A few weeks ago, I was helping a dear friend go through some ephemera he had collected into a folio over the years. As a thank you, he kindly gave me two small mounted Victorian prints that I had rather taken a shine to. He knows I’m a fan of antique prints – an undisputed and unfair ‘underdog’ of the antiques business. As a typical Aquarian, I love underdogs..! And I loved these.
An image of boisterous men singing flanked with caryatids, with a caption of ‘Oysters at 11’, and a related charming Arts & Crafts style print that looked like a bookplate. They were both seemingly invitations to events by the ‘The Moray Minstrels’ – who were they? And what a great looking party! There had to be a story there.
According to Wikipedia, The Moray Minstrels “were an informal gathering of notable men involved in London society and the arts, who were mostly amateur musicians.” They would meet up for musical evenings at Moray Lodge in Kensington, central London, the home of Arthur James Lewis. Around 150 of them would gather to discuss the arts, smoke, and sing songs conducted by John Foster. It all sounds very jolly and gay to me. And even as camp as a row of tents – but in a very Victorian manner!
Speaking of which – one of the members was a young Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), one half of the famous Gilbert & Sullivan musical partnership. Before he met Gilbert, he had co-written with Francis Burnand a successful one act opera in 1866 called ‘Cox and Box’ about two men who share a room – one lives there during the day, the other during the night. When they meet, all hell breaks loose. And with Sullivan’s name, and his connection to the fun of The Moray Minstrels, I began to dig deeper…
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