Sir Oswald Stoll (20 January 1866 – 9 January 1942) was an Australian-born British theatre manager and the co-founder of the Stoll Moss Group theatre company. He also owned a film production company and studio in Cricklewood, Stoll Pictures, which was one of the leading British studios of the Silent era.[1]
Born in Melbourne, Australia as Oswald Gray, Stoll moved to England with his mother after the death of his father. When his mother re-married, he took his stepfather's last name. At a young age, he left school to help his mother manage first the Parthenon music hall in Liverpool, and later a regional theatre company.
The company was a success, and Stoll began to buy or build city theatres. The theatre business made Stoll a wealthy man, and during 1898 he merged his business with that Edward Moss, one of his competitors to form Moss Empires. By 1905, almost every large town in Great Britain had an "Empire" or a "Coliseum" theatre, managed by Stoll.
Beginning with the first event in 1912, and continuing through to 1926, Stoll was instrumental in presenting the Royal Variety Performance (originally Royal Command Performance) a now-annual charity show benefiting the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund.
His film company Stoll Picture Productions was founded in April 1918,[2] and acquired a one-stage studio in Surbiton which the company retained until 1923.[3] A former aeroplane factory in Cricklewood was purchased in 1920 and converted to film use.[1] Particularly associated with director Maurice Elvey, Stoll's company maintained a connection with the film industry until 1938 when the Cricklewood studio was closed.
Stoll married twice. He married his first wife, Harriet Lewis, in Cardiff during 1892, and they had one daughter. Harriet died in 1902, and Stoll married Millicent Shaw the following year. Oswald and Millicent Stoll had three sons. Lady Stoll became President of the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation following her husband's death.
Stoll was a philanthropist who donated the land in 1916 for the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation, a charity in Fulham, London for disabled soldiers returning from World War I and their families. The Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation[4] continues to house disabled ex-Servicemen and women to this day, but in addition also provides supported housing for Veterans suffering from mental ill health, and those who having left the Forces have found themselves homeless. The Foundation provides rehabilitative support, IT tuition, health and well-being activities and back-to-work apprenticeships to over 230 Veterans. The Foundation is committed to building and sustaining communities within which ex-Service people can live independently, positively and healthily.
Oswald Stoll was knighted by King George V in 1919. He died in his Putney home.
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For an analysis of Stoll's writings see Vincent Barnett, 'A Creditable Performance? Sir Oswald Stoll as Business Strategist and Monetary Heretic', Journal of the History of Economic Thought, September 2009.
Stoll worked with noted theatre architect Frank Matcham on at least three theatres: