5 days later

johnjo I must correct myself here. The performances were not "for the benefit of", but "under the patronage of" - a different thing altogether.

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      If you're interested in Ira Aldridge, after Elizabeth D shared a sighting of him in Stafford from 1830 (https://twitter.com/LibCrowds/status/1271035563081154568 ), Dorothy Berry from the Houghton Library at Harvard shared this link to a document showing 'the theatres and plays in various European cities where Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius, acted during the years 1827-1867', compiled by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: https://digitalcollections.library.harvard.edu/catalog/990069496980203941

      If you'd like to learn more about Ira Aldridge, here's an article from 2019: http://camdennewjournal.com/article/stage-struck-out-of-theatre-history and a post, 'Reading Ira Aldridge' on the Houghton Library Blog: https://blogs.harvard.edu/houghton/reading-ira-aldridge/

      Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is a significant figure in his own right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Alfonso_Schomburg

      This is excellent! Thanks for sharing, Mia.

      The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a highly regarded research institute specializing in scholarship on the African American experience and the African Diaspora, is named after Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.

      The Schomburg Center holds a "List showing the theatres and plays in various European cities where Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius, acted during the years 1824-1867" and a book titled "Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius." Judging from the New York Public Library's (NYPL) catalog, both appear to only be available for on-site reference viewing. I don't think either can be accessed in digitized form at this time.

      However, there is a NYPL blog post titled "Live from the Reading Room: Arturo Schomburg to Langston Hughes," that discusses a 1933 letter in which Arturo Schomburg mentions his interest in acquiring an image of Ira Aldridge to Langston Hughes:
      https://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/02/05/live-reading-room-correspondence-1

      Looking through Schomburg's list that must have taken a significant amount of work to put together. It's obviously not complete, but we can only know that because it's now so easy to check multiple sources.

      4 days later

      Actor Daniel Egerton is described on Wikipedia making his first appearance at Birmingham Theatre on 4th June 1799 in The Rivals. Here he is 15 days later in "Five Thousand a Year" and "The Jew and the Doctor". According to Wikipedia, he acted with Stephen Kemble at Edinburgh and later in his life, returned to London and in 1833 co-bought The Victoria Theatre (known now as The Old Vic).
      http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589038.0x000002#?cv=289

      12 days later

      Saw this tweet "Louise C asks, 'The W. Telbin who acts as a Servant in The School of Reform is mentioned alongside a second Telbin on another playbill. Are these related to the famous scenic painters, I wonder?' Theatre Royal, Hull, 1829" (https://twitter.com/LibCrowds/status/1280120562464014336?s=20) and couldn't resist the challenge. I don't think it's possible to give a definite answer but I think it's highly likely that these are members of the same family.
      I'll admit I had no idea who the scenic painters were so I started with Google to see what information is available, the bios are fairly sparse but I found enough to see that the painters were William Lewis Telbin the elder and the younger.
      Due to the lack of information I've carried out some quick searches of genealogical records (baptisms, marriages, census records etc), the British Newspaper Archive, and the British Library collection. What I found is that Telbin is fairly unique name which makes this a whole lot easier. I'll try to keep this brief but I'll include a lot of details here so it's easier to see why the probability is high (the main problem is trying to identify who the various Mr Telbins are on the playbill, although W Telbin probably is one of the famous scene painters).
      Census records show that William Lewis Telbin the elder was born in the 1810s in Norfolk, but there is no christening record for anyone by that name. As it's such an unusual name there were only a small number of christening records for the Telbin family, John and Elizabeth Telbin had several children; Edmund Cain Telbin in Cheltenham in 1817, Rosalind in Stratford Upon Avon in 1822, John Nobbett in Scarborough in 1826. There was also a burial record for Elizabeth, a daughter aged 15, in Jersey in 1834.
      Searching the BNA found a few references to a performer by the name of Telbin; the Sheffield Independent's 1823 review was a little unkind, 'Telbin’s Capulet was most foul, strange, and unnatural', but the Durham Chronicle in 1827 provided a helpful clue 'The Siege of Scarborough Castle,.. written by Mr Telbin, a member the company'. There is a copy of the script in the British Library collection and it shows that it was written by John Telbin http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000303AE#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=5&xywh=691%2C589%2C2013%2C1070
      The Western Times newspaper from 1874 provides another clue, 'London papers report the death of Mr. Telbin, an artist who had acquired great celebrity as a scene painter. Mr. Telbin and his father were members of the Exeter Company some 40 years ago', The playbill collection provides further evidence of this (thanks to the text searchable version of the playbills), a playbill from Weymouth in 1831 is 'For the benefit of Mr Telbin, Stage-Manager and Mr Telbin Jr., Artist', along with a playbill from Devonport in 1830 which advises that 'New scenery painted by Mr Telbin Jr', and a playbill from Hull in 1829 includes appearances by Mr Telbin, Mr W Telbin, Mr Telbin Jun, and Miss R Telbin. As a further connection to John and Elizabeth Telbin the playbills for the theatre in Jersey from January 1834 include appearances by Mr Telbin.
      Although it's been impossible to find a christening record for William Lewis Telbin I have found a record for William Lewis Niblet, son of John and Elizabeth, christened in 1814 in Norfolk (it could be a coincidence that Telbin is Niblet spelt backwards but that seems unlikely...)
      I'll end it there but what I've found so far has been fascinating!

      Still researching the Telbins and found this snippet from The Era in 1844, " the decease of Mr. John Telbin, comedian, which occurred at the house of his son, Mr. William Telbin, the distinguished scene-painter, 74, Upper Stamford-street. As the companion of the late Edmund Kean the deceased Mr. Telbin was partaker in many..." (I don't currently have a BNA subscription but can imagine how that sentence may end).

      Frisby This is wonderful! What extraordinary research. Thank you for all the detail. I have a friend researching Telbin, the scene painter, and I think some of this extra detail will be so useful for her. I have an interest in Joseph Harker, a scenic artist who made his name working for Henry Irving at the Lyceum in the 1890s-1900s, so my ears (eyes in this case?!) prick up whenever I find someone who might be connected.

        louisecalf It was my pleasure. I love rediscovering some of the details about the lives of these people.

            17 days later
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            And here's a post on Ira Aldridge, written to celebrate his birthday last week: https://blogs.bl.uk/digital-scholarship/2020/07/ira-aldridge-in-the-spotlight.html

            I wanted to highlight the last section, which thanks British Library staff and In the Spotlight participants for their contributions:

            My thanks to everyone who suggested references for this post, in particular: Christian Algar, Naomi Billingsley, Nora McGregor, Susan Reed from the British Library; Dorothy Berry from the Houghton Library at Harvard and In the Spotlight participants including beccabooks10, Nosnibor3, Elizabeth Danskin (who shared a link to this video about his daughter, Amanda Aldridge), Nicola Hayes, and Sylvia Morris (who has written extensively about Aldridge on her blog).

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