Sydney Grundy (1848-1914) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) were successful collaborators during the late nineteenth century. Grundy attended Owens College where he studied law before he embarked on his theatrical career. Elsewhere, Sullivan was raised in a musical family where he learned to play multiple instruments at an early age. He would go on to produce H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879). Meanwhile, Grundy worked on A Little Change (1872), A Pair of Spectacles (1889) and A Village Priest (1890).

A gentleman's plan to save his family estate is thwarted by a sudden elopement. Haddon Hall, by Sydney Grundy and Arthur Sullivan, follows a tumultuous dispute between two cousins eager to lay claim to a famous property. To appease the opposition, one man offers his young daughter's hand in marriage.