Frank Matcham

Frank Matcham (22 November 1854, Newton Abbot, Devon – 17 May 1920, Southend-on-Sea, Essex) was a famous English theatrical architect. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery. Frank Matcham's father was a brewery clerk, and he was raised in Torquay, where he attended Babbacombe school. In 1868, he was apprenticed to a local surveyor and architect, George Sondon Bridgeman. He moved to London and joined the architectural practice of Jethro Robinson, consulting theatre architect to the Lord Chamberlain's office. In 1877 Matcham married Robinson's youngest daughter, Effie, and only a year later his father-in-law died and he found himself in charge of the practice, at the age of 24. Frank Matcham received no formal training as an architect, but...