Leicester's Men

The Earl of Leicester's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre, active mainly in the 1570s and 1580s in the reign of Elizabeth I. In many respects, it was the major company in Elizabethan drama of its time, and established the pattern for the companies that would follow: it was the first to be awarded a royal patent, and the first to occupy one of the new public theatres on a permanent basis.

Beginnings

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester had kept players as early as 1559; they can be traced through the 1560s and into the 1570s by the records of their performances in various English cities as they toured the country. When the Elizabethan Poor Laws were amended by the Act of 1572, the status of travelling players was effected: those who did not possess sponsorship from a nobleman could be classed as vagabonds and subjected to a range of penalties. Conversely, however, those who enjoyed such sponsorship were legally more secure than they had previously been. A surviving letter to Leicester from his actors, dated 3 January 1572 and written by James Burbage for the company, requests that the actors be appointed not merely the Earl's liveried retainers but also his "household servants"—a distinction that enabled them to come and go in London without restriction. The letter also specifies that the actors would not expect any direct financial support, "any further stipend or benefit," from the Earl; they wanted to enjoy his legal protection while operating as an independent commercial entity, a model that subsequent companies would follow.

Leicester

Coordinates: 52°38′N 1°8′W / 52.633°N 1.133°W / 52.633; -1.133

Leicester (ⁱ/ˈlɛstər/ LESS-tər,but often locally /ˈlɛstɒ/) is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest. It is the burial place of King Richard III.

In the 2011 census the population of the Leicester unitary authority was c.330,000 making it the most populous unitary authority in the East Midlands region. The associated urban area is also the 11th largest by population in England and the 13th largest in the United Kingdom.

"Unlike almost every other city in the UK, Leicester has retained a remarkable record of its past in buildings that still stand today". Ancient Roman pavements and baths remain in Leicester from its early settlement as Ratae, a Roman military outpost in a region inhabited by the Celtic Corieltauvi tribe. Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the early medieval Ratae is shrouded in obscurity, but when the settlement was captured by the Danes it became one of five fortified towns important to the Danelaw and it appeared in the Domesday Book as "Ledecestre". Leicester continued to grow throughout the Early Modern period as a market town, although it was the Industrial Revolution that facilitated a process of rapid unplanned urbanisation in the area.

HM Prison Leicester

Coordinates: 52°37′38.72″N 1°7′54.92″W / 52.6274222°N 1.1319222°W / 52.6274222; -1.1319222

HM Prison Leicester is a local men's prison, located in the Southfields area of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. The term 'local' means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. Leicester Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is situated immediately north of Nelson Mandela Park (formerly Welford Road Recreation Ground), a sign in which quotes Nelson Mandela: "There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere".

History

The prison was designed by Leicester county surveyor William Parsons to resemble a castle and cost £20,000. The oldest part dates from 1825, and it was opened in 1828. The gatehouse including the adjoining building to north and south and the perimeter wall are grade II listed.

Between 1900 and 1953, eight executions took place at the prison. The last was that of John Reynolds, convicted of murder at Leicester Assizes, and hanged on November 17, 1953.

Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Station (Leicester, New York)

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Station, built during the years 1907-1908 at a cost of $ 601,780.96 in the Neo-Classical Revival style by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, is one of the most impressive buildings in Scranton. The architects of the station were Kenneth Murchison of New York and Edward Langley of Scranton, while the designer was Lincoln Bush, chief engineer of the railroad company. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad was one of the most important railroads in the northeast region of Pennsylvania. Its beginnings date back to 1832 and the Ligget's Gap Railroad, later the Lackawanna & Western, and the Delaware & Cobb's Gap Railroad. These two lines merged in 1853 to form the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, while the Erie-Lackawanna was not formed until 1960 from the merger of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western with the Erie. Anthracite coal was a major factor in the growth of the railroad, and by 1925 the company owned or controlled through lease nearly all coal underlying West Scranton and had also acquired large areas in other parts of the county as well as in Luzerne County. The profits from the mining and transportation of coal enabled the company to construct such an impressive station as the one at Scranton.