William Augustus Conway (1789–1828)John Tearle and Hester Lynch Piozzi
Mrs. Piozzi's Tall Young Beau, William Augustus Conway
Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1991. was an English actor.

Biography

Conway was educated for the bar, but appeared on the stage at the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote ...

, in London, terminated a three years' engagement in 1816, starred till 1821, and went to the

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in 1823. He appeared as

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

and in other tragic roles in

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and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, visited the western and southern cities, took passage early in 1828 for

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, and threw himself into the sea off

Charleston Bar Charleston Bar is a series of submerged shoals lying about eight miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, United States. See also * Battle of Sullivan's Island {{coord, 32.730, -79.851, display=title Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food ...

while on the voyage. Conway won the affections of

Hester Piozzi Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...

, whose letters to him were published in 1843. As

Coriolanus ''Coriolanus'' ( or ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Shakespeare worked on it during the same ye ...

he was considered to have been excelled by

John Philip Kemble John Philip Kemble (1 February 1757 – 26 February 1823) was a British actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on t ...

alone. His son, Frederick B. Conway, was also an actor.

References

;Attribution * 1789 births 1828 deaths American male Shakespearean actors American male stage actors English male Shakespearean actors 1820s suicides Suicides by drowning in the United States Male actors from London 19th-century English male actors English male stage actors 19th-century American male actors {{US-stage-actor-stub