Edward Compton (14 January 1854 – 16 July 1918) was an actor and
actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...
of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
who enjoyed considerable success in touring the English provinces with plays by
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
,
Sheridan and
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...
but who met with failure while trying to break into the
West End theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...
.
Early career
Born in 1854 at 16
Charing Cross Road in London as Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, he was the fifth of nine children born to Charles Mackenzie, an actor known as
Henry Compton (1805–1877), and Emmeline Catherine ''née'' Montague (1823–1911). Edward Compton was educated at the private academy of Revd J. Gaitskell. His first stage appearance was in 1873 at the New Theatre Royal in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
as Long Ned in F. Boyle's ''Old London''. In 1874 he joined the Francis Fairlie Touring Company for who he appeared in ''
East Lynne'' by
Alfred Kempe
Sir Alfred Bray Kempe FRS (6 July 1849 – 21 April 1922) was a mathematician best known for his work on linkages and the four colour theorem.
Biography
Kempe was the son of the Rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly, the Rev. John Edward K ...
, in ''Progress'' by C. R. Munro and ''
The School for Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777.
Plot
Act I
Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sn ...
'' by
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as '' The Rivals'', '' The ...
, followed by seasons in Bristol,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Kilmarnock,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
and
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
. His first role in London was at his father's benefit at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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 (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...
in March 1877 in which he played Alfred Evelyn in ''
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
'' by
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, going on to appear in his father's second benefit in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
later in the same month. This was followed by appearances with the companies of
Henry James Byron
Henry James Byron (8 January 1835 – 11 April 1884) was a prolific English dramatist, as well as an editor, journalist, director, theatre manager, novelist and actor.
After an abortive start at a medical career, Byron struggled as a provincial ...
and Mrs
Hermann Vezin.
[Gayle T. Harris,]
Edward Compton (1854-1918)
- 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 ...
, accessed 25 April 2019[
From 1877 to 1879 Compton toured the United Kingdom in the company of Ellen Wallis for whom he appeared as ]Michael Cassio
Michael Cassio, or simply Cassio (), is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's ''Othello''. The source of the character is the 1565 tale "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio; Cassio is unnamed in Cinthio but referred to as "the squadron leader" ...
in '' Othello'', Malcolm
Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to:
People
* Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Clan Malcolm
* Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld
Nobility
* Máe ...
in '' Macbeth'', Romeo
Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...
in '' Romeo and Juliet'', Florizel
Florizel (1768–1791) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a bay son of Herod foaled in 1768. As a sire he produced 175 winners who won a total of 75,901 pounds. Offspring included Eager (winner of the 1791 Derby), Tartar (St. Leg ...
in ''The Winter's Tale
''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some crit ...
'', Benedick in ''Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
'', Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
in '' As You Like It'', Master Wildrake in '' The Love Chase'', Charles Surface in ''The School for Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777.
Plot
Act I
Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sn ...
'' and as Claude Melnotte in ''The Lady of Lyons
''The Lady of Lyons; or, Love and Pride'', commonly known as ''The Lady of Lyons'', is a five act romantic melodrama written in 1838 by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. It was first produced in London at Covent Garden Theatre on 15 Februar ...
'' by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. On 23 April 1879 he played Claudio in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' at the dedication of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Later that year with his brother Charles he published the ''Memoir of Henry Compton''.[
]
Compton Comedy Company
Compton joined the company of the Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...
in London and from September 1979 to July 1880 he accompanied Adelaide Neilson
Lilian Adelaide Neilson (3 March 184815 August 1880), born Elizabeth Ann Brown, was a British stage actress.
Early life
Neilson was the daughter of a strolling actress, Anne Brown, and was born, out of wedlock, at 35 St Peters Square Leeds ...
on her successful tour of America, playing in New York, Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. On completing the tour the company sailed from New York for London with Neilson continuing on to Paris to prepare for her forthcoming marriage to Compton arranged for September 1880. However, while driving in the Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...
in August 1880 she suffered a ruptured aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus ( ...
, dying a few hours later. In her will she left Compton £2000. He returned to the Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...
for a short period following which he used the bequest to set up the Compton Comedy Company which put on the plays of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and period English comedies across the country from 1881 to 1923. His leading lady was Virginia Frances Bateman
Virginia Frances Bateman (Mrs Edward Compton and Virginia Mackenzie; 1 January 1853 – 4 May 1940) was an American actress and actor-manager who performed with her husband Edward Compton in his Compton Comedy Company which toured the prov ...
