Theatrical forum

[quiffdo]

Hello all

I was just wondering if anyone knows of a site that may be able to shed some light on a character that im trying to connect with my family.
The man is named James Byrne and he was a Ballet master at Drury lane theatre during the latter part of the 18th century and then with Saddlers wells in the early 19th century.
It states on many Google book searches that he came from a well known dancing family but for the life of me i cant find any reference of them.

I was hoping there might be a site someone knows of that may be helpful.

Thanks in advance

Danny

[Mutley]

Copy this link to you browser, it may be of help

www.
arthurlloyd.co.uk/AncestorResearch.htm

[Jan1954]

Hello Danny,

I have moved this thread over to Actors and Artistes as it could then attract the attention of those with more of an interest in the theatre.

In the meantime, this book (http://www.parishchest.com/shop/index.php?cmd=viewproduct&cat=&id=P81413&pageOffset=0) may provide some extra pointers for you to follow in your research. :)

[quiffdo]

Thankyou both for the link and the book (I will probably buy once I know if he's definately mine which im 90% he is)

Danny

[Mutley]

There seems to be quite a bit about his son Oscar on the Internet, including an obituary

[quiffdo]

Hiya

His son Oscar was also a Ballet master within the theatre.
I just cannot seem to locate any info on James before his career statred at Drury lane.
I do know he travelled around Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York before he came back to London.

Danny

[Sue Mackay]

Google "The Stage Archives". For a nominal fee you can get a 24 hour pass to search The Stage newspaper and download articles.

[quiffdo]

Thankyou Sue

I will have a look and see the price etc.

Danny

[Ladkyis]

The Theatre museum, a part of the Victoria and Albert Museum has loads of stuff on line

http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/theatre_performance/

I have found it useful when searching for my actors and as new stuff is always being added I have to go back to the site for a day or two.... sorry a minute or two.

Mande and Mitchenson collection is also dead good but time consuming

http://www.mander-and-mitchenson.co.uk/

I also use The Stage archive and that is soooo useful

[Kerrywood]

His son Oscar was also a Ballet master within the theatre. I just cannot seem to locate any info on James before his career statred at Drury lane.

The Oxford DNB article on Oscar gives the dates of his father James BYRNE as 1756-1845, if that's any help? The IGI has an extracted baptism for Oscar at St Andrew Holborn, with parents James and Lucy. I guess James could have been Irish?

Kerrywood

[Mutley]

It also seems possible that the name may not have originally had the 'e' on the end, BYRN.

[Penelopepitstop]

I have recently used The Stage archives to research information on my grandfather with amazing results. The cost is just £5 for 24 hours. I have just done a quick search for James Bryne and got 49 results. If you register and log in you will be able to see snippets of the results to see whether they are relevant. To see the whole articles you pay the £5. Bear in mind though that The Stage was only published from 1880 onwards.


You can also try The Era - a trade magazine of the time. The archives are available from the British Library website. Go to that and follow the links – it is part of the Gale Database of nineteenth-century newspapers, and you can subscribe quite cheaply for a brief time, and download all the info you find.


I hope that helps you :)

[quiffdo]

Thankyou all for the info and advice.

My next port of call is to see if I can find any info on James Byrn(E)s birth anf parentage.

I will look into the reccomended sites you have all suggested.

Danny

[Sue Mackay]

You can also try The Era - a trade magazine of the time. The archives are available from the British Library website. Go to that and follow the links – it is part of the Gale Database of nineteenth-century newspapers, and you can subscribe quite cheaply for a brief time, and download all the info you find.


Judging by the Cheshire Libraries website you can access the Gale Newsspaper database (Infotrac) for free using your library card, but you have to upgrade your library card in person at a library first.