Thomas Manders (22 December 1797–28 October 1859) was an

actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...

and low comedian of the early 19th century.

Early life and career

Tom Manders was born in

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and Sou ...

in London in 1797. He was originally intended for a commercial life, and for that purpose joined the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

in 1814 but was pensioned off in 1821 when his office was abolished by the withdrawal of one-pound notes. He married Louisa Powell (18011880) in 1820. A keen theatre-goer, he attended performances most evenings after work and having tried his hand as an amateur actor on numerous occasions decided to turn professional in 1822. On the recommendation of

Charles Kemble Charles Kemble (25 November 1775 – 12 November 1854) was a Welsh-born English actor of a prominent theatre family. Life Charles Kemble was one of 13 siblings and the youngest son of English Roman Catholic theatre manager/actor Roger Kemble ...

he was taken on by John Saville Faucit but did not feel that his talents were being recognised under Faucit's management so instead Manders went out into the provinces.(Anon.), ''Actors by Daylight; or Pencilings in the Pit'', Vol. 1, j. Pattie (London) (c. 1838)
– p. 242

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Return to London

He began a provincial career with his wifeTom Mander - Theatrical Obituaries from 1844 - 1889
/ref> before unsuccessfully going into theatre management in

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 ...

for a period. He appeared in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

, Weymouth and

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

as an actor. He was invited to appear at the Theatre Royal in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

by its manager George Smith. The sudden death of his father in 1829 forced Manders to return to London where he returned to the stage, this time rather more successfully, under the management of John Kemble Chapman at the City Theatre in

Milton Street Thomas Milton Street Sr. (April 25, 1941 – November 28, 2022) was an American businessman, a Pennsylvania state senator from Philadelphia, and the brother of former Philadelphia mayor John F. Street. Originally a street hot dog vendor, he ro ...

, where he appeared as Justice Greedy in ''

A New Way to Pay Old Debts ''A New Way to Pay Old Debts'' (c. 1625, printed 1633) is an English Renaissance theatre, English Renaissance drama, the most popular play by Philip Massinger. Its central character, Sir Giles Over-reach, became one of the more popular villains ...

'' opposite

Edmund Kean Edmund Kean (4 November 178715 May 1833) was a celebrated British Shakespearean stage actor born in England, who performed, among other places, in London, Belfast, New York, Quebec, and Paris. He was known for his short stature, tumultuo ...

as Sir Giles Over-reach. After working in various minor theatres Manders went to the Strand Theatre under the management of Harriet Waylett for whom he played Cupid in the

burletta In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an ''opera seria''. The extended ...

''Loves of the Devils''. He also played at the

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 ...

and was at the Queen's Theatre for some sixteen years where he was a great favourite. He was the original Tom Stag, a noisy, good-humoured bailiff, in the

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

''Captain Stevens'' (1832).

Later life

Manders went into management with John Kemble Chapman at the City Theatre where he became a great success playing the

low comedy Low comedy, also known as lowbrow humor, in association to comedy, is a dramatic or literary form of popular entertainment without any primary purpose other than to create laughter through boasting, boisterous jokes, drunkenness, scolding, figh ...

roles. At the Queen's Theatre he played Sam Slap in ''The Rake's Progress'' (1833) and

Sarah Gamp Sarah or Sairey Gamp, Mrs. Gamp as she is more commonly known, is a nurse in the novel ''Martin Chuzzlewit'' by Charles Dickens, first published as a serial in 1843–1844. Mrs. Gamp is dissolute, sloppy and generally drunk. She became a noto ...

in ''

Martin Chuzzlewit ''The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit'' (commonly known as ''Martin Chuzzlewit'') is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. It was originally serialised between 1842 and 1844. While he was writing it ...

'' (1844) in a production authorised by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

.Malcolm Morley, 'Martin Chuzzlewit in the Theatre'
'' The Dickensian'' Vol. 47 (Jan 1, 1951): 98 He became the landlord of the Sun Tavern in

Long Acre Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its coach-makers, and l ...

, a popular theatrical rendezvous, and the Marquis of Gransby in Knightsbridge. A "richly humorous actor of comic parts",Clarke, John M. ''London's Necropolis: A Guide to Brookwood Cemetery'', Sutton Publishing (2004), p. 213 he was considered by the author of ''Actors by Gaslight'' to be a worthy successor to the great comedian John Reeve, but and Manders disappeared into obscurity. His wife, Louisa Manders, suffered several accidents during her long career as an actress, including a fall from the flies at

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

in 1834. Later she was famous for playing older women. Thomas Manders Grave Brookwood

Thomas Manders is buried with his wife in the Actors' Acre in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manders, Thomas 1797 births 1859 deaths Actor-managers English male stage actors 19th-century English male actors English impressionists (entertainers) Male actors from London Burials at Brookwood Cemetery