(1853–1940), the daughter of the American actor H. L. Bateman. They married at St Peter's Church in Brighton on 12 June 1882 and had five children: the novelist Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972) and the actors Frank Compton (1885–1964), Viola Compton
Viola Maud Compton–Mackenzie (26 November 1886 – 7 April 1971), known as Viola Compton, was an English film actress. Born in Fulham, London, she was the second of three siblings born to the actors Edward Compton and Virginia Frances Batem ...
(1886–1971), Ellen Compton (1891–1970), and Fay Compton
Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, (; 18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978), known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage per ...
(1894–1978).[Edward Compton - The Oxford Index]
/ref>
Among other roles Compton played Malvolio
Malvolio is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's comedy ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will''. His name means "ill will" in Italian, referencing his disagreeable nature. He is the vain, pompous, authoritarian steward of Olivia's househo ...
in ''Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...
'' (1881), Dr. Pangloss in ''The Heir At Law
''The Heir at Law'' (1797) is a comedic play in five acts by George Colman the Younger that remained popular through the 19th century. It and ''John Bull'' (1803) were Colman's best known comedies.Dabundo, Laura (ed.Encyclopedia of Romanticism ...
'' (1881), Mawworm in Isaac Bickerstaffe
Isaac Bickerstaffe or Bickerstaff (26 September 1733 – after 1808) was an Irish playwright and Librettist.
Early life
Isaac John Bickerstaff was born in Dublin, on 26 September 1733, where his father John Bickerstaff held a government posi ...
's '' The Hypocrite'' (1881), Jack Rover in '' Wild Oats'' (1882), Tony Lumpkin in'' She Stoops to Conquer'' (1882), Charles Surface in ''The School For Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777.
Plot
Act I
Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sn ...
'' (1883), Dromio of Syracuse in ''The Comedy of Errors
''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. ...
'' (1883) and Bob Acres in ''The Rivals
''The Rivals'' is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 episode of the T ...
'' (1883).
By 1891 the Compton Comedy Company had been touring the UK for ten years and had given thousands of performances of such plays as Sheridan's ''The Rivals
''The Rivals'' is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 episode of the T ...
'' and ''The School for Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777.
Plot
Act I
Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sn ...
'', '' The Road to Ruin'' by Thomas Holcroft
Thomas Holcroft (10 December 174523 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped Thomas Paine to publish the first part of ''The Rights of Ma ...
, '' David Garrick'' by T. W. Robertson and ''She Stoops to Conquer
''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18t ...
'' by Oliver Goldsmith. Compton decided that the time was right to take his company to London, and he wrote to Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
asking him to adapt his novel '' The American'' into a play for the stage - to which James agreed. Performed by the Compton Comedy Company, the play premièred in January 1891 in Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
with Compton playing Christopher Newman, the American, and was a financial and critical success.[
]
Failure
Compton took ''The American'' to the Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street, Holywell Street and the Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway. ...
in London on 26 September 1891, with himself again playing Christopher Newman, but the London audiences were unappreciative of the drama, finding the acting heavy-handed and the plot confusing and uneven. The critic of ''The Pall Mall Gazette
''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed in ...
'' wrote:
The audience was much amused and rather interested by the first act, less amused and more interested by the second, still less amused and rather less interested by the third, and not at all amused and barely interested by the fourth. Then the curtain came down, the people kindly clapped their hands as a means of stretching themselves, the actors appeared and bowed, … and those in front of the curtain went away rather bored and much disappointed, while those behind departed full of false hope.
Despite the attendance of The Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...
at a performance and some reworking of the production ''The American'' closed on 4 December 1891 after only 69 performances and causing a great financial loss. Compton's son Sir Compton Mackenzie
Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of th ...
later described his father's reaction:
He realised that it was not his destiny to be a leading London actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...
and went back to the provinces where he was so much loved, and where in a white wig instead of a toupee and with patches instead of a false moustache he would be making much more money and doing far more for British drama than by trying to establish himself in London.[Compton Mackenzie, ''My Life and Times'', Octave 2 (1891-1900), Chatto & Windus (1963) pg. 22]
Later years
After this failure the Compton Comedy Company returned to touring the provinces and Edward Compton together with Milton Bode bought several theatres in the provinces and suburbs of London. By August 1915 Compton was preparing to take his company back to London to appear at the Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue.
History
The theatre was ...
but he became ill and plans were put on hold. He died of throat cancer at his home, 54 Avonmore Road in West Kensington
West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includ ...
in London, on 16 July 1918 and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...
in Surrey. The Compton Comedy Company continued to tour the United Kingdom until 26 July 1923 when it was disbanded due to the high cost of maintaining it.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Compton, Edward
1854 births
1918 deaths
English male stage actors
English male Shakespearean actors
19th-century English male actors
Actor-managers
Burials at Brookwood Cemetery
19th-century theatre managers