Agate, James Evershed (1877–1947), drama critic, was born at Pendleton, Lancashire, on 9 September 1877, the eldest of the five sons and one daughter of Charles James Agate (1832–1909), cotton manufacturer's agent, and his wife, Eulalie Julia Young, daughter of a widowed piano teacher. Although generally regarded during his lifetime as the writer from ...
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James Evershed Agate (1877–1947) by Howard Coster, 1934 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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William Archer (1856–1924) by Sir Emery Walker, 1891 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Archer, William (1856–1924), theatre critic and journalist, was born at 6 North Methven Street, Perth, Scotland, on 23 September 1856, the eldest son of the nine children of Thomas Archer (1823–1905) of Glasgow and his wife, Grace Lindsay Morison (1832–1911), the daughter of ...
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Baker, David Lionel Erskine (1730–1767
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Barnes, Clive Alexander (1927–2008), dance and drama critic, was born on 13 May 1927 at St Thomas's Hospital, Lambeth, London, the only child of Arthur Lionel Barnes (1898–1940), ambulance driver, and his wife, Freda Marguerite, née Garratt. After their divorce when Clive was seven his mother brought him up (reconciliation later on was cut short by ...
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Bradby, David Henry (1942–2011), theatre scholar and translator, was born on 27 February 1942 in Colombo, Ceylon, the son of Edward Lawrence Bradby (1907–1996), the last European principal of Royal College, Colombo, and his wife, Bertha, née Woodall (1914–1999). After Ceylon won independence in 1948 the family settled back in the ...
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Ivor John Carnegie Brown (1891–1974) by Howard Coster, 1940 © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
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Brown, Ivor John Carnegie (1891–1974), theatre critic and writer, was born on 25 April 1891 in Penang, Malaya, the younger of the two sons of Dr William Carnegie Brown of Aberdeen, and his first wife, Jean Carnegie. His father, a graduate of Aberdeen University...
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Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers (1866–1954) by Sir William Rothenstein, 1924 © Estate of Sir William Rothenstein / National Portrait Gallery, London
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F. P. Wilson
revised by Nilanjana Banerji
Chambers, Sir Edmund Kerchever (1866–1954), theatre historian and civil servant, was born at West Ilsley, Berkshire, on 16 March 1866. He was the son of the Revd William Chambers (b. 1826/7), curate, and fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and his wife, Anna Heathcote...
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Sydney C. Roberts
revised by Annette Peach
Child, Harold Hannyngton (1869–1945), writer and theatre critic, was born at Gloucester on 20 June 1869, the second son of the Revd Thomas Hannyngton Irving Child, afterwards rector of Stratton, Gloucestershire, and his wife, Florence, daughter of Thomas Crossman, solicitor, of Thornbury, Gloucestershire...
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Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) by William Faithorne the younger (after Edmond Lilly) © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Eric Salmon
Collier, Jeremy (1650–1726), anti-theatrical polemicist and bishop of the nonjuring Church of England, was born on 23 September 1650 at Stow-cum-Quy, Cambridgeshire, son of Jeremy Collier, a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, under the Commonwealth, and at the time of Collier's birth master of ...
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Cook, Edward Dutton (1829–1883), theatre critic and author, was born at 9 Grenville Street, Brunswick Square, London, on 30 January 1829, the second son among at least nine children of George Simon Cook (d. 1852) of Grantham, Lincolnshire, a solicitor of the firm of ...
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Darlington, William Aubrey Cecil (1890–1979), theatre critic and author, was born at Taunton on 20 February 1890, the only son and eldest of four children of Thomas Darlington (1864–1908), principal of Queen's College, Taunton, a notable scholar who became an inspector of schools for ...
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Shelagh Delaney (1938–2011) by Ida Kar, 1958 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Delaney, Shelagh (1938–2011), dramatist and screenwriter, was born on 25 November 1938 in the Hope Hospital, Salford, the elder child of Joseph Delaney, bus conductor, and his wife, Elsie, née Twemlow. At the time of her birth registration her parents lived at 67 New Thomas Street, Pendleton, Salford...
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Dominic [née Levi], Zoë Denise (1920–2011), theatrical and dance photographer, was born on 4 July 1920 at 124 Downton Avenue, Streatham Hill, London, the daughter of Lionel Judah Levi (1882–1960) and his wife, Dora Jane Ann, née MacDonald (1896–1966). Her father was a carpet merchant and fine art dealer who specialized in French antique furniture and kept a shop in ...
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Paulina Kewes
Downes, John (d. 1712
