John Bancroft (died 1696) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, by profession a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

. He was buried in

St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, central London. It was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fit for ...

Works

He is said to have had a good practice among frequenters of the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

s, and to have been led to write for the stage. One tragedy, the materials for which are drawn from

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, is unquestionedly his. This is ''

Sertorius Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the l ...

'', which was licensed for performance 10 March 1678–79, and was printed in 1679. It was played in the same year at the Theatre Royal, subsequently known as

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 ...

. '' Henry the Second, King of England, with the Death of Rosamond'', produced in 1692 at the Theatre Royal, is also assigned to Bancroft, though the dedication is signed "Will. Mountfort, 1693" a date subsequent to

William Mountfort William Mountfort (c. 1664 – 10 December 1692), England, English actor and dramatic writer, was the son of a Staffordshire gentleman. Biography His first stage appearance was with the Dorset Garden Theatre company about 1678, and by 168 ...

's murder. ''Henry the Second'' was printed in 1693. It is included in ''Six Plays written by Mr. Mountfort in two volumes'', London: printed for

Jacob Tonson Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655–1736), was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher. Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright ...

, George Strahan and William Mears, 1720.

Thomas Coxeter Thomas Coxeter (1689–1747) was an English literary antiquary. Life Born at Lechlade in Gloucestershire on 20 September 1689, he was educated at Coxwell, Berkshire, and at Magdalen School in Oxford. On 7 July 1705 he was entered a commoner of ...

, by whom the materials were collected for

Theophilus Cibber Theophilus Cibber (25 or 26 November 1703 – October 1758) was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber. He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alex ...

's ''Lives of the Poets'', attributes to Bancroft '' King Edward the Third with the Fall of Mortimer, Earl of March'', published in 4to 1691, and also included in the collection of Mountfort. He states that Bancroft made a present to Mountfort, both of the reputation and profits of the piece. In the

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

's preface to Mountfort's collected works it is said of these two dramas that 'tho' not wholly composed by him, it is presumed he had, at least, a share in fitting them for the stage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancroft, John English dramatists and playwrights English surgeons 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers Year of birth missing 1696 deaths 17th-century English medical doctors English male dramatists and playwrights