The inscription in this hat shows that it was worn by Martyn Green. William Martyn Green (1889-1975) joined the chorus of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company in November 1922, understudying Henry Lytton and standing in for him during Lytton's recovery from a car crash in 1931. Green became the company’s principal comedian in August 1934 after Lytton’s retirement that August, playing leading patter roles including Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Reginald Bunthorne in Patience, Ko-Ko in The Mikado and Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance. Green remained with the company, with a break during the war from 1939 until 1946, until 1951 when he left to pursue a career in America.

Sir Joseph Porter is one of W.S. Gilbert's earliest characters singing comic patter songs. The role of the First Lord of the Admiralty who had never ever been to sea was played by George Grossmith in the original production that opened at London's Opera Comique in May 1878. Gilbert based the character on the Conservative member of parliament W.H. Smith(1825-1891) who became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1877, despite never having been to sea. Writing to Sullivan while he was writing the piece in December 1877, Gilbert noted: 'The fact that the First Lord in the opera is a Radical of the most pronounced type will do away with any suspicion that W. H. Smith is intended'.

The bespoke tin was made by Hawkes & Company, the firm established by Thomas Hawkes in 1771 in London's Brewer Street that moved to number 17 (later number 14) Piccadilly in 1793.