The Christy Minstrals

An illustration from the book 'London: a Pilgrimage' by Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Doré, 1872. Jerrold describes how 'entertainers have deserted the old temple [the Egyptian Hall] for the more splendid housing of St. James's Hall; wherein, one evening, my fellow-pilgrim [Doré] made some very whimsical notes of the famous "negro" minstrels'. The original Christy's Minstrels were formed in 1843 in New York by Edwin Pearce Christy. The Minstrels were a group of actors wearing black face make-up who performed song and dance numbers and comic turns. By the time Jerrold was writing only two of the original line-up survived, although the name Christy Minstrels continued to be used by other groups.