Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/238

 of that year he played at that house in a comedietta entitled ‘My Wife! What Wife?’ and was declared by the ‘Theatrical Times’ to be ‘the facsimile of his father.’ On 18 Nov. 1847 he was Arthur Courtnay in a comedy by Sullivan entitled ‘Family Pride,’ in which his father was Doctor Dodge. A year previously Henry Farren appears in provincial records. He was in June 1846 a member of the company at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, and in August of the same year he played at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, Mercutio to the Romeo of G. V. Brooke, Charles Plastic in ‘Town and Country,’ and Charles Surface to his father's Sir Peter. On 8 Feb. 1847 he was at Nottingham. When William Farren quitted the Haymarket to assume the management of the Strand and the Olympic theatres he was accompanied by Henry Farren, who played leading parts in comedy without attracting much recognition. At the Olympic he was in November 1850 the original Fontaine in Dr. Westland Marston's ‘Philip of France and Marie de Méranie,’ played June 1851 in the ‘Ladies' Battle’ (an adaptation of Scribe's ‘Bataille de Dames’), and in October was Claude Melnotte in the ‘Lady of Lyons,’ Miss Laura Keene making her first appearance as Pauline. He was for a short time manager of the Brighton theatre. After his father's retirement in 1855 he went to America and made as Claude Melnotte his first appearance at the Broadway Theatre, New York, without creating a very strong impression. He then went starring in the country, finally settling down as manager of the theatre at St. Louis, where he died. He left a second wife, whom he married shortly before his death. His daughter Florence acted at the Victoria and Gaiety theatres before she married Mr. Edward Wroughton. Another daughter, Ellen,, is a well-known and popular actress in burlesque.

[New York Weekly Herald, quoted in Gent. Mag. for March 1860; Tallis's Dramatic Magazine; Theatrical Times, 1846–7; Era Almanack, various years.]  FARREN, WILLIAM (1786–1861), actor, was born 13 May 1786. His father, William Farren, who then lived in Gower Street, London, had been a tradesman and became an actor of some reputation, chiefly in tragedy. On 8 May 1777 he was the original Careless in the ‘School for Scandal’ at Drury Lane. On 27 Sept. 1784 he appeared as Othello at Covent Garden, where he remained until his death in 1795. On 13 May 1795 a performance was given for the benefit of his widow. The younger William Farren was educated under Dr. Barrow at the school in Soho Square. Inheriting from his father a sum of 8,000l. he was able to gratify a taste for the stage. He first appeared at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, then under the management of his brother Percy, near 1806, as Sir Archy MacSarcasm in ‘Love à la Mode.’ Thence he proceeded to Dublin. He bade farewell to Dublin, whither he more than once returned, 19 Aug. 1818, and on 10 Sept. 1818, as William Farren from Dublin, he made at Covent Garden, as Sir Peter Teazle, his first appearance on the London stage. Sir Anthony Absolute, Lovegold in the ‘Miser,’ Sir Fretful Plagiary in the ‘Critic,’ Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and many other parts were played in his first season, in the course of which he appeared eighty-seven times. At Covent Garden Farren remained until the close of the season of 1827–8. A summer engagement at the Haymarket began 17 June 1824 with Sir Peter Teazle, and continued for some years. At this house he had already appeared for a single occasion, 23 Aug. 1820, as Sir Anthony Absolute. At one or other theatre he played a great variety of comic characters. He also made such curious experiments as appearing as Meg Merrilies, and once even as Miss Harlow in the ‘Old Maid.’ Once also, in Birmingham, he made an unfortunate appearance as Shylock. His original characters during this time were principally in forgotten pieces of Dimond, Kenney, Lunn, Hyde, Morton, and Planché. His first appearance at Drury Lane, 16 Oct. 1828, as Sir Peter Teazle, resulted in an action against him by the Covent Garden management. He remained at Drury Lane until the season of 1836–7, playing a wider range of parts, as is shown by his assumption of Cantwell in the ‘Hypocrite,’ Sir Francis Gripe in the ‘Busybody,’ Polonius, Kent in ‘King Lear,’ Casca in ‘Julius Cæsar,’ &c. In 1837 he returned to Covent Garden, which he quitted a few years later to join Benjamin Webster as stage-manager at the Haymarket. On 31 May 1842 he played there Don Manuel in ‘She would and she would not,’ and on 11 July 1842 he ‘created’ an original part, Peter Britton in ‘Peter and Paul,’ a two-act comedy. On 24 Oct. 1843, at the close of his performance of Old Parr in Mark Lemon's piece of that name, he had on the stage an attack of paralysis, which deprived him of the use of one side. After some months' rest he recovered, and the following year he resumed his place at the Haymarket. From this time his articulation became indistinct and his acting generally impaired, without, however, greatly interfering with his popularity. After ten years