Edward Richard Wright (c. 1813–21 December 1859) was an English comedian and actor.

Life

He was one of at least five children born to Elizabeth and Francis Wright, whose profession was listed as "Gent", of

Sloane Square Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the central London districts of Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The area forms a boundary betw ...

in London. He was initially apprenticed to a bookbinder, but later abandoned that career, and his wife, for the stage. He had married his first wife, Mary Lucretia Jacobs (1802-1849) in December 1833 at Kensington in Middlesex. The marriage was not a happy one, and Wright having left her destitute when he left her, he was sued by his wife in court in 1838 for the return of their infant daughter, Charlotte Frances Wright (1837-), and to provide his estranged wife with suitable maintenance. She never regained custody of her daughter. Wright became a citizen of London and a member of the Skinners' Company. After acting, in September 1832 at the Margate Theatre, John Reeve's part of Marmaduke Magog in the ''Wreck Ashore'' of

John Baldwin Buckstone John Baldwin Buckstone (14 September 1802 – 31 October 1879) was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826. He starred as a comic actor during much of his career for various periods ...

, he was seen in London, in 1834, at the Queen's Theatre. After a time spent on the stage in Birmingham and Bristol, he came to the St. James's Theatre, then built and opened by

John Braham John Braham may refer to: * John Braham (MP) (1417), MP for Suffolk *John Braham (tenor) John Braham ( – 17 February 1856) was an English tenor opera singer born in London. His long career led him to become one of Europe's leading opera stars. ...

, and on the first night made his earliest recognised appearance as a comedian, on 29 Sept. 1837, as Splash in the ‘Young Widow,’ and Fitzcloddy in a farce called ‘Methinks I see my Father.’ His reception was favourable. On 20 March 1838 he was the original Wigler in Selby's ‘Valet de Sham.’ At this house, too, he was the first Simmons in Haynes Bayly's ‘Spitalfields Weaver.’ On 3 December 1838 at the Adelphi, destined to be his home, and with which his fame is principally associated, he was the first Daffodil Primrose, a valet in Stirling's ‘Grace Darling, or the Wreck at Sea,’ and on 28 October 1839 the first Shotbolt in Buckstone's ‘Jack Sheppard.’ He also played in a

burletta In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an ''opera seria''. The extended ...

called ‘The Giant of Palestine.’ During one year he visited the Princess's; then, returning to the Adelphi, remained there, with the exception of visits of a few days or weeks to the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

, the Standard, or other houses, until the year of his death. His constant associates were

Paul Bedford Paul John Bedford (1792?–1871), was an English comedian. Life & career Bedford states, in his gossiping book of '' Recollections and Wanderings'', that he was born in Bath, and entered upon the stage through the customary portal of amate ...

and, in his later years,

Sarah Woolgar Sarah Jane Woolgar (8 July 1824 – 8 September 1909) was an English stage actress. She had leading roles in plays by notable dramatists of the day, including original productions. She had a long association with the Adelphi Theatre in London. ...

(Sarah Jane Mellon).

At the Adelphi

At the Adelphi Wright made his first conspicuous success, in 1842, as Tittlebat Titmouse in Peake's adaptation of Warren's ‘Ten Thousand a Year.’ He also played Adelgisa in Oxberry's burlesque of ‘Norma,’ Leamington Spooner in Peake's ‘H. B.,’ and in December 1842 a Tumbler in Stirling Coyne's ‘Merchant's Clerks.’ In September 1843, he was with

and William Henry Oxberry at the Strand, where he appeared in ‘Bombastes Furioso’ and the ‘Three Graces,’ but in November was back at the Adelphi, playing in the ‘Bohemians, or the Rogues of Paris.’ In February 1844 he was

Bob Cratchit Bob Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel ''A Christmas Carol''. The abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge (and possibly Jacob Marley, when he was alive), Cratchit has come to symbolize the poor working condi ...

in ''

