Gilbert Arthur à Beckett (April 7, 1837 – October 15, 1891) was an English writer.

Biography

Beckett was born at Portland House

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, on 7 April 1837, the eldest son of the civil servant and humorist Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and the composer

Mary Anne à Beckett Mary Anne à Beckett (29 April 1815 – 11 December 1863) was an English composer, primarily known for opera. She was the wife of the writer Gilbert à Beckett, who provided the libretti for two of her operas. Their children included the writ ...

, daughter of Joseph Glossop, clerk of the cheque to the hon. corps of gentlemen-at-arms. His brother was Arthur William à Beckett. He graduated from Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, as a Westminster scholar in 1860. He was entered at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

on 15 October 1857, but gave his attention chiefly to drama, producing ''Diamonds and Hearts'' at the

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

in 1867; this was followed by other light comedies. His adaptation of a French operetta by Émile Jonas called ''The Two Harlequins'' opened the new

Gaiety Theatre, London The Gaiety Theatre was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand, London, Strand. The theatre was first established as the Strand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre, London, Lyc ...

in 1868, together with his distant cousin,

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

's, '' Robert the Devil'' and another piece. Beckett's pieces include numerous

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

s and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s, the libretti of ''Savonarola'' (Hamburg, 1884) and ''The Canterbury Pilgrims'' (Drury Lane, 1884) for the music of Dr. C. V. Stanford. With the composer

Alfred Cellier Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing th ...

, Beckett wrote the operetta ''Two Foster Brothers'' ( St. George's Hall, 1877). In 1879, he had been asked by

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literatu ...

, the editor of '' Punch'', to follow the example of his younger brother Arthur, and become a regular member of the staff of ''Punch.'' Three years later he was 'appointed to the Table.' The ''Punch'' dinners 'were his greatest pleasure, and he attended them with regularity, although the paralysis of the legs, the result of falling down the stairway of Gower Street station, rendered his locomotion, and especially the mounting of Mr. Punch's staircase, a matter of painful exertion'. To ''Punch'' he contributed both prose and verse; he wrote, in greater part, the admirable parody of a boy's sensational shocker (March 1882), and he developed Jerrold's idea of humorous bogus advertisements under the heading 'How we advertise now.' The idea of one of Sir

John Tenniel John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...

's best cartoons for ''Punch,'' entitled 'Dropping the Pilot,' illustrative of Bismarck's resignation in 1889, was due to him. Apart from his work on 'Punch,' he wrote songs and music for the German Reeds' entertainment, while in 1873 and 1874 he was collaborator in two dramatic productions which evoked a considerable amount of public attention. On 3 March 1873, '' The Happy Land'' was given at the Court Theatre, 1873, a daring political satire and burlesque of W. S. Gilbert's '' The Wicked World''. In this amusing piece of banter three statesmen (Gladstone, Lowe, and Ayrton) were represented as visiting Fairyland in order to impart to the inhabitants the secrets of popular government. The actors representing 'Mr. G.,' 'Mr. L.,' and 'Mr. A.' were dressed so as to resemble the ministers satirised, and the representation elicited a question in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

and an official visit of the Lord Chamberlain to the theatre, with the result that the actors had to change their 'make-up.' In the following year, he furnished the 'legend' to Herman Merivale's tragedy 'The White Pilgrim,' first given at the Court in February 1874. At the close of his life he furnished the 'lyrics' and most of the book for the operetta '' La Cigale'', which at the time of his death was nearing its four hundredth performance at the Lyric Theatre. In 1889, he suffered a great shock from the death by drowning of his only son, and he died in London on 15 October 1891, and was buried in Mortlake cemetery.

Legacy

''Punch'' devoted some appreciative stanzas to his memory, bearing the epigraph 'Wearing the white flower of a blameless life' (24 Oct. 1891). His portrait appeared in the well-known drawing of 'The Mahogany Tree' (''Punch'', Jubilee Number, 18 July 1887), and likenesses were also given in the 'Illustrated London News' and in Spielmann's 'History of Punch' (1895).

Family

He married Emily, eldest daughter of William Hunt, J.P., of Bath, and his only daughter Minna married in 1896 Mr. Hugh Clifford, C.M.G., governor of Labuan and British North Borneo.

References

;Attribution

External links

Information about ''The Happy Land''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abeckett, Gilbert Arthur 1837 births 1891 deaths People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan People from Hammersmith English male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English male writers Operetta librettists Punch (magazine) people À Beckett family