William Glover

William Glover (4 November 1836 – 23 August 1916) was an artist, theatre scenic painter and theatre manager. For most of his professional life Glover was associated with theatrical enterprise in Scotland, particularly in Glasgow.

Biography

Early years

William Glover was born on 4 November 1836 at Croydon in South London, the son of the actor, theatre manager and artist, Edmund Glover, and his wife Elizabeth (née Nelson). He was born into a theatrical family. Glover's paternal grandmother was "the celebrated" Julia Glover, "one of the leading comediennes in the early decades of the 19th century". In January 1863, on the final night of the pantomime Blue Beard, the Dunlop Street Theatre Royal was damaged by fire. The theatre was insured, and closed for nearly a year while it was rebuilt behind the facade, including workshops next door at Moodie's Court. The expanded and re-designed Theatre Royal opened on 16 December 1863. The renovated scene-painting room provided three expansive walls, allowing three different scenes to be worked upon simultaneously. The principal scene painters at the theatre were William Glover, Sam Bough and F. C. Fisher.

Glover had a custom whereby each year he took his apprentices "to some selected spot in the Western Highlands, where they encamped for a few weeks, living a delightfully Bohemian existence".

From 1871 to 1878 Glover and George Francis were the lessees and managers of the prestigious Theatre Royal in Grey Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They produced successful pantomimes and introduced the citizens of Newcastle to early works of Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert, with Richard D'Oyly Carte as stage manager. They also presented Shakespeare's plays with Henry Irving and others. By 1878, however, the cost of the quality productions at Newcastle's Theatre Royal had exceeded the revenue generated and the partnership was bankrupted. Glover returned to Glasgow to focus on management of the Theatre Royal there.

Glover and Francis also leased the newly-built Opera House in Kilmarnock, south-west of Glasgow, which opened for business in March 1875. The drop scene, or curtain, at the new theatre was painted by Glover, depicting "the banks and braes of Bonnie Doon, with a view of the Burns Monument and the River Doon in the foreground". Many of the productions came to the Kilmarnock Opera House directly from the Glasgow Theatre Royal after the runs had ended there. The financial problems associated with the Theatre Royal in Newcastle also affected the running of the Kilmarnock Opera House. In 1880 George Goddard Whyte took over the lease from Glover and Francis.

In 1879 the Theatre Royal at Glasgow was damaged by fire, at which Glover and Francis ended their lease of the building. The auditorium and stage were rebuilt the following year, with the lease taken over by others.

William Glover died on 23 August 1916 in Glasgow, Scotland, aged 79 years.

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