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Thomas Baker (dramatist)
Thomas Baker (c. 1680 – 1749) was an English dramatist and lawyer. Life Baker is said to have been the son of an eminent attorney of London, and is said to have been educated in Oxford. A disparaging estimate of his character and his powers is furnished in the ''List of Dramatic Authors with some Account of their Lives'', attributed to John Mottley (the compiler of ''Joe Miller's Jests''), which appears at the close of Thomas Whincop's tragedy of ''Scanderbeg''. According to this rather prejudiced authority, Baker 'was under disgrace' with his father, 'who allowed him a very scanty income,' and was compelled to retire into Worcestershire, where he lived as a schoolmaster and vicar until his death in 1749. His successor at Bolnhurst, John Jones, remarked in private papers that he was "A man of strange turn, imperious and clamorous upon topics of no service towards the promoting of true religion in his parish, and not a little addicted to stiff and dividing principles".M/s 39B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Mottley
John Mottley (1692–1750) was an English writer, known as a dramatist, biographer, and compiler of jokes. Life He was the son of Colonel Thomas Mottley, a Jacobite adherent of James II in his exile, who entered the service of Louis XIV, and was killed at the battle of Turin in 1706; his mother was Dionisia, daughter of John Guise of Ablode Court, Gloucestershire. John was born in London, was educated at Archbishop Thomas Tenison's grammar school in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and obtained a clerkship in the excise office in 1708. He was compelled to resign his post in 1720, and from that time gained a precarious subsistence by his pen. He died in 1750, having for some years previously been almost bedridden with gout. Works He made his debut as a dramatic author with a tragedy in the pseudo-classic style, entitled '' The Imperial Captives'', the scene of which is laid at Carthage, in the time of Genseric, who with the Empress Eudoxia and her daughter plays a princi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Act At Oxford
''An Act at Oxford'' is a 1704 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Baker.Turner p.100 Although scheduled to appear at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane that year it had censorship problems from the Lord Chamberlain, likely through the influence of the Oxford University authorities. Although performed earlier it did not have its London debut at Drury Lane until October 1705 under the alternative title of ''Hampstead Heath''. The 1705 cast includes Robert Wilks as Bloom, John Mills as Captain Smart, Colley Cibber as Lampoon, William Bullock as Squire Calf, Benjamin Johnson as Deputy Driver, William Pinkethman as Chum, Anne Oldfield as Arabella, Susanna Mountfort as Berynthia and Jane Lucas Jane Lucas was an English stage actress and singer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. From around 1693 she was a member of the United Company based at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In 1697 she had fellow actor Colley Cibber ar ... as Mrs ap Shinken. References Biblio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
18th-century English People
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave trading and human trafficking expanded across the shores of the Atlantic, while declining in Russia, China, and Korea. Revolutions began to challenge the legitimacy of monarchical and aristocratic power structures, including the structures and beliefs that supported slavery. The Industrial Revolution began during mid-century, leading to radical changes in human society and the environment. Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution, with an emphasis on directly interconnected events. To historians who expand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1749 Deaths
Events January–March * January 3 ** Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont. ** The first issue of ''Berlingske'', Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, is published. * January 21 – The Teatro Filarmonico, the main opera theater in Verona, Italy, is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754. * February – The second part of John Cleland's erotic novel ''Fanny Hill'' (''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'') is published in London. The author is released from debtors' prison in March. * February 28 – Henry Fielding's comic novel '' The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' is published in London. Also this year, Fielding becomes magistrate at Bow Street, and first enlists the help of the Bow Street Runners, an early police force (eight men at first). * March 6 – A "corpse riot" breaks out in Glasgow after a body disappears from a churchyard in the Gorbals district. Suspici ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1680 Births
Year 168 ( CLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Paullus (or, less frequently, year 921 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 168 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his adopted brother Lucius Verus leave Rome, and establish their headquarters at Aquileia. * The Roman army crosses the Alps into Pannonia, and subdues the Marcomanni at Carnuntum, north of the Danube. Asia * Emperor Ling of Han succeeds Emperor Huan of Han as the emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty; the first year of the ''Jianning'' era. Births * Cao Ren, Chinese general (d. 223) * Gu Yong, Chinese chancellor (d. 243) * Li Tong, Chinese general (d. 209) Deaths * Anicetus, pope o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography
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. First series Hoping to emulate national biographical collections published elsewhere in Europe, such as the '' Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (1875), in 1882 the publisher George Smith (1824–1901), of Smith, Elder & Co., planned a universal dictionary that would include biographical entries on individuals from world history. He approached Leslie Stephen, then editor of the '' Cornhill Magazine'', owned by Smith, to become the editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus only on subjects from the United Kingdom and its present and former colonies. An early working title was the ''Biographia Britannica'', the name of an earlier eig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Durfey
Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera. Life D'Urfey was born in Devonshire and began his professional life as a scrivener, but quickly turned to the theatre. In personality, he was considered so affable and amusing that he could make friends with nearly everyone, including such disparate characters as Charles II of England and his brother James II, and in all layers of society. D'Urfey lived in an age of self-conscious elitism and anti-egalitarianism, a reaction against the "leveling" tendencies of the previous Puritan reign during the Interregnum. D'Urfey participated in the Restoration's dominant atmosphere of social climbing: he claimed to be of French Huguenot descent, though he might not have been; and he added an apostrophe to the plain English name Durfey when he was in his 30s. He wrote 500 songs, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fine Lady's Airs
''The Fine Lady's Airs'' is a 1708 comedy play by the British writer Thomas Baker.Nicolls p.297 The original Drury Lane cast included John Mills as Sir Harry Sprightly, Robert Wilks as Brigadier Blenheim, Colley Cibber as Nicknack, Benjamin Johnson as Major Bramble, William Bullock as Master Totty, William Pinkethman as Knapsack, Henry Norris as Shrimp, George Pack as Orangewoman, Anne Oldfield as Lady Rodomont, Mary Porter as Lady Tossup, Lucretia Bradshaw and Margaret Saunders Margaret Saunders or Mrs Saunders (born 1686 - c. 1748) was a British actress. Life Saunders was born in Weymouth and attended a boarding school in Wiltshire before being apprenticed by a milliner. At the age of sixteen she began her acting c ... as Mrs Flimsy. References Bibliography * Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''History of English Drama, 1660-1900, Volume 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gentleman Commoner
A commoner is a student at certain universities in the British Isles who historically pays for his own tuition and commons, typically contrasted with scholars and exhibitioners, who were given financial emoluments towards their fees. Cambridge Commoners were also known as pensioners at the University of Cambridge. Pensioners paid for their own tuition and commons. A fellow‑commoner was a rank of student above pensioners but below noblemen. They paid double the tuition fee and enjoyed more privileges than pensioners, such as commoning with fellows. As fellow‑commoners had considerable wealth, they were ineligible for scholarships and paid fellowships at some colleges. Fellow‑commoners who wore a hat instead of a velvet cap were known as hat fellow‑commoners. They were often sons of nobility but not the eldest, who enjoyed the rank of "noblemen". Today, a fellow‑commoner at Cambridge is one who enjoys access to the senior common room without a fellowship. Trinity Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tunbridge Walks
''Tunbridge Walks'' is a 1703 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Baker. It starred the droll actor William Pinkethman in a leading role. It is also known by the longer title ''Tunbridge Walks, or the Yeoman of Kent''. It was part of a growing trend of British plays set in spa towns.Orr p.200 The play features the folk song King John and the Bishop. It was revived numerous times during the eighteenth century at Drury Lane, Covent Garden and Haymarket. The original Drury Lane cast included John Mills as Loveworth, Robert Wilks as Reynard, Benjamin Johnson as Woodcock, William Pinkethman as Squib, William Bullock as Maiden, Jane Rogers as Belinda, Susanna Verbruggen as Hillaria, Mary Powell as Mrs Goodfellow, Henrietta Moore as Penelope and Jane Lucas Jane Lucas was an English stage actress and singer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. From around 1693 she was a member of the United Company based at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In 1697 she had fel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Whincop
Thomas Whincop (2 June 1697 – 1730) was an English compiler of theatrical history. Life He is identified as the son of Thomas Whincop, D.D., rector of St Mary Abchurch. On that basis he was educated at Merchant Taylor's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He lost considerable sums in the South Sea bubble during 1721, and died at Totteridge, where he was buried on 1 September 1730. Works Posthumous was "Scanderbeg; or Love and Liberty: a Tragedy. To which is added a List of all the Dramatic Authors, with some Account of their Lives; and of all the Dramatic Pieces published in the English language to the year 1747" (London, 1747). The work was edited by Martha Whincop, the widow, who dedicated the volume to the Earl of Middlesex. The hand of compiler John Mottley John Mottley (1692–1750) was an English writer, known as a dramatist, biographer, and compiler of jokes. Life He was the son of Colonel Thomas Mottley, a Jacobite adherent of James II in his exile, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Oldfield
Anne Oldfield (168323 October 1730) was an English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time. Early life and discovery She was born in London in 1683. Her father was a soldier, James Oldfield. Her mother was either Anne or Elizabeth Blanchard. Her grandfather owned a tavern and left her father several properties, he however mortgaged these which resulted in Anne and her mother being placed in financial difficulty when he died young. It appears that Oldfield received some education because her biographers state that she read widely in her youth. Oldfield and her mother went to live with her aunt, Mrs Voss, in the Mitre tavern, St James. In 1699, she attracted George Farquhar's attention when he overheard her reciting lines from Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's play ''The Scornful Lady'' (1616) in a back room of her tavern. Soon after, she was hired by Christopher Rich to join the cast of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Career A year later she was cast in her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
