Quote:Lupino family, one of England’s most celebrated theatrical families.

The earliest traceable Lupino—who spelled his name Luppino—flourished probably in Italy, c. 1612, and billed himself as Signor Luppino. His descendant George William (1632–93), a singer, reciter, and puppet master, went to England as a political refugee. George William’s son, George Charles (1662–1725), was a performer and puppeteer at the age of eight. After the Restoration the Luppino family was granted a license to play in the service of King Charles II. John Rich—the theatre manager and actor who originated the English pantomime—had as an apprentice a boy called George Richard Eastcourt Luppino (1710–87), whose son Thomas Frederick (1749–1845), the first to spell the family name Lupino, became a scenic artist and dancer.

The family tree shows nearly all descendants to have been connected with the stage. George Hook Lupino (1820–1902) had 16 children, at least 10 of whom became professional dancers, two marrying into the family of the well-known actress Sara Lane, manager (1871–99) of the Britannia Theatre, London. Almost the last of the old-style clowns was George Hook’s eldest son, George (1853–1932), born in a dressing room of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, who was immediately carried onto the stage in swaddling clothes.