A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future ''A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future'' is a play in three acts (or ‘Staves’) by Edward Stirling (playwright), Edward Stirling at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 5 February 1844. After a long absence, due to illness, he reappeared at the Adelphi on 1 September 1845 as Barbillon in Stirling's ‘Clarisse, or the Merchant's Daughter.’ On 31 December, he was Tilly Slowboy in Stirling's adaptation of the ‘Cricket on the Hearth.’ He was very popular in Liston's rôle of Paul Pry (1845), was the first Smear in ‘Domestic Cookery,’ and appeared in Madison Morton's ‘Seeing Wright.’ In Holl's ‘Leoline, or Life's Trial,’ he was, on 2 Feb. 1846, the first Apollo Kit, a rheumatic dancing master, and on 16 March the first Chesterfield Honeybun in Coyne's ‘Did you ever send your wife to Camberwell?’ In July, he played in Peake's ‘Devil of Marseilles, or the Spirit of Avarice,’ and in Buckstone's ‘Maid of the Milking-pail;’ and in August in ‘Marie Ducange’ and in the ‘Judgment of Paris,’ a burlesque, in which he was Venus. Acis Moccasin, in the ‘Jockey Club,’ belonged to October. He played in the same month in ‘Mrs. Gamp's Tea and Turn out,’ and was seen in Selby's ‘Phantom Dancers.’ In March 1847 he was in Buckstone's ‘Flowers of the Forest,’ and in the same month enacted Jem Baggs in the ‘Wandering Minstrel.’ In Peake's ‘Title-deeds’ (22 June 1847) he was a literary hack, and on 26 July, in Coyne's ‘How to Settle Accounts with your Laundress,’ a fashionable tailor. Other parts to which his name appears are Alderman Cute in the ‘Chimes,’ by Mark Lemon and A'Becket; Almidor in ‘St. George and the Dragon;’ Chatterton Chopkins in ‘This House to be let,’ a skit on the sale of Shakespeare's house; a comic servant in Peake's ‘Gabrielli;’ Green in ‘A Thumping Legacy;’ Restless Wriggle in the ‘Hop-pickers’ (March 1849); Deeply Dive in ‘Who lives at No. 9;’ a part in the ‘Haunted Man;’ Tom in the ‘Devil's Violin;’ a lawyer's clerk in ‘Mrs. Bunbury's Spoons;’ Thomas Augustus Tadcaster in Webster's ‘Royal Red Book;’ and himself in ‘An unwarrantable intrusion will be committed by Mr. Wright to the annoyance of Paul Bedford.’ In 1852 he was at the Princess's, whence he migrated in turn to the Lyceum, the Haymarket, Sadler's Wells, and the country, reappearing at the Adelphi in 1855. His most popular success, which has always since been associated with his name, was his Master Grinnidge, the travelling showman in the ‘Green Bushes.’ Scarcely less admired was his John Grumley in ‘Domestic Economy.’ He was excellent, too, in ‘Slasher and Crasher,’ as Blaise in Buckstone's ‘Victorine,’ as Medea in Mark Lemon's burlesque so named, as Watchful Waxend in ‘My Poll and my Partner,’ and several parts in which he replaced John Reeve. At the last performance at the old Adelphi (2 June 1858) he played Mr. Osnaburg in ‘Welcome, Little Stranger.’ Soon after the opening of the new house, in 1859, he appeared for a few nights. At the end of March his engagement finished, and he left the house and was not again seen on the stage. In his best days, Wright was a noted low comedian; Macready pronounced him the best he had seen. He took unpardonable liberties with a public that laughed at, pardoned, petted, and spoilt him. He often did not know his part and resorted to gagging. On occasion he could be indescribably and repulsively coarse. Some of his performances had remarkable breadth of humour. He inherited the method and traditions of Reeve and to some extent those of Liston. At his death many of his characters came into the hands of

John Lawrence Toole John Lawrence (J. L.) Toole (12 March 1830 – 30 July 1906) was an English comic actor, actor-manager and theatrical producer. He was famous for his roles in farce and in serio-comic melodramas, in a career that spanned more than four decades, ...

. A portrait of Wright as Marmaduke Magog from a painting by Crabb is given in the ‘Theatrical Times,’ i. 225; one as Tittlebat Titmouse, engraved by Holl from a drawing by E. Walker, appears in Cumberland's edition of ‘Ten Thousand a Year.’

Personal

He was born in 1813. He married his second wife, Rose Olivia Bedford (1826-1888), a niece of

, in June 1857 in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in Surrey, six weeks before the birth of their daughter, Rose Fanny Wright (1857-1860).'Deaths', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 16 March 1860, (Issue 23569, p. 1, col. A) Towards the close of 1859 he took refuge from ill-health, worries domestic and financial, and legal proceedings at the home of his sister in Boulogne, where he died on 21 December 1859. His body was returned and he was buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

References

*Toole, John Lawrence, 1830–1906, ''Reminiscences of J. L. Toole'', Publ. G. Routledge, 1892
pp. 99
*Strauss, Gustave Louis Maurice, 1802?–1887, ''Reminiscences of an old Bohemian'', publ. Tinsley 1883
pp. 349
*Edmund Hodgson Yates, ''Edmund Yates: His Recollections and Experiences'', publ. R. Bentley & son, 1884
pp. 197
*Webster's Acting Drama *Peake's Plays *Dramatic and Musical Review, 1842–9. *Theatrical Times, i. 225 *Peake's Ten Thousand a Year, and the Era, 25 Dec. 1859 *Scott and Howard's Life of Blanchard.

External links

*National Portrait Gallery images of Wright by R. Kemp:
Jacques Strop
in Selby's 'Robert Macaire' by R. Kemp
Splash
in James Thomas Gooderham Rodwell's 'The Young Widow'
Tilly Slowboy
in 'The Cricket on the Hearth'
Edward Richard Wright
as Tittlebat Titmouse in "Ten Thousand a Year" at University of Illinois Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Edward Richard 1810s births 1859 deaths English male stage actors 19th-century English male actors Burials at Brompton Cemetery