FITZBALL, EDWARD English dramatist, was born at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, the son of a farmer. He produced some dramatic pieces at Norwich theatre, and the marked success of his Innkeeper of Abbeville (182o), together with the acceptance of one of his pieces at the Surrey theatre by Thomas Dibdin, induced him to settle in London. During the next 25 years he produced a great number of plays, most of which were highly successful. He had a special talent for nautical drama. His Floating Beacon (Surrey theatre, April 19, 1824) ran for 14o nights, and his Pilot (Adelphi, 1825) for 200 nights. His greatest triumph in melodrama was perhaps Jonathan Bradford, or the Murder at the Roadside Inn (Surrey theatre, June 12, 1833). He died at Chatham on Oct. 27, 1873.
His autobiography, Thirty-Five Years of a Dramatic Author's Life (2 vols., 1859), is a naive record of his career. Numbers of his plays are printed in Cumberland's Minor British Theatre.