"Comedian" in 1851 Census - what kind of act, and where?

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
Have been recently trying to piece together the LLOYDS family on here.  One particular branch or generation seem to be involved as "scene painters" and "artists", so I suppose that it was not a great surprise when I found an entry in the 1851 Census in Kensington, London for Charles LLOYDS, whose occupation is given as "comedian".
Possibly the family had some kind of connection with the theatre, but how might a comedian have performed or made a living in London, or indeed Liverpool where this generation were born, in 1851?
Very best wishes,
keith

[ShaunJ]

Hi Keith,

I would think that Charles would have been a music hall performer. There's a good article on music halls in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall

Cheers

Shaun

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi again, Shaun,
Very interesting that...And I also looked up the Wikipedia entry on Harold Lloyd, imagining that perhaps playing it for laughs ran in the family.  But he came from somewhere else, apart from having no "S" on the end of his surname.  Mind you, trying to do family research and not realising that someone was going under a stage name would put the cat amonst the pigeons...
keith
p.s. I think I've spotted funny man Charles in the 1861 Census in Plymouth, stating his occupation to be:"actor".  Maybe he ran out of jokes...

[Pegasuss]

Keith.

Maybe He was a 'Trouper'?

Being a member of a Travelling Troup was how many Actors Learned their Trade (& If they were Lucky earned enough to Live on).

They would have to (try &) master many roles, and do Scene Shifting, Painting, Dressing (some of the Ladies could Make Anything out of Next to Nothing with a Needle, Sewing machine and Scraps of Material).

[Keith Sherwood]

Pegasuss,
That's very interesting, as in the 1851 Census at 3, Albert Terrace, St Mary Abbott's, Kensington he and his two brothers are lodging together; and his brother Frederick is a "scene painter", while brother Alfred is a "decoration painter".  Perhaps they worked in a local theatre or music hall - perhaps they did in Liverpool,and maybe Charles subsequently did in Plymouth.
keith

[Christopher]

Hello Keith,

There's an article, "Treading the Travelling Boards", by Ros Bott in the April edition of "Ancestors." Ros looks through the records of a troupe of travelling actors from the 1830s.
Christopher 

[Keith Sherwood]

Christopher,
Thanks very much for flagging that up for me!  Will get myself a copy and have a good read about it...
keith