Charles Morton

Charles Morton (15 August 1819 – 18 October 1904) was a music hall and theatre manager. Born in Hackney, east London, he built the first purpose-built Tavern Music hall, the Canterbury Music Hall, and became known as the Father of the Halls. Career Canterbury Hall Morton and Frederick Stanley, his brother in law, purchased the Canterbury Arms, in Upper Marsh, Lambeth, south London, in 1849. Morton had been impressed with the entertainments at Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms in Covent Garden and decided to offer a "harmonic meeting", held on Saturdays, in the back room of the public house. Soon, a Thursday evening programme was added to accommodate the crowds and admit women, giving the venue wider appeal than the old-time song and supper rooms, which were male preserves. Entry was free, but the profits from the sale of food and drink allowed the construction in 1852 of a 700-seat hall on the site of an adjacent skittle alley. This made sufficient profit to fund the building of a 1,500 seat hall, around the old hall.