by Wickhambrook History Society
What a surprise to discover King Charles II in the hall for our meeting! Alas, it was not the merry monarch himself, but John Sutton of Newmarket, who entertained us with his talk on The Muse of Newmarket.
Charles was a lover of many things – wine, women and song – but one of his great passions along with horse-racing of course, was the theatre. When he returned to England from exile in 1660 he re-instated Christmas, and maypole dancing and all sorts of frivolity. He gave patents to two London acting companies to perform at his newly opened theatres, The King’s Theatre and the Duke of York’s. When an acquaintance of his, George Jolly, came to ask to set up another acting troop in the capital, he was given permission to perform in the provinces instead and one of his favourite places was Norwich. As Newmarket was a convenient stopping place between London and Norwich and the King was often in residence there at his newly built Hunting Lodge, it is easy to see why the theatre became a popular diversion. It is thought that performances took place in a barn outside Newmarket.
When Edward Howard wrote ‘The Man of Newmarket’ in 1678 it became a popular piece and good publicity for the town.
As we know, Charles loved the ladies and we were treated to tales of his wild behaviour, including a visit to Little Saxham Hall in the company of the Earl of Rochester, Sir Charles Sedley, George Villiers and Tom D’Urfey who were all notorious rakes.
John Sutton made the whole thing sound like a whole lot of fun, and he was warmly thanked by the chairman.