Augustus Glossop Harris

This article is about the father (1825–1873). For the son (1852–1896), see Augustus Harris.

Augustus Glossop Harris
Born
Augustus Frederick Glossop

(1825-06-05)5 June 1825
Portici, Naples, Italy
Died19 April 1873(1873-04-19) (aged 47)
London, England
Burial placeBrompton Cemetery
Occupation(s)Actor, writer, theatre manager
Spouse
Maria Ann Bone
​
(m. 1846)​
Children5, including Patience and Augustus

Augustus Frederick Glossop Harris (5 June 1825 – 19 April 1873) was a British actor, writer, and theatre manager.

Born in Portici, Naples, Italy, on 5 June 1825,[1] he was the son of Joseph Glossop, first manager of the Royal Coburg Theatre (now known as the Victoria Theatre or the Old Vic), and opera singer Mme Féron (aka Fearon), a former prima donna assoluta at La Scala in Milan.[2][3]

Career

His early career saw limited success as a comedian in London, and he was imprisoned for bankruptcy in June 1848.[4] By 1851 he had adopted the surname Harris.[5]

Harris became a leading manager of opera and ballet, notably at Covent Garden, London, but also in Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg. He wrote the librettos, with Edmund Falconer, for the operas The Rose of Castille (1857) and Satanella (1858), with music by Michael William Balfe, which had successful runs in London and New York. In the last four years of his life, he put on Christmas spectacles at Covent Garden.[2]

Personal life

He married Maria Ann Bone on 17 February 1846. They had five children: daughters Ellen (Nelly), Maria, and Patience, a costume designer, and sons Charles and Augustus, an actor and theatrical manager.[2][6]

Death

He died at his home in London on 19 April 1873, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.[2][7][8]

Works

  • The avalanche; or; The trials of the heart (1854)
  • The little treasure (1855)
  • Too much of a good thing! (1855)
  • Doing the hansom (1856)
  • My son Diana (1857)
  • A very serious affair (1857)
  • Gossip (with Thomas J. Williams, 1859)
  • Ruthven (1859)
  • Satanella, comic opera (1863)
  • Tom Thrasher (1868)
  • The little treasure (1880)[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ 1871 Middlesex Census
  2. ^ a b c d Knight, Joseph; Banerji, Nilanjana. "Harris, Augustus Frederick Glossop [Augustus Glossop Harris]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12381. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Sala, George Augustus (1898). The Life and Adventures of George Augustus Sala. Cassell. p. 124. Retrieved 17 September 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ London Gazette, 6 June 1848
  5. ^ 1851 Middlesex Census
  6. ^ "Augustus Henry Glossop Harris, 1852-1896" The Correspondence of James MacNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow.
  7. ^ "Death of Mr. Augustus Harris". The Observer. London. 20 April 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 17 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Friends of Brompton Cemetery". Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  9. ^ The Open Library