William Powell (English actor)

William Powell (1735–1769) was an English actor.

William Powell, 1769 engraving by John Dixon, after Thomas Lawranson

Early life

He was born in Hereford, and educated at Hereford grammar school and at Christ's Hospital in London. Sir Robert Ladbrooke, a distille and then president of Christ's Hospital, took him on as apprentice in his counting-house. Powell, however, was interest in amateur theatricals: Ladbrooke suppressed a club in Doctors' Commons of which Powell had become a member. For a while Powell remained in Ladbrooke's office. Charles Holland however, introduced him to David Garrick, who wanted to travel and sought a substitute actor.[1]

At Drury Lane

Carefully coached by Garrick, Powell made his first appearance on stage at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 October 1763 as Philaster (in an adaptation of Beaumont and Fletcher's play, by George Colman the Elder). Supported also by James Lacy, Powell made a success.[2] The ticket receipts were up to the best Garrick days.[1][3]

Garrick reappeared in the season of 1765–6, and took over from Powell a few characters; Powell added to his repertory.[4] In 1767 Powell joined Thomas Harris, John Rutherford, and Colman in purchasing John Rich's patents for Covent Garden Theatre. Powell was at this time bound for three years to Drury Lane under a penalty of £1,000, while his borrowed share of the purchase-money was £15,000.[1]

Bristol

Powell became a favourite in Bristol, where, at the Jacob's Well Theatre, on 13 August 1764, he took his first benefit as King Lear. On the erection of the King Street Theatre, the foundation-stone of which was laid on 30 November 1764, Powell became associated with two local men, Arthur and Clarke. The lease of the theatre was for seven years. On 30 May 1766 it opened with The Conscious Lovers, given gratis since the license had not yet been obtained, with Powell as Young Bevil. The Citizen (Arthur Murphy) with James William Dodd was also given. A prologue, written by Garrick, was spoken by Powell.[1]

At Covent Garden
William Powell as Hamlet encountering the Ghost, c. 1768–1769, by Benjamin Wilson.

On the opening night Powell spoke, 14 September 1767, a rhymed prologue by William Whitehead, and on the 16th played Jaffier in Venice Preserved.[5] Powell lived at this time in a house adjoining the theatre, and provided with a direct access. In the fierce quarrel which broke out during the season among the managers, leading to legal proceedings and a fierce polemic, Powell sided with George Colman, whom he had brought into the association, against Harris and Rutherford.[6] On the closing night of the season, 26 May 1769, he played Cyrus in John Hoole's play of the name, which was his last appearance in London.[1]

Death

On 31 May 1769 Powell made, as Jaffier, his last appearance on the stage, in Bristol at the King Street Theatre. The following day he caught cold, playing cricket. His illness became severe, and King Street, in which, near the theatre, he lived, was barred by chains against carriages, by order of the magistrates. On Friday, at the request of his family and physician, the performances were suspended to avoid disturbing him, and on Monday, 3 July, at seven in the morning, he died. ‘Richard III’ was given that evening, and Holland, then manager, had to apologise for the inability of the actors to play their parts. The audience voluntarily dispensed with the closing farce.[1]

Powell was buried on the following Thursday in Bristol Cathedral, Colman, Holland, and Clarke, with all the performers of the theatre, attending the funeral, which was conducted by the dean. An anthem was sung by the choir. On 14 July the Roman Father was performed in Bristol for the benefit of Powell's family, most of the audience appearing in black. An address by Colman was spoken by Holland, who did not long survive. A monument in the north aisle of the cathedral, erected by his widow, has an epitaph, also by Colman.[1]

Family

Once out of his indentures, Powell married, in 1759, a Miss Branston. Powell's wife made a début as Ophelia in Bristol in July 1766, but did not reach London. Widowed, she married again, in September 1771, John Abraham Fisher. Miss E. Powell appeared in Ireland, where she married H. P. Warren, an actor, and died as Mrs. Martindale in King Street, Covent Garden, in 1821. Another daughter married Mr. White, clerk of the House of Commons, and left daughters who were shareholders in Covent Garden Theatre.[1]

Notes
  1. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Powell, William (1735-1769)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 46. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. Powell played during his first season Jaffier in Venice Preserved, Posthumus, Lusignan, the king in the Second Part of King Henry IV; Castalio in The Orphan (Thomas Otway), Lord Townly in The Provoked Husband (John Vanburgh and Colley Cibber), Alexander the Great, Publius Horatius in The Roman Father (William Whitehead), Othello, Etan in The Orphan of China (Voltaire), Sir Charles Raymond in The Foundling (Edward Moore), Dumont, Shore in Jane Shore (Nicholas Rowe), Leon in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, Oroonoko (in Aphra Behn's play of the name), Henry VI in Richard III, and Ghost in Hamlet.
  3. In the season of 1764–5 Powell was seen as Lothario in The Fair Penitent, Orestes, King Lear, Herod in Mariamne, and Leontes; and played on 24 January 1765 the first of his few original parts as Lord Frankland in The Platonic Wife of Elizabeth Griffith.
  4. Moneses in Tamerlane (Nicholas Rowe), Alcanor in Mahomet , King John, and Antony in All for Love; played either Agamemnon or Achilles in Heroic Love (George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne), and was on 20 February 1766 the original Lovewell in The Clandestine Marriage. The following season, his last at Drury Lane, saw Powell as Phocyas in the Siege of Damascus (Colman the elder), Jason in Medea, and some character, presumed to be Don Pedro, in The False Friend (Vanburgh). Powell played also three original parts: King Edward in Thomas Francklin's Earl of Warwick, 13 December 1766; Lord Falbridge in Colman's The English Merchant, 21 February 1767; and Æneas in Joseph Reed's Dido.
  5. His new characters were Chorus in King Henry V, Romeo, Sir William Douglas in the English Merchant, Hastings, Sciolto in The Fair Penitent, George Barnwell in The London Merchant, Oakly, Bajazet, Horatius in the Roman Father, Don Felix in The Wonder (Susanna Centlivre), Macbeth, and Hamlet; and he was on 29 January 1768 the original Honeywood in The Good-natured Man.
  6. In his last season he played Ford in the Merry Wives of Windsor, Alwin in The Countess of Salisbury (Hall Hartson), Young Bevil in Conscious Lovers, and was, 3 December 1768, the original Cyrus in John Hoole's play of the name; and, 18 January 1769, the original Courteney in Charlotte Lennox's The Sister.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Powell, William (1735-1769)". Dictionary of National Biography. 46. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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