Thomas Hallam (died 1735) was a British

stage actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Biography

Hallam was the first in a dynasty of actors, including his sons Lewis Hallam and William Hallam who led a pioneering theatre company to the United States and his granddaughter Isabella Mattocks. His family also included the brothers George, William and Lewis Hallam. After appearing at the Smock Alley Theatre 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 ...

for many years, he joined the

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 ...

company in 1725. He remained there for the next decade, taking part in the Actor Rebellion of 1733. An actor named Hallam appeared in several early

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along wi ...

plays including ''

The Author's Farce ''The Author's Farce and the Pleasures of the Town'' is a play by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding, first performed on 30 March 1730 at the Haymarket Theatre, Little Theatre, Haymarket. Written in response to the Theatre Royal ...

'' and ''

Tom Thumb Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. ''The History of Tom Thumb'' was published in 1621 and was the first known fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, ...

'' at the Haymarket but this was likely to be Adam Hallam, one of his sons. By 1731 Adam was also appearing on Drury Lane

playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

s along with his father. While Hallam was ambitious to play leading roles, he was generally consigned to supporting parts. On 10 May 1735 during a performance of the farce '' Trick for Trick'' he got into a dispute with fellow actor

Charles Macklin Charles Macklin (26 September 1699 – 11 July 1797), (Gaelic: Cathal MacLochlainn, English: Charles McLaughlin), was an Irish actor and dramatist who performed extensively at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Macklin revolutionised theatre in ...

over a wig they used during the play. During the trial, Macklin narrated that, having been provoked, he pointed his cane towards Hallam but his face "turned about unluckily" so that the stick pierced his eye and brain. The wound proved fatal and Macklin was tried for

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, but after conducting his own defence had this reduced to a conviction of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

. Accounts cited that Macklin was later freed, went back to the theater but suffered an unfavorable reputation among the public.

References

Bibliography

* Gilman, Todd. ''The Theatre Career of Thomas Arne''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2013. * Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800: Garrick to Gyngell''. SIU Press, 1978. * Kelly, Ian. ''Mr Foote's Other Leg: Comedy, tragedy and murder in Georgian London''. Pan Macmillan, 2012. * Straub, Kristina, G. Anderson, Misty and O'Quinn, Daniel . ''The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama''. Taylor & Francis, 2017. English male stage actors British male stage actors 18th-century English male actors 18th-century British male actors 1735 deaths {{England-stage-actor-stub