Henry Leslie (6 January 1830 – 4 March 1881) was a British actor and playwright active in the mid nineteenth century.

Biography

Leslie was born in

Walsoken Walsoken is a settlement and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is conjoined as a suburb at the northeast of the town of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. The parish of Walsoken in the 2001 census, had a population of 1,484 rising slig ...

, a village in the

County of Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

, less than two miles distance from

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, at times also listed as his place of birth.Henry Leslie – 1871 England CensusModern English Biography: I-Q By Frederic Boase 1898 pg. 1871
/ref> The absence of his name in some early English public records might indicate that Henry Leslie was his stage name. Leslie made his stage debut at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

in August 1847. From September 1852 to January of the following year Leslie managed the

Theatre Royal, Edinburgh The history of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh involves two sites. The first building, on Princes Street, opened 1769 and was rebuilt in 1830 by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. The second site was on Broughton Street. History The first Theatre Royal wa ...

with Thomas Rollins, the theatre's former treasurer. After Rollins retired in January, Leslie was unable to keep the financially strapped theatre afloat and was forced to close within a month or two. In September 1853 Leslie made his London debut at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

playing

Roderigo Roderigo is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c.1601-1604), where he serves as the secondary antagonist of the play. He is a dissolute Venetian lusting after Othello's wife Desdemona. Roderigo has opened his purse to Iago in ...

Shakespeare's 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 ...

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'' and went on to be a player at London's

Olympic Theatre The Olympic Theatre, sometimes known as the Royal Olympic Theatre, was a 19th-century London theatre, opened in 1806 and located at the junction of Drury Lane, Wych Street and Newcastle Street. The theatre specialised in comedies throughout m ...

for five seasons. Around this time he founded The Stage College of Dramatic Tuition at 36 Queen's Crescent, Haverstock Hill in London and later managed or co-managed the Amphitheatre and Theatre Royal and the New Prince of Wales' Theatre, both in Liverpool, and the Theatre Royal in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. In 1870 he toured with his own company performing ''The Princess of Trebizonde: an Opera Bouffe in Three Acts'' by Jacques Offenbach that was adapted for the English stage by

Charles Lamb Kenney Charles Lamb Kenney (29 April 1821 – 25 August 1881) was a journalist, dramatist and miscellaneous writer. He was the second son of the dramatist James Kenney. After working as a clerk in the General Post Office in London, he joined the ...

. Leslie wrote the novel ''The Mariner's Compass'' in 1865 and the story "How the Ghost Walked", which appeared in Andrew Halliday's ''Savage Club Papers'' in 1868. He wrote several plays, including ''Adrienne or the Secret of a Life'' (1860); ''The Trail of Sin'' (1863); ''The Orange Girl'', (1864); ''The Mariner's Compass'' (1865); ''The Sin and the Sorrow'' (1866); ''Tide and Time'' (1867); ''Friendship, Love and Truth'' (1868); and ''The Village Blacksmith'' (1868). The very successful American play '' Hearts of Oak'' (1879) by

James Herne James A. Herne (born James Ahearn; February 1, 1839 – June 2, 1901) was an American playwright and actor. He is considered by some critics to be the "American Ibsen", and his controversial play ''Margaret Fleming'' is often credited with havin ...

and

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

was an adaptation of Leslie's ''Mariner's Compass''. In the early 1850s Leslie married Louisa Doxat, the daughter of a London area florist. By 1861 the couple had three daughters and two sons, the oldest a seven-year-old daughter and the youngest a baby girl.Henry Leslie – 1861 England Census Ten years later Leslie is listed in the census record as married and living in Liverpool, though his wife and two sons are absent from the record. Leslie died in

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignt ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, a coastal town in the southwest of England, at the age of 51.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, Henry 1830 births 1881 deaths English male stage actors 19th-century English male actors English male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English male writers People from Walsoken