George Leyton (born Henry George Hackett, 28 April 1864 – 5 June 1948) was a British singer, songwriter, and actor.

Biography

He was born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, to English parents, and returned with them to London, where he was baptised in 1866. He first appeared on stage at the Princess's Theatre in 1889, in the play ''True Heart'', and the following year began appearing in venues such as the Royal Music Hall and the Oxford Music Hall. He quickly became associated with performing military and patriotic scenes, and in 1894 first performed his piece ''Waterloo''. John MacDonald MacKenzie, ''Popular Imperialism and the Military: 1850-1950'', Manchester University Press, 1992, pp.69-70
/ref> He became a popular "descriptive and character vocalist" in

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

s, performing songs and

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

s, many of which he wrote. List of monologues by George Leyton, ''Monologues.co.uk''
Retrieved 29 September 2020 He toured around the country, and at each venue raised money for local

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

by selling copies of his popular songs, such as "Boys of the Chelsea School", "Forgotten", "The Best of Friends Must Part", and "All Hands on Deck", raising that way over £5,000 in total.Dave Russell, ''Popular Music in England, 1840-1914'', Manchester University Press, 1997, , p.129 He was an active member and supporter of the Legion of Frontiersmen, "Henry Hackett aka George Leyton", ''Legion of Frontiersmen''
Retrieved 29 September 2020 and started a fund for veterans of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

and the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

, raising some £3,600, for which he was thanked by

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

. He also put on performances incorporating war veterans, and local recruits performing

military drill A drill is a tool or machine for cutting holes in a material. Drill may also refer to: Animals * Drill (animal), a type of African primate * Oyster drill, a type of snail Military * Military exercise * Foot drill, the movements performed on a p ...

, such as in

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

in 1905, where 20 local boys performed the sketch "Britannia's Babes" on stage with him.Caricature of George Leyton, ''V&A Museum''
Retrieved 29 September 2020 During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he turned to the making of

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

s. As an actor, he appeared in films including ''It's Never Too Late to Mend'' (1917); ''The Man Who Made Good'' (1917), for which he wrote the script; and ''

Land of My Fathers "" () is the official national anthem of Wales. The title, taken from the first words of the song, means "Old Land of My Fathers" in Welsh, usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan James and ...

'' (1921), directed by

Fred Rains Frederick William Rains (c. 1860 – 3 December 1945) was a British actor and film director. He was the father of the actor Claude Rains. Selected filmography Actor * '' The Broken Melody'' (1916) * '' The New Clown'' (1916) * ''The Marriag ...

, which Leyton produced. He died in London in 1948, aged 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leyton, George 1864 births 1948 deaths Music hall performers English male songwriters British expatriates in the United States