James Roland MacLaren (10 June 1839 – 30 June 1912) was a Scottish actor and playwright.

Biography

MacLaren was born in Bonhill,

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders ...

to Archibald MacLaren and Anne McIntyre. The family later moved to

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 ...

, where James Roland MacLaren first took to the stage, appearing second to Barry Sullivan, the well known Victorian actor. He subsequently went to Sunderland with Alfred Davis where he took over the New Royal Lyceum Theatre (now demolished). It was here with MacLaren that the actor Sir

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

made his first stage appearances before moving to London where he later became famous as the inspiration for

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busines ...

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...

. For some thirty years MacLaren was renowned in the north east of England as an actor in stock companies, a noted recitalist and a playwright. He usually played heavy

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

roles and was popular amongst the audience as the 'traitor'. His most noted work is arguably the play ''Jack Crawford the Hero of Camperdown'', a dramatisation of the story depicting the heroic actions of Jack Crawford during the

Battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch as the ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral ...

in 1797. He also wrote the play, ''The Cauld Lad O'Hylton'', a story of the ghost of Hilton Castle.

Jack Crawford and the play

In part through popularity of the play which toured England in 1879, the actions of Crawford became more widely recognised and a statue of him was built almost 60 years after his death in

Mowbray Park Mowbray Park is a municipal park in the centre of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, located a few hundred yards from the busy thoroughfares of Holmeside and Fawcett Street and bordered by Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens to the north, ...

. Commemorative mugs and earthenware fired at Balls Pottery Sunderland in 1890 were inscribed with verse from the play: :''At Camperdown, we fought, and when at worst the fray,'' :''our mizzen near the top boys, was fairly shot away.'' :''The foe, thought we had struck, but Jack cried out "Avast"'' :''and the colours of Old England, he nail'd up to the mast'' Notable actors in the Royal Lyceum Theatre production of 1879 included: :Mr T Lionel Ellis as Jack Crawford :Mr JB George as Anty Warde :Mr T Lightfoot as Jip :Mr Halliday as Admiral Duncan :Mr Wilson as Admiral de Winter :James Roland MacLaren played Lt Harrison, head of the press gang :The crew of the Royal Naval drill ship, HMS ''Durham'' (formerly known as ), also performed in the play

Private life

James Roland MacLaren married the singer Isabella Carr (1848–1928) in 1868 with whom he had eight children. They lived at 22 St Vincent Street in Sunderland until his death from asthma. He was buried in Sunderland Cemetery.

References

External links

Sunderland Council Publications

Active list Royal Navy 1879
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacLaren, James Roland 1839 births 1912 deaths People from Bonhill Scottish dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Scottish male actors Scottish male stage actors People from Sunderland Male actors from Tyne and Wear British male dramatists and playwrights Deaths from asthma