Portrait of John Wilton

Born in Bath in 1820, the son of a butcher, John Wilton started his career as a solicitor's clerk. In 1846, he married 19-year-old Ellen Hall and four years later bought the Prince of Denmark Pub at number 1 Graces Alley. In 1853 he built his first small music hall behind the pub and in 1859 opened his 'Magnficent New Music Hall' built across the backyards of numbers 1-4 Graces Alley. As well as financing and creating his hall Wilton was also a hands-on manager, living on the premises, engaging acts, and providing food and drink (music hall managers were known as 'caterers'). One of his greatest responsibilities was to keep an 'orderly house' in a 'notoriuosly difficult neighbourhood', or risk losing his license.

'...there is one thing in justice to myself I must say, and that is, that there is no man in London who studies and strives to deserve the patronage of the public, and who more looks after their comforts, than the man who addresses you...' John Wilton speaking on 16th February 1862