DEATH OF SIR E. MOSS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1641, 7 January 1913, Page 6

DEATH OF SIR E. MOSS.

NAPOLEON- OF THfi MUSIC HALL. J In announcing tlie death,.at his Scottish residence,* Middleton Hall, Midlothian, of Sir Edward H. Moss, chairman of, Mobs Empires; Limited,, the "Daily Mail" said: Sir Edward Moss,. though lie. was borii'-in Manchester,•;was a representative Soot in his perseverance arid, determination to get on. He began by leaving'homo at,fifteen, after..on education which did uot'gb very deep; in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and starting as an entertainer. He had a companion and a piano and a little money. He lost. the, money, and soldthe piano, but parted from'his partner oh food terms. Thus early.ho. developed an art. which was ihost .useful to him—the ari; of making, and- keeping friends, . His h'eit veiituro was. more The country was very much interested in the .Franco-German War. >' He -produced a "diorama" of it., His father lent him some money, and he took it round with substantial profit. ~'... •: . His father, pleased with this evidence of ability, made. him. general' manager of his variety theatre in Grenock. He :a!so led the. orchestra, having a good knowledge of music.. But,ho,soon panted for ii -wider sphere, and went. to Edinburgh to open a music-hall.there, and later took two theatres in Sunderland. '. _. , : ■ Then occurred to ,him-the idea of, a chain of, variety palaces, each ono to bo called "the Empire," throughout the country. Ho bought and built rapidly. In 1892, at the aie of forty, ho had won in the variety world a-position such as no brio had held before, and was; able to Heat a company (Moss Empires, Limited), For several years ho. devoted;loll his attention to'provincial halls. Then in 1898 htt, as he put it ■ himself, "invaded London," and two years later opened the London Hippodrome.. :By this time he was arioh man. He bought a house and estate in Midlothian, was made a J;P. and-D.L. When King Edward's Coronation ■ dinners .to the poor wero given in 1901- Mr. Moss, as head of the musical-hall business, took charge of the entertainments. A year or two ••later',he'gave £1M) to Queen Alexandra's Unemployed Fund, and in 190S was knighted by, King Edward. -■" ' ' i ii ■