From the world of Shakespeare’s travelling companies to the theatrical glitteratti of the 1920’s Lathom was the home of dramatic enterprise for over 400 years.

There is an ongoing debate about whether the northern tours of the ‘Queen’s Men’ (offering the ultimate in Elizabethan drama) included Shakespeare himself. What is clear, from the tour itineraries, is that the company performed at the residences of the Stanleys at Knowsley and New Park and Lord Strange at Lathom - important stops on politically motivated tours. Even a theatre company could help Walsingham keep an eye on families whose loyalty was suspect! (And could that be how Shakespeare made the Lancashire connection that would be important later in his career?)

By the 18th Century, theatre had become an important part of the social fabric of the aristocracy providing evening entertainment both home and away. At the Giacomo Leoni designed Lathom House the drama of the theatre was an important part of weekend and holiday gatherings with one act moral tales, comedies and parodies played out in the Great Hall or the large and sumptuous Saloon overlooking the Deer Park Each of the major local houses developed their own aristocratic ‘repertory company’ made up of family members and regular guests performing in turn at each venue for the entertainment of all!

A scrapbook owned by the sister of the 1st Earl of Lathom, Rose Bootle Wilbraham (1841-1918) contains posters, storyboards, paintings and drawings of theatrical evenings lovingly created by family members over a century before.

For the Bootle Wilbraham family interest in the theatre was at its highest in the 1920s during the tenure of the 3rd Earl of Lathom, Edward William Bootle Wilbraham. He was a true Victorian dilettante with a passion for the theatre that many feel went well beyond reason and good sense.
His mother Wilma, Countess of Lathom, started performing as a musician at the age of 11 as a member of her mother Helen, Lady Radnor’s, string orchestra. She continued, on occasion, to perform on concert and amateur stages during the rest of her life. The 3rd Earl’s earliest experiences included weekends of theatrical entertainment at home and visits to theatres in London.

He was Noel Coward’s first patron providing personal and professional finance and support for the rising young star and backing Andre Charlot’s first Coward revue London Calling. He underwrote numerous theatrical productions at theatres in Southport, Liverpool, London and New York. His generosity to his friends, who knew him as Ned Lathom, was legendary.

He spent much of his short life trying to establish himself as a playwright. Six of his plays were published most of which were perfomed in London and New York using young and established stars . He formed a theatre club called The Venturers who performed in London theatres on Sunday evenings when West End shows rested. Performing under the auspices of a club had the advantage that the Lord Chamberlain was not required to provide a licence to perform and censorship was therefore avoided. Many of the 3rd Earl’s productions were considered very risque for their day dealing with themes of love, marriage, infidelity, kept women and men and ladies of the night.
Each January from 1920 to 1922 he attracted a coterie of Bright Young Things from the London theatres to appear on the stage of the converted World War I hut that became The Lathom Club a place of rest and relaxation provided by the Earl for estate staff.The Earl’s extravagant spending on theatrical activities and a lavish lifestyle finally spent all that the Lathom Estate could provide through income or mortgage. In 1923 he sold the entire Lathom estate to Mr. Debenham a banker who then lived on the estate and arranged for the sale of all holdings and contents by auction at four sales held in 1924.

The Earl continued to finance plays, mainly his own, in London and New York until his death from Tuberculosis in St. John’s Wood, London at the age of 35. His last words to the actress Marie Tempest were: “Mary, how lovely it is to be without possessions.”