Sir (Horace) Edward Moss


1852 - 1912

Theatre impresario. Born in Ashton-under-Lyne (Manchester), Moss was educated there and in Glasgow. He began working in his father's Lorne Music Hall in Greenock but, in 1877 he leased the Gaiety Music Hall on Chambers Street in Edinburgh and, in 1880, purchased a further theatre in Leith. Music hall acts were booked to appear in both halls and thus began what became a chain of 39 theatres with shows moving around the country. He opened the Empire Palace Theatre in Edinburgh in 1892 and another in Glasgow. He concentrated on provincial venues, before opening the London Hippodrome in 1900, his first theatre in the capital and the flagship of his chain. Through partnership and merger, he created a substantial and profitable business, Moss Empires Ltd.

He died at his home, Middleton Hall, in Midlothian, and lies buried in Portobello Cemetery.


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