Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi.

I'd love to find out more about my grandfather Peter McKenna as he died when my mum and her sisters were 10, 8 and 7. He was a music hall soprano and comedian in Liverpool and had a stage name of the Singing Stoker as his day job was on merchant ships. He died in 1950 aged about 50 and he had bookings up to and beyond those dates.

Janet

We haven't come across many queries about music halls, but there are a couple of links here https://www.liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/ ... music+hall

I imagine there may be some archives at the Liverpool Record Office, enquiries there might give results. https://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/arch ... y-history/

You might also get some clues by interrogating here :

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LiverpoolTheatresIndex.htm

A quick trawl through the newspapers available in Findmypast shows an entry in the 'Ripley & Heanor News' (Derbyshire) for 8 March 1935, where Peter McKenna is mentioned as 'Singing Ship's Fireman'. Unfortunately the image of the report did not show up when I looked for it, but it seemed to be among other variety acts, and more time or better eyesight might find it.
There seemed to have been several acts named 'Singing Stoker': Carl Brisson and Jock McKinley among them, and Stanelli [remember him?] was seeking someone to perform under this name.
'The Age' was a paper specialising in actors and acts, so that might be worth trying. Some years are online via FMP.

D