Life at the old Museum

There was little else in the shape of amusement, apart from an occasional concert or minstrel show.

Most Boltonians had a soft spot for "The Old Museum" - it's full title originally was "The Star Theatre and Museum" - which was opened in 1832 by Mr T. Sharples at the Millstone Inn, Crown Street, off Deansgate. It seems that business was so good that more spacious premises were needed, so eight years later he transferred it to Churchgate.

The name "Museum" originated in the days when, according to a writer of the time, "there were to be seen stuffed birds and animals including a tiger, and waxwork figures of the latest celebrities in sport and in crime."

About 12 years after Mr Sharples set up his show in Churchgate (the actual date was July 13, 1852) the premises were burned down, and here is a curious link with the axe with which, according to tradition, the Earl of Derby was executed a few yards away.

Shortly before the fire this axe came into the possession of Mr Sharples, and he exhibited it in the Museum. Several exhibits, including the axe, which later passed into other hands, were rescued from the flames.

A writer in the Bolton Journal and Guardian of March 2, 1928, described the Museum as having a plain stage, to the left of which stood the chairman's box, in which Mr Geoghegan, the manager, armed with a mallet, called out the names of the performers and a few details of their turns "and then left them to the tender mercies of a none too cultured, but very homely, audience" who were free to express their disapproval in the usual way.

If a turn failed to please, Mr Geoghegan would sometimes shout, "You're no good! You'll be paid up tonight," but if the audience was too troublesome he "would charge into a scrimmage and eject the ringleaders into the outer darkness."

The equipment of the Museum was very modest. The curtain was wound up, laboriously, by hand, and behind were a table, two chair, and a piano. The performances began at 7.30, and about an hour before a man known as "Museum Jack", who was apparently an all-round assistant, went through the premises with a taper on a long pole, lighting the gas lamps. Mr Geoghegan and "Museum Jack" seem to have been the sole staff.

Mr Geoghegan seemed to be a bit of a character. He lived, with his wife and seven daughters, at the Angel Hotel, which was next door to the Museum and of which he was the lessee. He paid the wages of the artists at the weekend, taking care to include some small change in their money, and then drawing attention to the "Infirmary Box."

When, at 10 o'clock, the show was over, his wife and daughter, and the artists, would have a "free and easy" round the piano, but if the speech of some of the men became a little too free he would say, "Gentlemen, my daughters are present."

Admission to the gallery was fourpence along the sides and sixpence (2p) at the back. Downstairs a front seat on the wooden benches cost fourpence and twopence at the rear. Young men - called "mashers" in those days - used to cut a dash on 8d, which was sixpence for a seat in the back gallery and 2d for a "lemon and dash". There were two bars.

From the fire of 1852 a new Museum arose which was opened on January 1, 1855, and was called the Victoria Theatre of Varieties. Later it became the Victoria Buffet. It was closed as a licensed house on December 31, 1912, and the Princess Theatre was built on the site. In 1928 that building was incorporated in the Theatre Royal, which was in turn demolished in the 1960s (Churchgate House is on the site).

So passed the old Museum, regretted by those who had known it through the years. In some Bolton homes there may still be mementoes of its great days in the form of metal tokens or "pass out checks" bearing a laurel leaf and a seven-pointed star, which were issued, probably between 1840 and 1852 who wanted to leave the hall - perhaps for a breather - and return.