karno was born in exeter, devon, england, in 1866. he worked as a cabinet maker with a workshop in waterbeer street. he married edith and in 1896 his son, fred karno jr. was born. in 1904 he visited tagg's island on london's river thames and in 1912 he bought the island and the existing hotel. he demolished the original hotel and hired architect frank matcham to build the karsino. with the advent of cinema, the music hall's popularity declined and as a result of this decline, karno went bankrupt in 1925.