Patent
1662 (made)
| Place of origin |
The Killigrew Patent is one of the two most important documents in the history of the British Theatre and theatre worldwide. It was conferred by King Charles ll in Letters Patent to Thomas Killigrew and ‘his heirs and assigns’ on 25 April 1662, after the Puritan Interregnum, when theatres had been closed and dramatic performances banned by the Commonwealth Parliament.
After Charles ll returned to London from exile in May 1660, he issued a draft Royal Warrant on 19 July 1660 which gave his supporters Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant the right to stage performances with scenery and music, to build theatres and to establish companies of actors in London or Westminster. Killigrew had spent the Interregnum in exile with the royal household, and on 25 April 1662 he was granted this definitive patent under the Great Seal. On 15 January 1663 a similar document was issued to Davenant. By issuing only two patents to two loyal supporters of the monarchy, the King was attempting to guarantee that the theatre would be loyal to the Crown. Killigrew established his troupe, The King’s Company, while Davenant founded The Duke’s Company, a clause in each patent providing them specifying that ‘none other shall from henceforth act, or represent comedies, tragedies, plays or entertainments of the stage within our said cities of London, Westminster and the suburbs thereof.’ These two patents established the joint monopoly of the spoken drama in the London theatre which persisted, in theory, until the Theatres Regulations Act of 1843.
When Killigrew received the patent in 1662, the King’s Company was performing at a theatre in Vere Street near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a fashionable area of London, but he was already building a new theatre in Brydges Street, Covent Garden, on the site of the present Theatre Royal Drury Lane. In 1663 Killigrew moved his company to its new home, where this royal patent conferred their rights to perform.
The patent remains the possession of The Really Useful Theatre group, the owners of The Theatre Royal Drury Lane and is on long-term loan to the Theatre & Performance section of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
After Charles ll returned to London from exile in May 1660, he issued a draft Royal Warrant on 19 July 1660 which gave his supporters Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant the right to stage performances with scenery and music, to build theatres and to establish companies of actors in London or Westminster. Killigrew had spent the Interregnum in exile with the royal household, and on 25 April 1662 he was granted this definitive patent under the Great Seal. On 15 January 1663 a similar document was issued to Davenant. By issuing only two patents to two loyal supporters of the monarchy, the King was attempting to guarantee that the theatre would be loyal to the Crown. Killigrew established his troupe, The King’s Company, while Davenant founded The Duke’s Company, a clause in each patent providing them specifying that ‘none other shall from henceforth act, or represent comedies, tragedies, plays or entertainments of the stage within our said cities of London, Westminster and the suburbs thereof.’ These two patents established the joint monopoly of the spoken drama in the London theatre which persisted, in theory, until the Theatres Regulations Act of 1843.
When Killigrew received the patent in 1662, the King’s Company was performing at a theatre in Vere Street near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a fashionable area of London, but he was already building a new theatre in Brydges Street, Covent Garden, on the site of the present Theatre Royal Drury Lane. In 1663 Killigrew moved his company to its new home, where this royal patent conferred their rights to perform.
The patent remains the possession of The Really Useful Theatre group, the owners of The Theatre Royal Drury Lane and is on long-term loan to the Theatre & Performance section of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink on vellum |
| Brief description | Patent for Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Issued in 1662 by Charles II to Thomas Killigrew. Brush, pen and ink on vellum, with fragment of wax seal. |
| Physical description | Manuscript royal patent. Brush, pen and ink on vellum, with fragment of wax seal attached by woven thread, and a section of an engraved print of King Charles pasted on to the vellum, oval, within the letter C, upper left hand corner. |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Loaned by LW Theatres Group Limited |
| Summary | The Killigrew Patent is one of the two most important documents in the history of the British Theatre and theatre worldwide. It was conferred by King Charles ll in Letters Patent to Thomas Killigrew and ‘his heirs and assigns’ on 25 April 1662, after the Puritan Interregnum, when theatres had been closed and dramatic performances banned by the Commonwealth Parliament. After Charles ll returned to London from exile in May 1660, he issued a draft Royal Warrant on 19 July 1660 which gave his supporters Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant the right to stage performances with scenery and music, to build theatres and to establish companies of actors in London or Westminster. Killigrew had spent the Interregnum in exile with the royal household, and on 25 April 1662 he was granted this definitive patent under the Great Seal. On 15 January 1663 a similar document was issued to Davenant. By issuing only two patents to two loyal supporters of the monarchy, the King was attempting to guarantee that the theatre would be loyal to the Crown. Killigrew established his troupe, The King’s Company, while Davenant founded The Duke’s Company, a clause in each patent providing them specifying that ‘none other shall from henceforth act, or represent comedies, tragedies, plays or entertainments of the stage within our said cities of London, Westminster and the suburbs thereof.’ These two patents established the joint monopoly of the spoken drama in the London theatre which persisted, in theory, until the Theatres Regulations Act of 1843. When Killigrew received the patent in 1662, the King’s Company was performing at a theatre in Vere Street near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a fashionable area of London, but he was already building a new theatre in Brydges Street, Covent Garden, on the site of the present Theatre Royal Drury Lane. In 1663 Killigrew moved his company to its new home, where this royal patent conferred their rights to perform. The patent remains the possession of The Really Useful Theatre group, the owners of The Theatre Royal Drury Lane and is on long-term loan to the Theatre & Performance section of the Victoria & Albert Museum. |
| Associated object | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:USEFUL.1-2000 |
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| Record created | July 1, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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