John Parker

“ After his return to London in 1887 he commenced at the Gaiety Theatre, on 27 June, a long artistic association with Mrs. Brown-Potter. Forming a company in the autumn, they toured for ten years through England, Australia, America, South Africa, and the Far East, their repertory including such plays as 'Antony and Cleopatra,' 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'Camille,' 'She Stoops to Conquer,' 'As You Like It,' 'La Tosca,' and 'David Garrick.' Brief appearances in London during this period were made in three plays of his own composition: 'Hero and Leancbr,' at the Shaftesbury, June 1902 ”

“ In old comedy he checked his emotional impulses with good results, and proved himself a sound and sympathetic interpreter. In private life he was of warm-hearted, generous, and buoyant temperament. He married in 1872, at Hampstead, Frances Elizabeth Hards, who was unconnected with the theatre. Of his two surviving children, both the son, H (enry) B (yron) Warner, and the daughter, Grace, are well known on the stage. The latter married a promising actor, Franklin McLeay, a Canadian by birth, who died prematurely in 1900 at the age of thirty-three. ”

“ He played there, while a child, in such pieces as 'Peter the Waggoner,' 'Isabella, or the Fatal Marriage,' and 'The Stranger.' Educated at the college communal, Boulogne, he was a contemporary there of Benoît Coquelin, the eminent French actor, and acquired a full command of the French language. He was intended for a violinist, but from his earliest years he resolved on the profession of acrobatic pantomimist. Before he left school he made numerous adaptations from the French for his father, who in 1851 became manager of the Grecian Theatre in City Road. ”

“ Originally intended to last a few weeks, his tour in Australia proved so successful that he remained there two and a half years. His repertory included many of his old parts, including those in ‘Drink,’ ‘The Road to Ruin,’ ‘The School for Scandal,’ ‘It's Never Too Late to Mend,’ and ‘Dora,’ also by Charles Reade. In addition he played many new parts, including Hamlet and Pygmalion in ‘Pygmalion and Galatea.’ On his return to England he continued his successes in melodrama. ”

“ When Phelps reopened Sadler's Wells Theatre, under his sole management, on 8 Sept. 1860, Mrs. Young appeared as Rosalind, acting for the first time with Hermann Vezin [q. v. Suppl. II] , who appeared as Orlando. She remained with Phelps through the season of 1860–61, adding the parts of Miranda in ‘The Tempest,’ and Donna Violante in ‘The Wonder’ to her repertory. Her chief engagement during 1861 was at the Haymarket Theatre, where on 30 Sept. she played Portia to the Shylock of the American actor Edwin Booth, who then made his first appearance in London. ”

“ On the termination of his engagement at the Princess's in 1853 he returned for some four years to the provinces to play leading parts Uke Fazio in Milman's tragedy of that name, Lesurquea and Dubosc in 'The Courier of Lyons ' (which he repeated at the Gaiety on 4 July 1870) , and Sir Giles Overreach in 'A New Way to Pay Old Debts.' In 1857 he crossed to America, where he remained two years. Returning to England in 1859, he undertook the management of the Surrey theatre for six weeks, opening there on 13 June 1859, as Macbeth. ”

“ A fair actor in parts like Myles-a-Coppaleen in 'The Colleen Bawn,' Richard Varney in 'Amy Robsart,' he was also a versatile playwright in melodrama, and among plays of his which were produced in London were 'The Headsman's Axe' at the Grecian (1870) , 'Driven from Home,' at the Grecian (1871) , 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood,' 'Brought to Book' (with Henry Pettitt, [q. v.] , 1876) , both produced at the Britannia, and 'Racing' (1887) , at the Grand Theatre, Islington. ”

“ WARNER, CHARLES, whose real name was Charles John Lickfold (1846–1909) , actor, born in Kensington, London, on 10 Oct. 1846, was son of James Lickfold, actor, by his wife Hannah. He was educated at Westbury College, Highgate, and was intended for the profession of an architect, to which a brother of his father belonged. His father was a member of Samuel Phelps's company at Sadler's Wells, and Charles made his first appearance on the stage on 24 Jan. 1861 at Windsor Castle, as a page in Lytton's ‘Richelieu,’ at a command performance by Phelps's company. ”

