Owners / Managers

Sir Edward Moss -1904

The personal history of Sir Edward Moss is equally romantic. He was born in Lancashire and was the son of an entertainer whom he assisted as a youth by performing humorous songs at the piano at his father's pitch at the Waverley Fair in Edinburgh. His first experience as a manager was under the elder Moss at the Lorne Music Hall in Greenock. At precisely the same age as Oswald Stoll he acquired a music hall of his own, the Gaiety in Edinburgh. He achieved little success in these early years; according to The Era for December 24th, 1924, he made " one plucky attempt after another to attract people with a purified entertainment, but in vain." Then came the association with Richard Thornton, the Tynesider, who lived to a great age and was affectionately known as "Old Dick Thornton." This partnership was eminently successful, and the Moss and Thornton unit pushed its way across country and into Wales, where, as has been stated, it came into contact with Oswald Stoll's ventures. Then followed the Moss and Stoll combination, whose later history we already know. Edward Moss was knighted in 1903 and retired from action in 1904, his rather early death following shortly after.

From EARLY DOORS by Harold Scott