Charles James Mathews (26 December 1803 – 24 June 1878) was a British actor. He was one of the few British actors to be successful in French-speaking roles in France. A son of the actor

Charles Mathews Charles Mathews (28 June 1776, London – 28 June 1835, Devonport) was an English theatre manager and comic actor, well known during his time for his gift of impersonation and skill at table entertainment. His play ''At Home'', in which he pl ...

, he achieved a greater reputation than his father in the same profession and also excelled at light comedy. He toured three times in the United States, and met and married his second wife there.

Biography

Charles James Mathews was born in

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 popul ...

. After attending Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, he was articled as the architect

Augustus Charles Pugin Augustus Charles Pugin (born Auguste-Charles Pugin; 1762 – 19 December 1832) was an Anglo-French artist, architectural draughtsman, and writer on medieval architecture. He was born in Paris, then the Kingdom of France, but his father was Sw ...

's apprentice. For some years, Mathews worked at this profession. His first public appearance on the stage was made on 7 December 1835, 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 ...

in London, as George Rattleton in his own play ''The Humpbacked Lover'', and as Tim Topple the Tiger in Leman Rode's ''Old and Young Stager''.

Marriage and family

In 1838, he married Madame Vestris, then lessee of the Olympic, as her second husband. That year he also toured the US, to lukewarm reviews. In 1856, Mme Vestris died. The following year Mathews again visited the U.S., and there in 1858 he married Mrs A. H. Davenport (Lizzie Weston), whose son Charles Willie West assumed his stepfather's surname by deed poll.Lentin, A. (2004)
"Mathews , Sir Charles Willie, baronet (1850–1920)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Accessed 15 July 2008. (Subscription required)Winter, William
Brief Chronicles, Part I
p. 168 (1889) (noting that actor A.H. Davenport married Lizzie Weston in 1853, divorced in 1857, and she later married Charles Mathews)

Career

Mathews started

managing Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

the Olympic Theatre soon after his marriage to Mme Vestris, but did not succeed financially. Despite introducing innovations of more realistic and detailed scenery, his following management of the

Theatre Royal, Covent Garden The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal O ...

, and the Lyceum Theatre also had limited financial return. They did have quite a success with their production of the Victorian farce ''

London Assurance ''London Assurance'' (originally titled ''Out of Town'') is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote but his first to be produced. Its first production was by Charles Matthews and Madame Vestris's company and ...

'' (1841), commissioned for their company and written by

Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

. This was Boucicault's first major success. As an actor in England, Mathews held an unrivalled place in his unique vein of light eccentric comedy. He had an easy grace combined with "imperturbable solemnity", a combination which amused people; his humour was never broad, but always measured and restrained. It was as the leading character in such plays as the ''Game of Speculation'', ''My Awful Dad'', ''Cool as a Cucumber'', ''Patter versus Clatter'', and ''Little Toddlekins'', that he especially excelled. Mathews also used his time in the U.S. to collect impressions of American types and dialects, resulting in ''A Trip to America'', a one-man stage review in which Mathews performed mimicries in character, including some in

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

. After Mathews' return to England with his second wife, in 1861, they gave a series of "At Home" tabletop reviews at the Haymarket Theatre. These were nearly as popular as those of his father had been. Charles James Mathews was one of the few English actors who successfully played French-speaking roles. In 1863 he appeared in Paris in a French version of his play ''Cool as a Cucumber'', and was received with praise. He played there again in 1865 as Sir Charles Coldcream in the original play ''L'Homme blasé'' (the English version by

Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

was known as ''Used Up''.) At age 66 in 1869, Mathews set out on a tour round the world, including a third visit to the U.S. He made his last appearance in New York at Wallack's Theatre on 7 June 1872, in H. J. Byron's ''Not such a Fool as He Looks''. After his return to England in 1872, he continued to act until within a few weeks of his death. His last appearance in London was at the Opéra Comique on 2 June 1877, in ''The Liar'' and ''The Cosy Couple''. At Stalybridge he gave his last performance on 8 June 1878, when he played Adonis Evergreen in his comedy ''My Awful Dad''. Mathews died on 24 June 1878.

References

Sources

* * * * Timperley, Charles Henrybr>''A Dictionary of Printers and Printing'', 1842

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Charles James English male stage actors People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby 1803 births 1878 deaths Male actors from Liverpool Actor-managers Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery 19th-century English male actors Bartolozzi family