Henry Siddons (4 October 1774 – 12 April 1815) was an English actor and theatrical manager, now remembered as a writer on gesture.
Contents
Henry Siddons (4 October 1774 – 12 April 1815) was an English actor and theatrical manager, now remembered as a writer on gesture.
Siddons was the eldest child of Sarah Siddons, and was educated at Charterhouse School, being intended by his mother for the church. He, however, joined the Covent Garden Theatre company, and made his first appearance as Herman in a play called Integrity, on 8 October 1801. His future wife, Harriet Murray, the sister of William Murray, played in the same piece. His mother withdrew objections to his becoming an actor, and acted Lady Randolph to his Douglas on 21 May 1802, on the occasion of his benefit. He married Harriet Murray on 22 June 1802, and remained a member of the Covent Garden Theatre until the spring of 1805. [1]
On 21 September 1805 Siddons made his first appearance at Drury Lane Theatre, playing the Prince of Wales to Robert William Elliston's Hotspur in Henry IV . On 7 October he appeared as Romeo, and on the following evening as Sir G. Touchwood in the Belle's Stratagem . During his time at Drury Lane he played a variety of parts, including Banquo, Jaffier, George Barnwell, Douglas (in Percy), Claudio (in Much Ado About Nothing ), and Rolla. He ended his connection with the London stage at the close of the season 1808–9. Largely through Sir Walter Scott's influence, he then secured the Edinburgh theatre licence (patent), and opened at the Theatre Royal, at the east end of Princes Street, [2] on 14 November 1809 with The Honey Moon , in which he played the Duke; his wife appeared as Juliana. [1]
On starting his managerial career, Siddons aimed at producing plays with greater efficiency in all directions than before, at the Edinburgh Theatre; he was encouraged and supported by Scott. Siddons had an eye for talent, bringing on Daniel Terry and William Oxberry. [3] [4] Joanna Baillie's The Family Legend was produced by Siddons on 29 January 1810. On 15 January 1811 Siddons produced the Lady of the Lake; an adaptation in which he himself played Fitzjames. But he was fighting an uphill battle, and lost much money.
In Edinburgh, Siddons lived first at 3 Maitland Street [5] then spent his final years at 3 Forth Street (only 5 minutes walk from the Theatre Royal). [6] He also managed the Theatre Royal in Castle Street, Dundee, which opened on 27 June 1810. Productions in the first season included a comedy entitled The West Indian , a farce called Fortune's Frolic and a series of Shakespeare plays in which Siddon's uncle, Stephen Kemble, was a popular Falstaff. [7] Productions in 1812 included Everyone Has His Fault by Elizabeth Inchbald (1793), Tekeli or The Siege of Montgatz by Theodore Hook (1806), Blue-Beard by George Colman (1798) and his own adaptation of The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott (1811). In 1813–14, productions included The Sleep Walker by W.C. Oulton (1812), The White Cat or Harlequin in Fairy Wood by Henry Smart and James Kirby (1811), Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1602), Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway (1682) and The Tragedy of Jane Shore by Nicolas Rowe (1714). [8]
Siddons died in Edinburgh on 12 April 1815. [1] His sister, Cecilia Siddons, later married George Combe, a prominent Edinburgh lawyer, and the founder of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society. He was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in the centre of the city. [9] A large monument was erected to him in the south-west corner, just left of the entrance to the Covenanters Prison. His wife Harriet Siddons is buried with him. His son, William Siddons, died in Dublin but was reburied with his father.
His wife Harriet Siddons and children continued to live in Edinburgh after his death. [10] Harriet and her brother William Murray took over the running of the Theatre Royal. [11]
Siddons adapted a work by Johann Jakob Engel, Ideen zu Einer Mimik from 1785; Engel was then director of the National Theatre in Berlin. [12] It appeared as Illustrations of Gesture and Action (1807). This book was consulted by Charles Darwin during the preparation of his The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , published in 1872. The introduction explains the need to replace the references specific to German drama, rather than simply translate. The actual effect is more an uneasy grafting of techniques from the German neo-classical school of acting, onto a British stock. [12] The 1822 edition also draws on the Essay on Gesture of Michael William Sharp. [13]
He also wrote some plays; of one, The Friend of the Family, Scott wrote, "Siddons's play was truly flat, but not unprofitable". Other pieces by him were Time's a Tell-tale, and Tale of Terror, or a Castle without a Spectre (produced at Covent Garden on 12 May 1803). [1]
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified".
Charles Kemble was a Welsh actor of a prominent theatre family.
George Stephen Kemble was a successful English theatre manager, actor, and writer, and a member of the famous Kemble family. He was described as "the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw" though he also played title roles in Hamlet and King Lear among others. He published plays, poetry and non-fiction.
George Frederick Cooke was an English actor. As famous for his erratic habits as for his acting, he was largely responsible for initiating the romantic style in acting that was later made famous by Edmund Kean.
The history of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh involves two sites. The first building, on Princes Street, opened 1769 and was rebuilt in 1830 by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. The second site was on Broughton Street.
Thomas Welsh was an English composer and operatic bass. Welsh spent most of his life in London and is now particularly remembered for his light-hearted stage works.
Mary Wells, afterwards Mrs. Sumbel, was an English actress and memoirist.
Daniel Egerton (1772–1835) was an English actor.
Daniel Terry (1780?–1829) was an English actor and playwright, known also as a close associate of Sir Walter Scott.
Edmund John Eyre (1767–1816) was an English actor and dramatist.
James Robertson Anderson was a Scottish stage actor and dramatist.
Henry Erskine Johnston (1777–1838?) was a Scottish actor given the sobriquet The Edinburgh Roscius.
William Oxberry (1784–1824) was an English actor. He also wrote extensively on the theatre, and was a printer and publisher.
Louisa, Countess of Craven, originally Louisa Brunton (1782–1860) was an English actress.
Harriet Siddons, sometimes known as Mrs Henry Siddons, was a Scottish actress and theatre manager.
Charles Murray (1754–1821) was a Scottish actor and dramatist.
Sarah West was a British actress.
George Davies Harley, originally George Davies, was an English actor and poet.
Harriet Pye Esten or Harriet Pye Scott-Waring born Harriet Pye Bennett was an English actress, and briefly a theatre manager.
John Jackson was an English actor, manager, and dramatist.
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Siddons, Henry". Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
