KEMBLE, CHARLES (1775 - 1854), actor

Born 25 November 1775 at Brecon, eleventh child of Roger Kemble and Sarah Ward. The company of itinerant actors managed by his parents played on a circuit that is indicated by the birthplaces of their celebrated children: Sarah Siddons, born Brecon, 1755; JOHN PHILIP, born Prescott, 1757; STEPHEN, born Kington, 1758; FRANCES Twiss, born Hereford, 1759; ELIZABETH WHITLOCK, born Warrington, 1761; Julia Ann Hatton, born Worcester, 1764. Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble are considered among the greatest players of all time; Stephen Kemble was an able actor, and manager of the Edinburgh Theatre Royal; Frances and Elizabeth were competent. Of the later children, five died young but Charles Kemble lived to become a well-known man of the theatre. Educated, like John Philip, at the English College at Douai, he began acting at Sheffield in 1792 and made his first London appearance on 21 April 1794 as Malcolm in Macbeth. He was employed until 1802 by Colman and thereafter by John Philip Kemble at Covent Garden. He married 2 July 1806 the well-known actress, Marie-Therese de Camp, and their three children all achieved distinction. They were John Mitchell Kemble (1807 - 1857), philologist and historical writer; Adelaide (Sartoris), who lived from 1814? to 1879 and was both singer and writer; FRANCES ANNE (BUTLER) was actress and writer and lived from 1809 to 1893. A. Nicoll credits Charles Kemble with the authorship or adaptation of six plays.

Author

• Cecil John Layton Price, (1915 - 1991)

Sources

• D. E. Baker, Biographia Dramatica (London 1812), i, 421, 423, 428-30
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• A. Nicoll, A History of Early Nineteenth Century Drama, 1800-1850 (Cambridge 1930), ii, 325

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Charles Kemble

Additional Links

• VIAF: 59345857
• Wikidata: Q725104

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/