IRVING, Sir HENRY (1838-1905). A distin guished English actor and manager. He was born at Keinton, Somersetshire, February 6, 1838, his name being originally John Henry Brodribb ; his stage name of Irving was legalized by royal license in 1887. He was carefully educated at a private school and then placed in a commercial situation, but he early began preparing himself for a dramatic career, and made his first appear ance on the professional stage at Sunderland in 1856. After playing in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, and elsewhere, not without meeting ficquent diseouragements, he appeared in 1866 at the Saint James's Theatre in London. He soon became noted as an interpreter of light. comedy parts, and more especially as the 'heavy villain' in such rides as Robert Macaire and Bill Sikes. But his first great success was as Digby Grant in the comedy of Two Roses (1870), which he per formed at the Vaudeville Theatre for three hun dred consecutive nights. In November, 1871, he was engaged by the Lyceum Theatre, and in creased his reputation by his appearance in The Bells, as Mathias (1871), in Eugene Aram (1873). Richelieu (1873), and Hamlet (1S74). The peculiarities of his style in Hamlet excited great difference of opinion among the critics, which continued over his rendering of Macbeth (1875) and Othello (1876. and again with Edwin Booth in 1881). but the importance of his posi tin constantly increased. His Richard III. (1877) and his Louis Xi. (1878) attracted great admiration. In 1876 he made a tour through Scotland. Ireland, and the provinces. The with drawal of INIrs. Bateman from the malagement of the Lyceum gave Mr. Irving. in 1878. entire con trol over the theatre in which he had long been the leading attraction: he secured Miss Ellen Terry, and the history of the Lyceum from that time until 1902 was chiefly theirs. Mr. Irving as a manager was famous for the carefully elaborate stage setting of his productions, while as an actor he was distinguished for the psychological force of his characterizations. Ilk theatre became in all its appointments and in the class of the plays produced there the most admirable of London playhouses, though its financial success left some thing to be desired. In 1899 the Lyceum passed
into the hands of a limited liability company, though still under Irving's direction. In the long list of roles which he assumed after his manage ment began were Shyloek (1879) ; Benediek, in Much Ado About Nothing 11882); Mephistoph eles, in Faust (1885), which proved one of the most popular of his presentations, though criti cally less admired; Becket (1893), in Lord Tennyson's drama. which he rearranged for the stage, and Robespierre (1899), in the play writ ten for him by Sardou.
He first came to the United States, with Miss Terry and the other members of his company. in 1883, when he made his New York d6but as Mathias, in The Bells. The welcome which he won on this first visit was frequently repeated. and he reproduced in the United States most of his London successes. Mr. Irving was knighted in 1895. He was also known as a writer and public speaker. Among his publications is The Drama: Addresses (London, 1892). The "Irving Edition" of Shakespeare (edited by Henry Irving and Frank A. Marshall) appeared in 1887-90 (London).
Irving married, in 1869, Miss Florence O'Cal laghan. and his sons. Henry Brodribb Irving and Lawrence Irving, both of whom are actors, have attained sonic note in literature as well as upon the stage. The former is the author of the Life of Judge Jeffreys (1898) and French Criminals of the Nineteenth Century (1901) ; the latter. of the plays Peter the Great (produced at the Lyceum, London, 1898) and Richard Lorelace (Garden Theatre, New York, 1901).
Consult : Hiatt, Henry Irving, a Record and a (London. 1899) : Fitzgerald, Henry Ir ring. Twenty Years of the L yee11111 (ih, 1893) Daly, Henry Irring in England and America, (ib.. 1884) ; Russell. Irring as Hamlet (ib.. 1875) : Archer, Henry lrring. Actor and Manager. a Critical Study (ib.. 1883) Brereton. Henry bring, a Biographical Sketch (ih., 1883) ; Hatton, Henry Irring's Impressions of America (ib., 1884) ; Scott, The Drama of Yesterday and To-Day (ib.. 1899).