John Henry (1738-October 16, 1794) was an Irish-born actor and early American actor and theatre manager.

Career

Henry was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, performed there and in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and went to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

with Charles Storer and his family about 1762. He made his New York debut at the opening of the

John Street Theatre John Street Theatre, situated at 15–21 John Street, sometimes called "The Birthplace of American Theatre", was the first permanent theatre in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York.''The Oxford Companion to the Theatre'' (Fourth Editio ...

on December 7, 1767 playing the role of Aimwell in ''

The Beaux' Stratagem ''The Beaux' Stratagem'' is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on March 8, 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have fal ...

''. He is said to have been the first to play the role of Peter Teazle in ''

The School for Scandal ''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Sn ...

'' in America. At the end of the American Revolution, after additional time in England and Jamaica, he returned to America and worked with Lewis Hallam Jr. to manage the American Company. He left the company in 1794 after disagreements with actor John Hodgkinson, who he had brought to the United States in 1792 together with his wife stage actress Frances Brett Hogkinson.

William Dunlap William Dunlap (February 19, 1766 – September 28, 1839) was a pioneer of American theater. He was a producer, playwright, and actor, as well as a historian. He managed two of New York City's earliest and most prominent theaters, the John Str ...

described Henry as being six feet tall "and uncommonly handsome."Dunlap, William
A History of the American Theatre
p. 81 (1832) Henry died at sea of illness on October 16, 1794, reportedly from complications from

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

.Highfill, Philip H., Jr. et al
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Vol. 17
pp. 270-71 (1982)

Personal life

Henry's private life was a source of gossip during his day. He rode in a private coach, which was unusual for the time, and though seen as ostentatious he maintained it was because he had gout. Henry also had two wives, sisters with the surname Storer who were both actresses. The first wife Jane, and their two young children, died at sea during a ship fire in 1767 off the coast of

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

. Henry and Jane's younger sister Ann survived. Henry and Ann then lived together (and she may have bore him a son), but likely never formally married. Henry eventually married younger sister Maria, who died shortly after the death of her husband from the grief of his loss.Fisher, James
Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings
p. 214 (2015)Fifty-years of a Play-goer's Journal
pp. v-vi (1860)Hornblow, Arthur
A History of the Theatre in America, Vol. I
p. 125 (1919)Highfill, Philip H., Jr. et al
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Vol. 14
pp. 314 (1991)Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, Vol. I
pp. 410-11 (2008)

Selected performances

* '' The Roman Father'', October 1767, as Publius Horatius (first continental appearance) * ''

'' as Peter Teazle * ''

'' as Aimwell, December 1767 (first New York appearance) * ''School for Soldiers; or, the Deserters'' (play by Henry, 1781; published in Kingston, Jamaica, 1783, adapted from ''Le Deserteur'' by

Louis-Sébastien Mercier Louis-Sébastien Mercier (6 June 1740 – 25 April 1814) was a French dramatist and writer, whose 1771 novel ''L'An 2440'' is an example of proto-science fiction. Early life and education He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was a ...

)Taylor, George
The French Revolution and the London Stage, 1789-1805
pp. 36-37 (2004) * '' The Father'' (1789)Seilhamer, George Overcash
History of the American Theatre: During the revolution and after
pp. 355-56 (1889)(a long list of parts which Henry and his wife played)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, John 1738 births 1794 deaths 18th-century American male actors American male stage actors 18th-century theatre managers 18th-century Irish male actors Irish emigrants to Great Britain