John Henry (1738-October 16, 1794) was an Irish-born actor and early American actor and theatre manager.

Career

Henry was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, performed there and in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and went to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

with Charles Storer and his family about 1762. He made his New York debut at the opening of the John Street Theatre on December 7, 1767, playing the role of Aimwell in ''

The Beaux' Stratagem ''The Beaux' Stratagem'' is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on 8 March 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have falle ...

''. He is said to have been the first to play the role of Peter Teazle in '' The School for Scandal'' in America. At the end of the American Revolution, after additional time in England and Jamaica, he returned to America and worked with Lewis Hallam Jr. to manage the American Company. He left the company in 1794 after disagreements with actor John Hodgkinson, who he had brought to the United States in 1792 together with his wife stage actress Frances Brett Hogkinson.

William Dunlap William Dunlap (February 19, 1766 – September 28, 1839) was a pioneer of American theater. He was a producer, playwright, and actor, as well as a historian. He managed two of New York City's earliest and most prominent theaters, the John Str ...

described Henry as being six feet tall "and uncommonly handsome."Dunlap, William
A History of the American Theatre
p. 81 (1832) Henry died at sea of illness on October 16, 1794, reportedly from complications from

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...

.Highfill, Philip H., Jr. et al
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Vol. 17
pp. 270-71 (1982)

Personal life

Henry's private life was a source of gossip during his day. He rode in a private coach, which was unusual for the time, and though seen as ostentatious he maintained it was because he had gout. Henry also had two wives, sisters surnamed Storer who were both actresses. The first wife, Jane, and their two young children, died at sea during a ship fire in 1767 off the coast of

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. Henry and Jane's younger sister Ann survived. Henry and Ann then lived together (and she may have bore him a son), but likely never formally married. Henry eventually married younger sister Maria, who died shortly after the death of her husband from her grief over his loss.Fisher, James
Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings
p. 214 (2015)Fifty-years of a Play-goer's Journal
pp. v-vi (1860)Hornblow, Arthur
A History of the Theatre in America, Vol. I
p. 125 (1919)Highfill, Philip H., Jr. et al
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Vol. 14
pp. 314 (1991)Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, Vol. I
pp. 410-11 (2008)

Selected performances

* '' The Roman Father'', October 1767, as Publius Horatius (first continental appearance) * '' The School for Scandal'' as Peter Teazle * ''

'' as Aimwell, December 1767 (first New York appearance) * ''School for Soldiers; or, the Deserters'' (play by Henry, 1781; published in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

, 1783, adapted from ''Le Deserteur'' by

Louis-Sébastien Mercier Louis-Sébastien Mercier (6 June 1740 – 25 April 1814) was a French dramatist and writer, whose 1771 novel '' L'An 2440'' is an example of proto-science fiction. Early life and education He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was ...

)Taylor, George
The French Revolution and the London Stage, 1789-1805
pp. 36-37 (2004) * '' The Father'' (1789)Seilhamer, George Overcash
History of the American Theatre: During the revolution and after
pp. 355-56 (1889)(a long list of parts which Henry and his wife played)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, John 1738 births 1794 deaths 18th-century American male actors American male stage actors 18th-century American theatre managers 18th-century Irish male actors Irish emigrants to Kingdom of Great Britain Male actors from County Dublin