 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
| Robert William Honner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert William Honner 18 January 1809 London, England |
| Died | 31 December 1852 (aged 43) London, England |
| Occupation | Actor, theatre manager |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Honner |
Robert William Honner (18 January 1809 – 31 December 1852) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Honner was the youngest son of John Honner, solicitor, of the firm of Fletcher & Honner, of the parish of St. Anne, Soho, who died in 1817. He was educated at a private school at Pentonville, where Joseph Samuel Grimaldi, the son of the Clown actor Joseph Grimaldi, and Thomas Hamblin were his schoolfellows. [1]
Pentonville is an area on the northern fringe of Central London, in the London Borough of Islington. It is located 1.75 miles (2.82 km) north-northeast of Charing Cross on the Inner Ring Road. Pentonville developed in the northwestern edge of the ancient parish of Clerkenwell on the New Road. It is named from Henry Penton, the developer of the area.
Joseph Grimaldi was an English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era. In the early 1800s, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed part of British pantomimes, notably at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden theatres. He became so dominant on the London comic stage that the harlequinade role of Clown became known as "Joey", and both the nickname and Grimaldi's whiteface make-up design were, and still are, used by other types of clowns. Grimaldi originated catchphrases such as "Here we are again!", which continue to feature in modern pantomimes.
His father gave up his profession to become proprietor of the Heathcock Tavern, Heathcock Court, close to the Sans Pareil Theatre (now the Adelphi) in the Strand. There Honner found opportunities for indulging his taste for theatricals. His father soon died, leaving his mother unprovided for.
His wife was Maria Honner, whom he married 21 May 1836.
He died at Nichols Square, Hackney Road, London, on 31 December 1852. In the registration of his death he is called Robert Walter Honner. He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery.
Hackney Road is a London arterial route running from Shoreditch Church to Cambridge Heath in the London Borough of Hackney. The route runs along the northern edge of Bethnal Green. It lies close to the border between the boroughs of London Boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets.
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
West Norwood Cemetery is a 40-acre (16 ha) cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and ecological interest.
In 1817 Honner was articled for a period of three years to Charles Leclercq the ballet-master, and shortly after appeared for his master's benefit at the Sans Pareil Theatre in a ballet called The Crown of Roses. In 1820 he went as a dancer with Mr. Kinloch to the Pantheon Theatre, Edinburgh; but the speculation was a failure, and he was left destitute. He visited the southern and western parts of England, then joined the corps de ballet at the Coburg Theatre, London, and in 1824 went to the Surrey Theatre. In 1825 Honner was again at the Coburg, and soon afterwards joined Andrew Ducrow, with whom he remained a long period, although he still went provincial tours, during which he played every character from leading business to harlequin, clown, and pantaloon.
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.
The Surrey Theatre, London began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided contemporary London entertainment of both horsemanship and drama. It stood in Blackfriars Road, near the junction with Westminster Bridge Road, in the London Borough of Southwark.
Andrew Ducrow (1793–1842) was a British circus performer, often called the "Father of British circus equestrianism" and "the Colossus of equestrians". He was the originator of horsemanship acts and proprietor of Astley's Amphitheatre. Ducrow was trained by his father who had immigrated to England from Belgium in 1793. The "Courier of St. Petersburg", his most famous act, was the forerunner to modern horse acts and is still performed today at equestrian events.
He acted subsequently at Sadler's Wells under Joseph Grimaldi (1827); at the Surrey first with Robert William Elliston, and then with Charles Elliston and D. W. Osbaldiston, and at the Old City Theatre in Milton Street under Benjamin Webster in 1829. At later dates he returned to the Coburg; was one of Davidge's company at Liverpool, was stage-manager for George Almar at Sadler's Wells (1833), and was lessee of Sadler's Wells, as well as acting-manager for Davidge at the Surrey, from 1835 to 1838. He also often appeared at the latter house at short notice for John Reeve, Thomas Potter Cooke, and others who happened to be indisposed.
Robert William Elliston was an English actor and theatre manager.
John Reeve (1799–1838) was an English comic actor. His early career was based on mimicry: he became a popular favourite, able to continue in highly-paid work, despite drinking heavily and not learning his parts.
As lessee of Sadler's Wells from 1838 to 1840 he tried to establish a taste for the legitimate drama. For Mrs. Davidge he managed the Surrey from 1842 to 1846, and after a short lease of the City of London Theatre in Norton Folgate he joined John Douglass as stage-manager of the Standard Theatre, where he remained till his death. He was a good actor, his chief rôles being Richmond, Laertes, Fag in The Jew , Scrooge the Miser in A Christmas Carol , and Jemmy Twitcher in the Golden Farmer.
Norton Folgate is a short length of street in London, connecting Bishopsgate with Shoreditch High Street, on the northern edge of the City of London.
Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. Dickens describes him thus: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice."
A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
A clown is a comic performer who employs slapstick or similar types of physical comedy, often in a mime style.
Harlequin is the best-known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by Zan Ganassa in the late 16th century, was definitively popularized by the Italian actor Tristano Martinelli in Paris in 1584–1585, and became a stock character after Martinelli's death in 1630.
Harlequinade is a British comic theatrical genre, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th centuries. It was originally a slapstick adaptation or variant of the Commedia dell'arte, which originated in Italy and reached its apogee there in the 16th and 17th centuries. The story of the Harlequinade revolves around a comic incident in the lives of its five main characters: Harlequin, who loves Columbine; Columbine's greedy and foolish father Pantaloon, who tries to separate the lovers in league with the mischievous Clown; and the servant, Pierrot, usually involving chaotic chase scenes with a bumbling policeman.
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there.
Douglas William Jerrold was an English dramatist and writer.
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive rehearsal rooms and technical facilities also housed within the site. Sadler's Wells is renowned as one of the world's leading dance venues. As well as a stage for visiting companies, the theatre is also a producing house, with a number of associated artists and companies that produce original works for the theatre. Sadler's Wells is also responsible for the management of the Peacock Theatre in the West End, during times not used by the London School of Economics.
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" drama in London.
Pantomime is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and in other English-speaking countries, especially during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing. It employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.
Frances "Fanny" Elizabeth Fitzwilliam was a British actor.
Maria Honner (1812–1870), was an Irish actress.
William Reeve was an English theatre composer and organist.
Francis Huntley (1787?-1831) was an English actor.
Joseph Samuel William Grimaldi, better known as J. S. Grimaldi or JS Grimaldi, was an English stage actor, comedian and dancer, who frequently played the role of Clown in the harlequinades that accompanied nineteenth-century pantomimes. He was the son of Joseph Grimaldi, who popularised the role of Clown in the early 1800s.
John Peter Bologna (1775 –1846), known as Jack Bologna on stage, was an Italian actor and dancer, who spent much time in England popularising the role of Harlequin in Georgian pantomimes and harlequinades in the early part of the 1800s at the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden Theatres.
Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin, or Charles Pitt or Charles Dibdin the younger, as he was professionally known, was an English dramatist, composer, writer and theatre proprietor. He was perhaps best known for his proprietorship of the Sadler's Wells Theatre and for the pantomimes and satirical farces that he wrote, and which were staged at many theatres across London. He employed Joseph Grimaldi at Sadler's Wells where Grimaldi appeared in many of his most successful pantomimes. He was the son of Charles Dibdin, brother of Thomas John Dibdin and godson of David Garrick.
William Henry Schofield Payne was an actor and pantomimist who created much of the stage business connected with the character Harlequin. He was the father of the Victorian era pantomime clowns the Payne Brothers.
The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.
The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online, with 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives.