Cecil Raleigh was the pseudonym of Abraham Cecil Francis Fothergill Rowlands (27 January 1856 – 10 November 1914,

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

), an English

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Personal life

Abraham Cecil Francis Fothergill Rowlands was born on 27 January 1856 in Monmouthshire, the son of Cecilia Anne Daniel Riley (1813–1911) and her second husband Dr. John Fothergill Rowlands (1823–1878), He took the stage name of Cecil Raleigh. On 19 December 1882, he married Effie Adelaide Henderson (1859 – 16 October 1936), a British novelist who published as

Effie Adelaide Rowlands Effie Adelaide Maria Henderson (later Rowlands and Albanesi; c.1859 – 16 October 1936) was a British novelist, better known under the pen names Effie Adelaide Rowlands, E. Maria Albanesi and Madame Albanesi. She was the author of more than 2 ...

and later

E. Maria Albanesi Effie Adelaide Maria Henderson (later Rowlands and Albanesi; c.1859 – 16 October 1936) was a British novelist, better known under the pen names Effie Adelaide Rowlands, E. Maria Albanesi and Madame Albanesi. She was the author of more than 2 ...

, whom he later divorced. On 31 March 1894, he remarried Isabel Pauline Ellissen (8 August 1862 – 22 August 1923), an actress under the stage name Saba Raleigh.

Career

He played for a time in musical theatre, but deserted acting for playwriting and, either alone or in collaboration, produced melodramas, other plays and musical pieces, staged at first chiefly at the

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

, London, and in later years at Drury Lane. ''Cheer, Boys, Cheer'' (1895); ''Hearts are Trumps'' (1899); ''The Best of Friends'' (1902); and ''The Whip'' (1909–10) are typical examples of his plays, but he was particularly successful with his musical pieces, ''

Little Christopher Columbus ''Little Christopher Columbus'' is a burlesque opera in two acts, with music by Ivan Caryll and Gustave Kerker and a libretto by George R. Sims and Cecil Raleigh. It opened on 10 October 1893 at the Lyric Theatre in London and then transferred ...

'' (1893), ''

Dick Whittington and His Cat Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat Names ...

'' (1894), ''

The Yashmak ''The Yashmak, A Story of the East'' is a musical play, with a libretto by Cecil Raleigh and Seymour Hicks, adapted from an Armenian operetta, ''Leblébidji Horhor'', which had been a success in 1896 in Constantinople. The music was composed by ...

'' (1897) and ''

The Sunshine Girl ''The Sunshine Girl'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with a book by Paul Rubens (composer), Paul A. Rubens and Cecil Raleigh, lyrics and music by Rubens and additional lyrics by Arthur Wimperis. The story involves a working girl w ...

'' (1912). Several of his plays were later made into motion pictures. He acted as dramatic critic in two or three London papers, and became secretary to the School of Dramatic Art in Gower Street, London.

Plays

*''The Derby Winner'', 1894, co-written with Hamilton and

Augustus Harris Sir Augustus Henry Glossop Harris (18 March 1852 – 22 June 1896) was a British actor, impresario, and dramatist, a dominant figure in the West End theatre, West End theatre of the 1880s and 1890s. Born into a theatrical family, Harris briefl ...

, produced in the United States under the title '' The Sporting Duchess'' and adapted for film in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

and

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own m ...

*''Cheer, Boys, Cheer'', with Harris and Hamilton, 1895 *''

The White Heather ''The White Heather'' is a lost 1919 American silent drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Holmes Herbert, Ben Alexander and Ralph Graves. It was based on an 1897 play of the same title by Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton. T ...

'', 1897, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1919 silent film *''The Great Ruby'', 1898, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1915 silent film *''Hearts Are Trumps'', 1900, the basis for the 1920 silent film *''The Sins of Society'', 1909, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1915 silent film *'' The Whip'', 1909, with Henry Hamilton, the basis for silent films of

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary For ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

*''The King's Minister'', the basis for the 1914 silent film *''Sealed Orders'', 1915, with Hamilton, adapted for the 1918 film ''

Stolen Orders ''Stolen Orders'' is a lost 1918 silent propaganda film directed by Harley Knoles and starring Kitty Gordon and Montagu Love. Cast *Montagu Love – John Le Page * Kitty Gordon – Felicia Gaveston *June Elvidge – Ruth Le Page *Carlyle Bla ...

'' *''Sporting Life'', with

Seymour Hicks Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and ...

, the basis for silent films of

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

and

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the It ...

*''The Marriages of Mayfair'', the basis for the 1920 silent film '' The Fatal Hour'' *''The Hope'', with Hamilton, the basis for the 1920 silent film *''The Best of Luck'', with Hamilton, the basis for the 1920 silent film *''The Best of Friends'' *''The Price of Peace'' *''The Grey Mare'', with

George Robert Sims George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and ''bon vivant''. Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for '' Fun'' magazine and ''The Referee'', but he was soon c ...

*''The Guardsman'', with Sims

Musical theatre

*''

'', 1893

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.

, co-written with Sims *''

'', 1894

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

, co-written with

and Hamilton *''The Belle of Cairo'', 1896, musical comedy, with music and lyrics by F. Kinsey Peile"The London Theatres", ''The Era'', 17 October 1896, p. 10 *''

'', 1897 musical, co-written with

*''

'', 1912

Edwardian musical comedy Edwardian musical comedy was a form of British musical theatre that extended beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions, beginning in the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the Am ...

, book co-written with

Paul A. Rubens Paul Alfred Rubens (29 April 1875 – 5 February 1917) was an English songwriter and librettist who wrote some of the most popular Edwardian musical comedies of the early twentieth century. He contributed to the success of dozens of musicals. ...

References

External links

* *
Obituary
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Raleigh, Cecil 1856 births 1914 deaths 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights English male stage actors 19th-century English male actors 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English male writers