WILLIAMS, MATTHEW (died 1801), actor

Born at Welshpool in the middle of the 18th century. He was intended for the business of silk mercer, but made his debut as an actor at Birmingham New Theatre on 27 July 1778. He went on to the Bath Company and, in 1779, joined the cast at Drury Lane. In 1790 he married a member of the same company, a Mrs. Wilson of Lewes, Sussex. He took over the Shakespeare Coffee House in Bow Street and, on his discharge from Drury Lane, was engaged as acting manager at the Richmond Theatre. After his wife's death he went out to the West Indies where he died in 1801. Anthony Pasquin's lines to ' Mr. Williames ' are said to refer to him; they stress Williams's competence as an actor, his shyness, and his sweet voice. According to Montgomeryshire worthies , he was killed in a duel, in London, with his fellow-actor Quinn.

Author

• Cecil John Layton Price, (1915 - 1991)

Sources

• M. Charles Jones, 'Welshpool,' in Collections Historical and Archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire, xiv, 199-200
• The Thespian Dictionary (London 1805)
• John Williams, 'Anthony Pasquin', (The Children of Thespis (London 1792), 82

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733899

Published date: 1959

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