“ Subsequently he was seen to advantage in London as Charles Surface in 'The School for Scandal' and in less important parts, while in the provinces he achieved success with his own company as Fabien and Louis in 'The Corsican Brothers' and as Romeo. Leaving for New York in 1885, he played at Wallack's Theatre there, chiefly in old comedy parts. ”

“ Conquest was best known as an acrobatic pantomimist. He produced no fewer than forty-five pantomimes, and played in as many as twenty-seven. He impersonated animals with much popular approval, and is said to have invented the modern method of 'flying' by means of 'invisible' wires. ”

“ In 1907 he returned to America, and played at the leading ‘vaudeville’ theatres in ‘At the Telephone,’ ‘Devil Montague,’ and a condensed version of ‘Drink.’ He committed suicide by hanging, whilst insane, at the Hotel Seymour, West 45th Street, New York, on 11 Feb. 1909, and was buried at Woodlawn cemetery, New York, on 13 Feb. 1909.
Warner was an effective actor in melodramatic parts which admitted of great nervous tension, but his high-strung nerves often found vent in a violence which proved alarming to his colleagues on the stage, and impaired his artistic control of voice and gesture. ”

“ His second wife, Alice Emma Maud Morris, whom he married on 5 July 1880, survived him without issue. An oil portrait painted by Richard Goldie Crawford in 1896 belongs to the widow. In his prime Rousby was a conscientious actor, with a good voice and a mastery of correct emphasis, but he gave an impression of stiffness and self-consciousness, which grew on him and prevented him from rising high in his profession. ”

“ After returning to England a partial recovery allowed her in 1895 to undertake on her own account the management of the Opera Comique Theatre. The results were disastrous, and in three months all her savings vanished. A 'benefit' performance on 17 March 1899, at Drury Lane Theatre, on an unprecedented scale, brought her the substantial sum of 7200l., which ensured her an adequate provision for life. ”

“ After a career extending over nearly sixty years, he died at his residence, 10 Lancaster Place, Strand, on 12 June 1910; in accordance with his instructions his body was cremated at Golder's Green and his ashes scattered to the winds. ”

“ Subsequently 'Nellie Farren' reappeared at other 'benefit' performances — for Lydia Thompson at the Lyceum Theatre, on 2 May 1899, as Justice Nell in a sketch of that name, specially written for her, and finally in the second scene of George Grossmith junior's revue 'The Linkman' on 8 April 1903, at the old Gaiety Theatre, which was then opened for the last time. She died from cardiac gout, at her residence in Sinclair Road, West Kensington, on 28 April 1904, and was buried in Brompton cemetery amid a concourse of admirers reckoned at 5000. ”

“ On 21 Dec. 1868 she joined John Hollingshead's company for the opening of the Gaiety Theatre, appearing as Sprightley in 'On the Cards,' a comedy adapted from the French, and as Robert in W. S. Gilbert's burlesque 'Robert the Devil.' From that date until her retirement she was inseparably associated with the Gaiety Theatre, playing with success in every form of entertainment, from farce, burlesque, and comic opera to old English comedy and Shakespearean drama, under the management either of Hollingshead or of his successor, Mr. ”

“ Subsequently he went to Australia, and during a four years' sojourn amid very varied employment made his first appearance as an actor, appearing at Solferino, New South Wales, in 1874, as Eglinton Roseleaf in T. J. Williams's old farce 'Turn Him Out.' He returned to England in August 1875, and almost immediately secured an engagement with Helen Barry, making his first appearance on the English stage at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, on 30 Aug. ”

“ She was next seen at the Queen's Theatre in Long Acre, under the management of Henry Labouchere, where Henry Irving was stage-manager and where the company included John L. Toole, Charles Wyndham, Lionel Brough, Alfred Wigan, John Gayton, and Nelly Moore. ”