BARRETT, WILSON (1846-1904), English actor, man ager, and playwright, was born in Essex on Feb. 18 1846, the son of a farmer. After experience in acting and management in the provinces, in 1879 he took the old Court theatre, where he intro duced Madame Modjeska to London, in adaptations of Maria Stuart, Adrienne Lecouvreur, La Dame aux Camelias and other plays. In 1881, he took the Princess's theatre, and became famous in melodrama—The Lights of London, by G. R. Sims, The Silver King, by Henry Arthur Jones (1882), and Claudian, by W. G. Wills. Later he acted chiefly in the provinces. In 1886 he made his first visit to America, and in 1898 visited Australia. During these years the London stage was coming under new influences, and Wilson Barrett's vogue in melodrama had waned. But in 1895 his drama of religious emotion, The Sign of the Cross, attracted audiences outside the ordinary circle of playgoers. He died on July 22 1904.