Colman died in 1836, and was succeeded as Examiner of Plays by Mr. Charles Kemble, who, strange to say, while holding that appointment returned to the stage for a short season and performed certain of his most celebrated characters.  He resigned the office in 1840, and his son John Mitchell Kemble then held it in his stead.  On the death of John Mitchell Kemble, in 1857, Mr. William Bodham Donne, the late Examiner, received the appointment.  Mr. Donne, however, had in truth performed the duties of the office as the deputy of the Chamberlain’s deputy since the year 1849.  As he informed the Parliamentary committee of 1866, he had received a salary of L320, subject to deduction on account of income-tax.  Further, the Examiner receives fees for every play examined.  Two guineas are paid for every play of three acts or more; under three acts the fee is L1 1s.  For every song sung in a theatre a fee of 5s. is paid.  As Mr. Donne explained to the committee, he had examined between 1857 and 1866 about 1800 plays.

It is to be noted that in 1843 the Act for Regulating Theatres, commonly known as Sir James Graham’s Act, became law.  By this measure the powers of the Lord Chamberlain were enlarged and more firmly established; he was empowered to charge such fees as he might deem fit in regard to every play, prologue, epilogue, or part thereof, intended to be produced or acted in Great Britain, although no fee was in any case to exceed L2 2s. in amount.  Further, it was made lawful for him, whenever he should be of opinion that it was fitting for the preservation of good manners, decorum, or of the public peace so to do, to forbid the performance of any stage play, or any act, scene or part thereof, or any prologue or epilogue or any part thereof, anywhere in Great Britain or in any such theatre as he should specify, and either absolutely or for such time as he should think fit.  It was enacted, moreover, that the term “stage play” should be taken to include “every tragedy, comedy, farce, opera, burletta, interlude, melodrama, pantomime, or other entertainment of the stage.”

The Act provides for no appeal against the decision of the Chamberlain.  His government was to be quite absolute.  If he chose to prohibit the performance of Shakespeare’s plays, for instance, no one could question his right to take that strong measure; only another Act of Parliament could, under such circumstances, restore Shakespeare, to the stage.  Of the Examiner of Plays the Act made no mention:  that office continued to be the creation simply of the Lord Chamberlain, and without any sort of legal status.  The old Licensing Act of 1737 was absolutely repealed; yet, unaccountably enough, Mr. Donne’s appointment, bearing date 1857, and signed by the Marquis of Breadalbane, then Lord Chamberlain, began:  “Whereas in consequence of an Act of Parliament, made in the tenth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Second,” &c. &c.