Henry Compton (real name Charles Mackenzie) (22 March 1805 – 15 September 1877) was an English actor best known for his Shakespearean comic roles.
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Biography
Compton was born in Huntingdon, England. His parents were John Mackenzie and his wife, formerly Mrs Elizabeth Symonds, and he was the sixth of eleven children. Through both parents, Compton was related to numerous members of the medical profession.[1] After being educated at Huntingdon and at a boarding-school at Little Baddow in Essex, England, Compton was apprenticed to his mother's brother who was a cloth merchant in Aldermanbury, near London. Compton was unhappy with a life in trade and, desiring instead a life on the stage, ran away twice but was returned to his family each time. However, after running away for a third time in 1826 his family finally accepted his wish to become an actor.[2] He took his grandmother's maiden name, Compton, as his stage name.
Early career
Compton's first professional appearances were in Shakespeare plays in the British provinces. He then began to specialize in low-comedy roles in touring companies, where he played for over a decade. He first appeared in London at the English Opera House (Lyceum Theatre) in 1837, as Robin in the musical farce The Waterman.[3] After several further roles there, he joined the company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1838, again playing in Shakespeare. Roles that followed included Tony Lumpkin, Gnatbrain in Black-Eyed Susan, Silky in Thomas Holcroft's The Road to Ruin, Bailie Nicol Jarvie, Mawworm in Isaac Bickerstaff's The Hypocrite, Marrall in Philip Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts, and Dr Ollapod in George Colman's The Poor Gentleman.[4]
By the early 1840s, Compton had earned the reputation of being the best Shakespearian clown of his age. He continued in seasons at Dublin, Ireland, at Drury Lane (playing Polonius, Sir Peter Teazle, Launcelot Gobbo, and Foresight in Congreve's Love for Love), in Manchester and elsewhere. At the Princess's Theatre, London, where he performed for three years, he famously played Touchstone in Shakespeare's As You Like It in 1844. He was then at the Olympic Theatre, where he also remained three years. After the Olympic burned down, he moved to the Royal Strand Theatre. In 1853 he joined the company of John Baldwin Buckstone at the Haymarket Theatre, where he originated the role of Blenkinsop in An Unequal Match by Tom Taylor, Sir Solomon Frazer in Taylor's The Overland Route, De Vaudray in A Hero of Romance by Westland Marston, and Captain Mountraffe in Home by T. W. Robertson. In 1848, Compton married actress Emmeline Catherine Montague (d. 1911).[4]
Later years
In 1870, he was back at the Olympic in Taylor's Handsome is that Handsome Does, and in 1871 was in Partners for Life by H. J. Byron at the old Globe Theatre, where he performed in many plays thereafter. Compton's last role was in 1877 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in Liverpool as Mawworm in The Hypocrite and Pangloss in George Colman's The Heir-at-Law.[4] One of his most famous roles was as the Gravedigger in Hamlet, which he played often in his career, including at the Lyceum Theatre with Henry Irving in 1875, his last London appearance. Compton was described as "an actor perfectly original in his style, and possessing a fund of dry, quiet humour that never failed to minister to the amusement of the playing public."[3]
When Compton became ill with cancer and was unable to work to support his family, his friends organised two benefit performances for him. The first was held at Drury Lane on 1 March 1877. This performance included scenes from Othello; Bulwer Lytton's comedy Money, featuring Compton's son, Edward Compton; Sheridan's The Critic with Charles Mathews as Mr. Puff; Morton's Lend me Five Shillings; Macklin's Man of World; and Trial by Jury.[5] Henry Irving, Joseph Jefferson, Squire Bancroft, Ellen Terry, J. L. Toole, Nellie Farren and many other leading stars took part. In Trial by Jury, conducted by Arthur Sullivan, W. S. Gilbert appeared as the Associate, Pauline Rita was the Plaintiff, W. H. Cummings was the Defendant and Arthur Cecil was the Usher. The chorus comprised leading stars such as W. S. Penley, George Grossmith, Kate Bishop and Marion Terry.[6] The benefit realised over £3250, a large sum by the standards of the day.[7] The second benefit, which was held at Manchester on 27 March 1877, was nearly as successful.[8]
Compton was the father of the actors Charles[9] and Edward Compton,[10] and the grandfather of actress Fay Compton.[11] and the novelist Compton Mackenzie.
Compton died in 1877 after a long struggle with cancer at the age of 72 in Kensington, London.
Notes
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography, p. 530, Adamant Media Corporation, 2001 ISBN 1402170637
- ^ Mackenzie, Charles. My life and times, 10 vols. (1963–71), vol. 1
- ^ a b "Death of Mr. Henry Compton", The Musical World, p. 632, J. Alfredo Novello, 1877
- ^ a b c Knight, Joseph; rev. Gayle T. Harris. "Compton, Henry (1805–1877)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 11 Oct 2008
- ^ Contemporary biography of Compton, 1877
- ^ The Era, 4 March 1877, p. 6
- ^ At least £250,000 in current values: see http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/
- ^ The Era, 4 March 1877, p. 6
- ^ "Actor Charles Compton Dead", The New York Times, 17 August 1897
- ^ "Edward Compton", Encyclopaedia Britannia (1911)
- ^ Curtis, Anthony and John Whitehead. W. Somerset Maugham: The Critical Heritage, p. 221, Routledge, 1987 ISBN 0710096402
References
- Compton, Charles and Edward. Memoir of Henry Compton, Tinsley Brothers, London, 1879
External links
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