Early Career
Born in Newton Abbot, Devon, Matcham's father was a brewery clerk, and he was raised in Torquay, where he attended Babbacombe school. In 1868, he was apprenticed to a local surveyor and architect, George Sondon Bridgeman. He moved to London and joined the architectural practice of Jethro Robinson, consulting theatre architect to the Lord Chamberlain's office. In 1877 Matcham married Robinson's youngest daughter, Effie, and only a year later his father-in-law died and he found himself in charge of the practice, at the age of 24. Frank Matcham received no formal training as an architect, but learnt the practicalities on the job.
His first solo commission was to complete Robinson's designs of the Elephant and Castle theatre (opened June 1879).
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