The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain. Originally he was responsible for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and he later also became responsible for stage censorship, until this function was transferred to the Lord Chamberlain in 1624. However, Henry Herbert, the deputy Master of the Revels and later the Master, continued to perform the function on behalf of the Lord Chamberlain until the English Civil War in 1642, when stage plays were prohibited. The office continued almost until the end of the 18th century, although with rather reduced status.
Appeasement, in an international context, is a diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power with intention to avoid conflict. The term is most often applied to the foreign policy between 1935 and 1939 of the British governments of Prime Ministers Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and most notably Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Under British pressure, appeasement of Nazism and Fascism also played a role in French foreign policy of the period but was always much less popular there than in the United Kingdom.
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main channel of communication between the Sovereign and the House of Lords. The office organises all ceremonial activity such as garden parties, state visits, royal weddings, and the State Opening of Parliament. They also oversee the Royal Mews and royal travel, as well as the ceremony around the awarding of honours.
Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry,, styled Lord Stewart until 1884 and Viscount Castlereagh between 1884 and 1915, was a British peer and politician. He is best remembered in Great Britain for his tenure as Secretary of State for Air in the 1930s and for his attempts to reach an understanding with Nazi Germany. In 1935, he was removed from the Air Ministry but retained in the Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords. In Ireland, especially within Ulster, Lord Londonderry is best remembered for his opposition to Home Rule for Ireland in the early twentieth century.
The Licensing Act 1737 or the Theatrical Licensing Act 1737 is a former act of Parliament in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a pivotal moment in British theatrical history. Its purpose was to control and censor what was being said about the British government through theatre. The act was repealed by the Theatres Act 1843, which was itself replaced by the Theatres Act 1968. The Lord Chamberlain was the official censor and the office of Examiner of Plays was created under the act. The examiner assisted the Lord Chamberlain in the task of censoring all plays from 1737 to 1968. The examiner read all plays which were to be publicly performed, produced a synopsis and recommended them for licence, consulting the Lord Chamberlain in cases of doubt. The act also created a legal distinction between categories of "legitimate theatre" and "illegitimate theatre".
An equerry is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually upon a sovereign, a member of a royal family, or a national representative. The role is equivalent to an aide-de-camp, but the term is now prevalent only among some members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is assisted by the Deputy Treasurer to the King/Queen for the management of the Sovereign Grant, currently Sally O'Neill.
The Master of the Household is the operational head of the "below stairs" elements of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. The role has charge of the domestic staff, from the Royal Kitchens, the pages and footmen, to the housekeeper and their staff. The appointment has its origin in the household reforms of 1539-40; it is under the supervision of the Lord Steward.
The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, or simply the Central Chancery, is an office of the Lord Chamberlain's department within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the administration of orders of chivalry and some aspects of honours in general. It does not deal with nominations or decisions on appointments, but rather administers the appointment procedures and investitures, and provides the insignia. It is a small office, with eight staff in 2019.
A Patriot for Me is a 1965 play by the English playwright John Osborne, based on the true story of Alfred Redl. The controversial refusal of a performance licence by the Lord Chamberlain's Office played a role in the passage of the Theatres Act 1968.
The Theatres Act 1968 abolished stage censorship in the United Kingdom, receiving royal assent on 26 July 1968, after passing both Houses of Parliament.
The Historical Register for the Year 1736 is a 1737 play by Henry Fielding. A denunciation of contemporary society and politics, most notably prime minister Sir Robert Walpole, it was performed for the first time in April 1737 and published shortly thereafter by J. Roberts in London according to the book's title page.
Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Frederick Dame Johnston, was a British Army officer and courtier. He joined the Royal Household in 1964, serving as Assistant Comptroller and then Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office. Sometimes known as "Stopwatch Johnny", he was one of the Queen's most popular courtiers. His duties included co-ordinating the weddings of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981 and of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in 1986, and the funeral of The Duchess of Windsor at St George's Chapel, Windsor, also in 1986.
The Theatre Archive Project is an ongoing project to reinvestigate British theatre history from 1945 to 1968, from the perspectives of both the theatregoer and the practitioner. The project is a collaboration between the British Library and the De Montfort University, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project comprises a number of strands that support study of this period of British theatre history, as well as an opportunity to analyse and debate findings through a blog.
The Happy Land is a play with music written in 1873 by W. S. Gilbert and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett. The musical play burlesques Gilbert's earlier play, The Wicked World. The blank verse piece opened at the Royal Court Theatre on 3 March 1873 and enjoyed a highly successful run, soon touring, and then being immediately revived at the same theatre in the autumn of 1873.
Colonel Wilfrid William Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple, PC DL was a British soldier and Conservative politician. He was Minister of Transport between 1924 and 1929 under Stanley Baldwin.
The office of Groom in Waiting was a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, which in earlier times was usually held by more than one person at a time – in the late Middle Ages there might be dozens of persons with the rank, though the Esquires and Knights of the Body were more an important and select group. Grooms-in-Waiting to other members of the Royal Family and Extra Grooms in Waiting were also sometimes appointed. For the general history of court valets or grooms see Valet de chambre.
Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Edmund Gascoigne Nugent, 1st Baron Nugent, was a British soldier and courtier. He was known Sir Terence Nugent between 1945 and 1960.
Brigadier Sir Norman Wilmshurst Gwatkin was a British Army officer and courtier in the Household of Elizabeth II.
The Lord Chamberlain's plays are a collection of manuscripts held by the British Library comprising scripts of all new plays in Britain that needed to be approved for performance by the Lord Chamberlain, a senior official of the British royal household, between 1824 and 1968. This was a requirement of both the Licensing Act 1737 and the Theatres Act 1843, though his office was not legally entitled to retain the texts until 1912.
