The ancestral home of the flamboyant 5th Marquess of Anglesey has unveiled previously unseen photographs of his life and theatre troupe before his exuberant lifestyle led to bankruptcy.
Staff for the National Trust, which now owns Plas Newydd, the former home of Henry Cyril Paget on the banks of the Menai Strait, unearthed the photographs while searching though archives as part of a project to create a room dedicated to the colourful life of the man known as ‘The Dancing Marquess’.
The pictures are thought to be the only known images of the Marquess and his theatrical troupe enjoying the gardens at Plas Newydd and are now on display for the first time in the new exhibition, which also includes theatre programmes and a mock-up of the Gaiety Theatre – the 150-seat converted chapel built by Paget to perform plays at Plas Newydd and removed by the family following his death in 1905.