Very little is known about the Chester and Lee Troupe. Surviving photographs show that many of their figures originally belonged to one of the Bullock companies and were acquired by H. Chester and Clarence Lee at Hampstead Heath in 1864. After reconditioning the marionettes, Chester and Lee reopened the troupe at Cremorne Gardens, London, in 1869. By the mid‑1870s advertisements were appearing for “French Marionettes and Varieties” and “Pantomimes,” and the troupe soon became a regular feature on the variety circuit, touring throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Their audiences included notable figures: during a performance at the Red, White and Blue Music Hall in Aldershot, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) not only attended but went backstage to try manipulating the figures himself.
The partnership between Chester and Lee ended in 1882, with Lee continuing to run the troupe under the same name. His tenure was marked by two devastating fires: the first in the 1890s at Rhyl, North Wales—after which the costumes displayed here were rescued and another in 1928 at Herne Bay, Kent. A benefit performance at Rhyl’s Palace Theatre helped raise funds for a new “outfit,” as the losses included thirty‑two mechanical figures, ten sets of scenery, electrical fittings, the entire marionette theatre and stage, and an elaborate plush proscenium. Clarence Lee died in 1931, and in 1937 Waldo Lanchester acquired the surviving figures from storage in Worcester. Photographs from the time reveal the extent of the damage: the heads were in noticeably poorer condition than the costumes, and many limbs were scorched or hastily repaired after the Herne Bay fire. Lanchester kept only the best examples for their costumes, later displaying them in the puppet shop and museum he ran with Muriel in Stratford‑upon‑Avon.
