Robert William Elliston (7 April 1774 – 7 July 1831) was an English actor and theatre manager.

Life

He was born in London, the son of a watchmaker. He was educated at St Paul's School, but ran away from home and made his first appearance on the stage as Tressel in ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

'' at the

Old Orchard Street Theatre Old Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, Somerset, England, was built as a provincial theatre before becoming a Roman Catholic church. Since 1865, it has been a Masonic Hall. It is a Grade II listed building. Theatre In 1705 the first theatre opened ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in 1791. There he was later seen as

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lord Montague, Lord Montague and his wife, Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lady Montague, Lady Montague, he ...

, and in other leading parts, both comic and tragic, and he repeated his successes in London from 1796. In the same year he married Elizabeth, the sister of Mary Ann Rundall, and they would in time have ten children. He acted at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

from 1804 to 1809, and again from 1812. From 1819 he was the lessee of the house, presenting

Edmund Kean Edmund Kean (4 November 178715 May 1833) was a British Shakespearean actor, who performed, among other places, in London, Belfast, New York, Quebec, and Paris. He was known for his short stature, tumultuous personal life, and controversial div ...

Mme Vestris Françoise-Rose Gourgaud (7 April 1743, in Marseille – 5 October 1804, in Paris), stage name Madame Vestris, was a French actress. She was the sister of Pierre-Antoine Gourgaud, stage name Dugazon. She married the ballet-dancer Angiolo ...

, and Macready. He bought the

Olympic Theatre Olympic Theater or Olympic Theatre may refer to: * Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Australia, formerly Coppin's Olympic Theatre * National Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, converted to and renamed Olympic Theater in 1873 * Olympic Theatre (London), En ...

in 1813 and also had an interest in a

patent theatre The patent theatres were the theatres that were licensed to perform "spoken drama" after the Restoration of Charles II as King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1660. Other theatres were prohibited from performing such "serious" drama, but ...

, the

Theatre Royal, Birmingham The Theatre Royal, until 1807 the New Street Theatre, or, colloquially, New Theatre, was a 2,000-seat theatre located on New Street in Birmingham, England. It was erected in 1774 and demolished in 1956. The theatre was damaged by fire in 179 ...

. Ill-health and misfortune culminated in his

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 1826, when he made his last appearance at Drury Lane as

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

. As the lessee of the

Surrey Theatre The Surrey Theatre, London began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided entertainment of both horsemanship and drama ( hippodrama). It stood in Blackfriars Road, near the j ...

, he acted almost up to his death in 1831, which was hastened by

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. At the Surrey, where he was the lessee first from 1806–14 and then again beginning in 1827, to avoid the patent restrictions on drama outside the West End, he presented

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and other plays accompanied by ballet music.

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

compared him favorably as an actor with

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1716 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, Actor-manager, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil a ...

;

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

thought him inimitable in high comedy; and Macready praised his versatility. Elliston was the author of '' The Venetian Outlaw'' (1805), and, with

Francis Godolphin Waldron Francis Godolphin Waldron (1744–1818) was an English writer and actor, known also as an editor and bookseller. Life Waldron became a member of David Garrick's company at Drury Lane, and is heard of on 21 October 1769, when he played a part i ...

, of ''No Prelude'' (1803), in both of which plays he appeared. His son was

Henry Twiselton Elliston Henry Twiselton Elliston ( c. 1801 – 1864), was an English musical composer and inventor. Life Elliston was born in or about 1801, the second son of Robert William Elliston and the nephew of Mary Ann Rundall. He resided during most of his lif ...

.Christopher Murray, 'Elliston, Robert William (1774–1831)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
retrieved 6 Dec 2014
/ref>

Selected roles

* Young Melville in '' The Land We Live In'' by

Francis Ludlow Holt Francis Ludlow Holt (1780 – 29 September 1844) was a legal and dramatic author. Life Francis Ludlow is cited as born in 1780, the son of the Rev. Ludlow Holt, LL.D., of Watford, Hertfordshire, the author of some sermons published in 1780–1. ...

(1804) * Edmond Rigid in ''

Guilty or Not Guilty ''Guilty or Not Guilty'' was a Canadian panel quiz show television series which aired on CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, br ...

'' by Thomas Dibdin (1804) * Vivaldi in '' The Venetian Outlaw'' by Robert William Elliston (1805) * Henry Mortimer in '' A Prior Claim'' by

Henry James Pye Henry James Pye (; 20 February 1745 – 11 August 1813) was an English poet, and Poet Laureate from 1790 until his death. His appointment owed nothing to poetic achievement and was probably a reward for political favours. Pye was merely a ...

(1805) * Lord Belmour in ''

The School for Friends ''The School for Friends'' is an 1805 comedy play by the British writer Marianne Chambers. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 10 December 1805. The Drury Lane cast featured Robert William Elliston as Lord Belmour, Richard ...

'' by

Marianne Chambers Marianne Chambers (fl. 1799-1811 or 1812) was an English playwright. In 1799 she published a novel, ''He Deceives Himself: A Domestic Tale'' in three volumes, which was favourably reviewed in ''The Gentleman's Magazine'': "in its perusal we have ...

(1805) * Anson in '' The Vindictive Man'' by

Thomas Holcroft Thomas Holcroft (10 December 174523 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet, novelist and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped Thomas Paine to publish the first part of ''The Ri ...

(1806) * Lothair in '' Adelgitha'' by Matthew Lewis (1807) * Faulkener in '' Faulkener'' by

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous fo ...

(1807) * Fitzharding in '' The Curfew'' John Tobin (1807) * Count Egmont in '' The Siege of St Quintin'' by

Theodore Hook Theodore Edward Hook (22 September 1788 – 24 August 1841) was an English Intellectual, man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius. He is best known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in ...

(1808) * Don Alvar in ''

Remorse Remorse is a distressing emotion experienced by an individual who regrets actions which they have done in the past which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or wrong. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment. When a perso ...

'' by

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

(1813) * Harcourt in '' First Impressions'' by

Horatio Smith Horace (born Horatio) Smith (31 December 1779 – 12 July 1849) was an English poet and novelist. In 1818, he participated in a sonnet-writing competition with Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was of Smith that Shelley said: "Is it not odd that the on ...

(1813)

References

Chest of Books
*

External links

Theater Arts Manuscripts:
An Inventory of the Collection at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliston, Robert William 1774 births 1831 deaths English male stage actors 19th-century English male actors People educated at St Paul's School, London