Ashbury, Joseph (1638–1720), actor and theatre manager, was born in Covent Garden, London. The names of his parents are not known. After an education at Eton College he was commissioned as ensign in the Irish army of James, first duke of Ormond, either in 1657 or 1658. He assisted the royalists at the taking of ...
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Ashbury, Joseph (1638–1720), actor and theatre manager
Alan J. Fletcher
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Bancroft [née Wilton], Marie Effie, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921), actress and theatre manager
George Taylor
Bancroft [née Wilton], Marie Effie, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921), actress and theatre manager, was born on 12 January 1839, probably in Doncaster, the eldest of the six daughters of Robert Pleydell Wilton (1800–1873), a provincial actor, and his wife, Georgina Jane (1818–1866), the daughter of ...
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Bancroft, Marie Effie, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921)
Maker: Barraud
Marie Effie Bancroft, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921) by Barraud, 1885 [The Bancrofts: and Squire Bancroft (1841-1926)] © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Bancroft, Squire (1841–1926)
See Bancroft [née Wilton], Marie Effie, Lady Bancroft
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Barry, Elizabeth (1656x8–1713), actress and theatre manager
Paula R. Backscheider
Barry, Elizabeth (1656x8–1713), actress and theatre manager, was the daughter of the barrister and royalist officer Colonel Robert Barry. Details of the place and the exact date of her birth are unknown; she was probably born in 1658, though there is some speculation that her birth date may have been 1656 or 1657 (...
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Baskervile [née Shawe], Susan (bap. 1573, d. 1649), theatre company associate
Eva Griffith
Baskervile [née Shawe], Susan (bap. 1573, d. 1649), theatre company associate, was baptized at St Botolph's, Aldgate, London, on 15 April 1573, the daughter of Edmonde Shawe. A younger brother, John, was also baptized there on 12 February 1575. On 4 January 1592, aged eighteen, ...
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Baylis, Lilian Mary (1874–1937), theatre manager
Elaine Aston
Baylis, Lilian Mary (1874–1937), theatre manager, was born at 19 Nottingham Street, Marylebone, London, on 9 May 1874, the eldest daughter of Edward William Baylis, an employee of Gillows furniture store in Oxford Street and a baritone singer (known as Newton Baylis), and his wife, ...
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Baylis, Lilian Mary (1874–1937)
Maker: Charles Ernest Butler
Lilian Mary Baylis (1874–1937) by Charles Ernest Butler, 1926 V&A Images, The Victoria and Albert Museum
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Bedingfeild [née Draper], Anne (1560–1641), theatre landlord and benefactor
Eva Griffith
Bedingfeild [née Draper], Anne (1560–1641), theatre landlord and benefactor, was born in August 1560, the daughter of John Draper (d. 1576) and his wife, Margery, née Wilkes (d. 1600/01), of the parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West, London. Her father was a rich city brewer who owned various freehold properties in the ...
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Benson, Sir Francis Robert [Frank] (1858–1939), actor and theatre manager
J. P. Wearing
Benson, Sir Francis Robert [Frank] (1858–1939), actor and theatre manager, was born at Eden House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 4 November 1858, the third son and fourth child of William Benson (1816–1887), a barrister and justice of the peace of Alresford, Hampshire, and his wife, ...
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Benson, Sir Francis Robert (1858–1939)
Maker: Reginald Grenville Eves
Sir Francis Robert Benson (1858–1939) by Reginald Grenville Eves, 1924 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Betterton, Thomas (bap. 1635, d. 1710), actor and theatre manager
Judith Milhous
Betterton, Thomas (bap. 1635, d. 1710), actor and theatre manager, was baptized on 11 or 12 August 1635 at St Margaret, Westminster, London. His father, Matthew (d. 1663), was an under-cook to Charles I, according to Betterton's first biographer, Gildon. His mother was ...
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Betterton, Thomas (bap. 1635, d. 1710)
Maker: Sir Godfrey Kneller
In
Thomas Betterton (bap. 1635, d. 1710) studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller [original, 1690s] © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Biddles, James (1815–1871?), actor and theatre manager
Richard Foulkes
Biddles, James (1815–1871
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Bing, Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph (1902–1997), opera manager
Elizabeth Forbes
Bing, Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph (1902–1997), opera manager, was born in Vienna on 9 January 1902, the son of Ernst Hoenigsvald Bing, head of the Austro-Hungarian Steel and Iron Trust, and his wife, Stefanie. The youngest of four children, he left school at the age of sixteen. He trained his attractive light baritone voice, but did not consider becoming a professional. In 1919 he obtained a job with the Viennese booksellers ...
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Bing, Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph (1902–1997)
Maker: Lotte Meitner-Graf
In
Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph Bing (1902–1997) by Lotte Meitner-Graf © Lotte Meitner-Graf
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Black, George (1890–1945), theatre manager and impresario
Robert Murphy
Black, George (1890–1945), theatre manager and impresario, was born on 20 April 1890 at 3 Court, 7 Sutton Street, Birmingham, one of three sons of George Black (1856–1910), then a house-painter, and his wife, Mary Davies (b. 1861/2). In the late 1890s his father gave up a post as property master at the ...
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Boddington, Diana Mary (1921–2002), stage manager
Simon Callow
Boddington, Diana Mary (1921–2002), stage manager, was born on 30 July 1921 at Lyndhurst, Newton Drive, Blackpool, Lancashire, the daughter of James Edward Boddington, an administrative officer in the Ministry of Labour, and later a spa director, and his wife, Violet Mary Angela, ...
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Brunton, John (1741–1822), actor and theatre manager
Moira Field
Brunton, John (1741–1822), actor and theatre manager, was born in Norwich on 10 November 1741, the son of John Brunton, a soap maker, said to have come from a Scottish family tracing its descent from James II of Scotland. Young John Brunton went to ...
