Captain Robert Marshall (1863 – 23 July 1910)"Anglo-American Memories" (July 24, 1910) ''New York Herald Tribune''
/ref> a retired army captain, was a Scottish playwright.William Dean Howells, Brenda Murphy (1992) ''A Realist in the American Theatre'', Ohio University Press

Biography

Robert Marshall's father was a magistrate in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, who sent his son to school in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

and afterwards to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, where he read Greek, Latin and English literature. His father's death curtailed his studies and he spent some time as the articled pupil of his uncle, a solicitor but he tired of this and chose to enlist in the 71st

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fusi ...

,"Mr Robert Marshal" (Dec. 3, 1898) '' Black & White'', United Kingdom his brother having graduated from Sandhurst with distinction. After three years service in the ranks, he was given a lieutenant's commission in the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, at that time stationed in the Bermudas. While on guard duty on Agar's Island, he used his off-duty time to write his first play ''The Subaltern'', which was produced by The Amateur Dramatic Club of Bermuda for which he also acted and painted sets. The regiment then moved to Canada where Marshall wrote a three-act play called ''Strategy'' which was produced in Halifax, being played by a first-class company from New York. His next piece was a burlesque entitled ''Guy Fawkes'' with music composed by the regiment's band-master. The regiment then moved to

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

where he again had great success with ''Guy Fawkes''. While in Barbados, he wrote a play about the Jacobite rising of 1745–1746 entitled ''1746'' but although it was bought by an agent, it was never produced. In 1893, he was posted to the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

as adjutant to Sir

William Gordon Cameron General Sir William Gordon Cameron ( Chinese translated Name: 金馬倫; 16 October 1827 – 2 March 1913) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. Military career William Gordon Cameron was commissioned into the 42nd (Royal Highland ...

, a post which he held for over a year. While stationed at the

Cape Town Castle The Castle of Good Hope ( nl, Kasteel de Goede Hoop; af, Kasteel die Goeie Hoop) known locally as the Castle or Cape Town Castle is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of ...

, he wrote a play entitled ''The Great Day'' which was to have been produced by George Alexander but F. Pigott, the

Examiner of Plays The Licensing Act of 1737 is a defunct Act of Parliament in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a pivotal moment in theatrical history. Its purpose was to control and censor what was being said about the British government through theatre. The act ...

(censor), objected to it and so this never occurred. A few months later his one-act play ''The Shades of Night'' was produced at the Lyceum Theatre. He was then posted to the

Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to ...

where he became aide-de-camp to Sir

Walter Hely-Hutchinson Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson (22 August 1849 – 23 September 1913) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat and colonial administrator. Background and education Hely-Hutchinson was the second son of Richard Hely-Hutchinson, 4th Earl of Donoughmore. ...

, Governor of Natal. When his first important play ''His Excellency the Governor'' succeeded, he resigned and took playwriting as his profession. He had two other big successes, ''The Second in Command'' and ''The Duke of Killiecrankie''. With the latter, he rescued from imminent financial disaster one of the best known managers in London. He died at the age of forty-seven.

Works

*''The Shades of Night'' (1896)

Weedon Grossmith Walter Weedon Grossmith (9 June 1854 – 14 June 1919), better known as Weedon Grossmith, was an English writer, painter, actor, and playwright best known as co-author of ''The Diary of a Nobody'' (1892) with his brother, music hall comedian ...

(1913) ''From Studio to Stage'', John Lane Company
''His Excellency the Governor''
(1898)
''A Royal Family''
(1898) *''The Broad Road'' (1898) Terry's Theatre, London *''The Noble Lord'' (1900) Criterion, London *''The Second in Command'' (1900) *''Prince Charlie'' (1901) one-act play *''The Haunted Major'' (1902) a novel, a.k.a
''The Enchanted Golf Clubs''
*''There's Many a Slip'' (1902) a translation of ''Bataille de Dames'' by

Ernest Legouvé Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé (; 14 February 180714 March 1903) was a French dramatist. Biography Son of the poet Gabriel-Marie Legouvé (1764–1812), he was born in Paris. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately after ...

and

Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...

."A Military Dramatist" (4 November 1902) ''West Gippsland Gazette'',

Warragul, Victoria Warragul is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of 19,85 ...

*''The Unforeseen'' (1903) *''The Duke of Killiecrankie'' (1904) *''Everybody's Secret'' (1905) with L.N. Parker, adaptation from

Pierre Wolff Pierre Wolff (1 January 1865, in Paris – 1944) was a French playwright. Biography Pierre Wolff was a Jewish writer, who wrote numerous plays, as well as some libretti for operettas. He was the nephew of journalist Albert Wolff. His dramas wer ...

's ''Le Secret de Polichinelle'' *''The Lady of Leeds'' (1905) *''The Alabaster Staircase'' (1906) *''The Outsider'' (1908)"MIMES AND MUMMERS" (23 July 1908) ''The Star'', Christchurch, New Zealand *''Second in Command'' (1910) *''The Second Fortune''

Biography

Works

References

External links