Childhood memories included riding on top of a stage coach to Cambridge, and travelling by train (the third-class carriages were like cattle trucks) to see the 1851 Great Exhibition at Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.

[5][6] He also found himself a job looking after the Mechanics Institute reading-room for 4 hours each evening where he studied the daily papers and monthly magazines, beginning a lifetime habit of self-education.

[1] At the age of 14, his father secured him an apprenticeship at a local newspaper where he became a printer's devil, laboriously setting up type on a primitive "Caxton" hand press.

[1][9] Morton went on to join the reporting staff of various regional papers gradually working up his salary and after twelve months in Congleton he settled in Southport where he attained four pounds a week.

[27] His only appearance as a stage star occurred when Mrs Maskelyne was unexpectedly taken ill. Morton recalled being dressed up in her skirts; to this was added her feathered hat and veil, the latter principally to hide his moustache.

[28][35] Around 1874 Morton, his wife and six children moved south to gain easy access to the metropolis, setting up their home and his office at 'Royston Villa', 276 New Cross Road in Deptford.

[36] Early on Morton had developed a love of horses, learning to ride at an uncle's farm;[1] each morning he drove his carriage and pair to his Egyptian Hall.

He maintained a carriage, his favoured choice of transport, until the beginning of the Great War when the government commandeered his horses and he reluctantly purchased a motor car.

On 20 August 1883, after renovations, he re-opened the Hall as a thousand-seater regular theatre with a relatively new play by Arthur C Jones entitled Elmine, or Mother & Son.

Future Saturday bookings included Richard D'Oyly Carte's opera company with HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, and Wood and Pleon's Ethiopian minstrels.

On opening day, 21 August 1884, Morton introduced himself to the audience and explained his policies, namely to meet the growing demand for quality drama in south-east London.

[48] He devoted sixteen years to running the Greenwich Theatre, investing his own money, and rightly claimed that by good maintenance, and by engaging some of the best touring companies such as D'Oyly Carte, Ellen Terry and Dan Leno, he turned a derelict property into something that mattered.

[37] Constance, married his Scottish scenic designer, Tom Bogue, who in 1889 left the Gaiety Theatre, Glasgow to produce Morton's Christmas pantomime.

[69] In 1899, and on many subsequent occasions, he booked his friend William Greet's company with The Sign of the Cross,[70] a popular drama by Wilson Barrett written explicitly to bring Church and Stage closer together.

[10] Morton, had been a sidesman there, but following a notorious and violent controversy between High and Low Church he left and became a member of Dr Joseph Parker's congregation at the nonconformist City Temple in London.

He summed up his own faith in one sentence: "I believe in the truth of the old-fashioned doctrine, that is, in God, the Creator and King and Ruler of the Universe, and of Jesus Christ the Saviour of Sinners.

But in a temperance theatre, a visiting touring manager knew that his and Mr Morton's interests were identical; the audience was more attentive, having paid their money solely to see the performance.

The Royal, already dubbed, 'The Home of Grand Opera and Latest Musical Productions',[90] would have the higher class of programme while the Alexandra would be devoted almost exclusively to drama.

[91] The Alexandra opened on Boxing Day, December 1902, with two performances of the W. G. Wills' Napoleonic romance, "A Royal Divorce" starring Frederick Moyes and Edith Cole and produced by American entrepreneur W. W.

Morton promised pictures of the highest standard, depicting 'Scenes of Travel, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Education and Current Events', and that 'the working classes' would hear quality music they had never heard before.

Improvements included music provided by an eight-piece orchestra, special performances on the updated organ and a new booking system that would abolish queues.

The main film for opening week was Quinneys, the popular English romantic play by Horace Vachell, adapted for cinema with Henry Ainley and Isobel Elsom in the leading parts.

To a crowded house in 1898, he reminded them, "Ladies and Gentlemen, you know what difficulty I have had on similar occasions to find sufficient courage and suitable language to express my gratitude.".

On another occasion, he spoke of "Shows and Showpeople", in 1910 at Salem Chapel Bazaar of "Church and Stage"[118] and at Fish Street Memorial of "Secrets of Success",[29] and in 1913 at Pocklington of "Man, Woman and the Devil".

So, Morton published "I Remember", a series of personal anecdotes, well reviewed by The Era, Hull Daily Mail and Yorkshire Evening Post.

As regards cinemas, Morton said that although pictures were getting better and cheaper, managers were handicapped by the distributor's excessive charges and the difficult conditions they included in the contracts.

[128] Despite poor results George tried again the following year, entering into an agreement with Moss Empires and Howard & Wyndham Tours to bring quality companies to the city as part of a network involving 20 provincial towns.

)[145][99] William Morton, now aged 97, severed his connections with cinema and theatre and finally retired to lead a quiet life of hobbies, cared for by an unmarried daughter.

A correspondent to the paper also wrote: "I am old enough to remember, like many others, when Hull was very crudely served in the way of entertainment, and we owe a big debt to the Morton family for all they have done for the way of clean and refined recreation in this city.

[147] Hobbies and relaxation were important: an evening game of billiards with his daughter; photography in the summer months, colouring his prints with chalks to a professional standard; reading six newspapers every day; listening to the radio; a cigar and 15 cigarettes.