Harnage, Mr R.H. Drummond, Mr J Marlow, Major McCreagh, Mr Trevor Roper, Lady Hampson, Mrs Steavenson, Miss Tyssen Amhurst, Miss Nina Egremont, Mrs Hazlehurst, Miss H Hurlock, Miss H. Palmer, Miss Layton, Miss F Stanhope-Jones, Col. Catty, Lieut-Col Stracey, Major Carpenter, Mr Corbet Catty, Mr L.W. Reynolds, Mr D.F. Gabbett, Mr J Thorley, Signor Balesca...January 1877: Verdi's "Il Trovatore" at the Theatre Royal, Shrewsbury. Cast included: Mrs Atcherley, Miss Needham, Mr Drummond, Mr Edmund Froude, Mr J.C. Griffith, Mr Dacre Trevor Roper, Lady, Harnage, Mrs Catty, Mrs Macaulay, Mrs Wollaston, Mrs Harrold Lees, Mrs Steavenson, Miss Tyssen Amhurst, Miss Edith Brown, Miss Alice Hartley, Miss Griffith, Miss Nina Egremont, Miss Needham, Miss Shaw, Miss Wollaston, Maj-Gen Catty, Mr Corbet Catty, Mr Charles J Hartley, Captain Gore, Mr F.B. Allan, Mr Reginald James, Mr Frank Lewis, Mr Charles Smith, Mr Reynolds,..April/May 1878 at the Theatre Royal, Shrewbury in aid of the Shropshire Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore". Cast included: Mrs Atcherley, Mrs Lacon, Mr H de Meric [De Merick], Mr J. Griffith, Mr J. Marlowe...June 1878 at the Aquarium, Westminster. Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore". Cast included: Mrs Atcherley, Mrs Lacon, Mr H de Meric [De Merick], Mr J. Griffith, Mr J. Marlowe...April 1879 at the Theatre Royal, Shrewbury. Selections from Flotow's "Marta", Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" and "La Favorita". Cast included: Mrs Atcherley, Miss Hardy, Mrs McCreagh, Miss Needham, Signor Carrion, Mr Hayes, Mr Griffith, Major McCreagh, Mr Mason, Mrs Wollaston, Misses Askwith, Botfield, Cahn, Egremont, Newton and Wollaston, Messrs Morley, Newton, Beaverley, Acherley Phillips, Salt, Scholefield, Sprott and Phillips...Mr Atcherley's place in his family tree:.www.atcherley.org.uk/wp/trees/atcherley-family-tree/?gnln.. ( http://www.atcherley.org.uk/wp/trees/atcherley-family-tree/?gnln.. ) ...An account of their wedding:.www.atcherley.org.uk/wp/bride-and-joy-celebrating-an-atch.. ( http://www.atcherley.org.uk/wp/bride-and-joy-celebrating-an-atch.. ) ...And finally...the young lady seated in the centre of the group is Mr and Mrs Atcherley's daughter, Rosamond Minnie Margaret Atcherley. Born in 1869 she died as recently as 1960...Gilbert and Sullivan's first really popular comic opera. "HMS Pinafore" opened at the Opera Comique in London on 25th May 1878. This was a few days before the Marton Hall Company's performance of "L'Elisir d'Amore" at the Aquarium Theatre with the Royal Aquarium, Tothill Street, Westminster. Sullivan was a director of the Royal Aquarium. Did he attend the Marton Hall performance?..In 1879 the Aquarium Theatre changed its name to the Imperial Theatre and it became home to one of the unauthorized productions of "HMS Pinafore". Having been completely altered internally in 1900, the Imperial Theatre was demolished in 1909 and the interior moved to the Imperial Palace of Varieties in Canning Town...This link is to a photo of the hall from the other side of where this photo was most likely taken: 4.bp.blogspot.com/-5kHXbSaVXFI/V7ArfhBpX7I/AAAAAAAAH0o/nE... ( https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5kHXbSaVXFI/V7ArfhBpX7I/AAAAAAAAH0o/nE1JRwbeyag4rC8abZMnBLGnUMFd_RdbwCLcB/s1600/Marton+Hall+2.JPG )