Hugo Rumbold

Hugo Cecil Levinge Rumbold (7 February 1884 – 19 November 1932) was an English designer of theatrical scenery and costumes. Among those who commissioned designs from him were Sir Herbert Tree, Sir Thomas Beecham, Arthur Bourchier and Rupert D'Oyly Carte.

Rumbold was born in Stockholm, the younger son of the diplomat Sir Horace Rumbold and his second wife, Louisa Anne (d. 1940), daughter of Thomas Russell Crampton. His elder half-brother was another diplomat, also called Horace Rumbold.

Rumbold went to Eton in 1897. He served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. During the latter he served in the Grenadier Guards; he was wounded and received the Order of the Crown (Belgium). In civilian life, he was sometimes referred to by his military title of Captain H. C. L. Rumbold.

As a stage designer, Rumbold's early work included "Pre-Raphaelite" sets and costumes for William Faversham's Romeo and Juliet in 1913; and Tudor décor and costumes for Arthur Bourchier's production of Bluff King Hal, the following year. The Observer considered Rumbold's contribution the best thing about the show, and said, "His costumes and his scenes at Greenwich, Westminster and Hampton Court show considerable power of being original within the limits of archaeology and probability; and, though inexperience peeps out here and there, the work as a whole is splendid and beautiful." In the following years his designs included The Right to Kill a melodrama set in Turkey staged by Sir Herbert Tree at His Majesty's Theatre; and Charles Villiers Stanford's opera The Critic (based on Sheridan's play of the same name) at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1916, of which The Times said, "Mr Hugo Rumbold apparently carries the 18th century atmosphere about in his pocket." He also designed L'Apres Midi d'un Faune in 1916.

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