Very little is recorded about the Chester and Lee Troupe, but surviving evidence offers a clear outline of their history. 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 refurbishing the puppets, the pair relaunched the troupe at Cremorne Gardens, London, in 1869. By the mid‑1870s they were advertising “French Marionettes and Varieties” and “Pantomimes,” becoming a familiar presence on the variety circuit across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Their audiences occasionally included prominent 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 ended in 1882, with Lee continuing the troupe under the same name. His tenure was marked by two major fires: one in the 1890s at Rhyl, where these costumes were saved, and another in 1928 at Herne Bay. 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 ornate plush proscenium. After Lee’s death in 1931, the surviving figures were retrieved from storage in Worcester and acquired by Waldo Lanchester in 1937. Photographs from the time reveal the extent of the damage—scorched limbs and heads of noticeably poorer quality than the costumes, many hastily repaired after the Herne Bay fire. Lanchester retained only the finest examples for their costumes, later displaying them in the puppet shop and museum he ran with Muriel in Stratford‑upon‑Avon.
