Booth, JUNIUS BRUTUS

Booth, JUNIUS BRUTUS, a distinguished English tragedian, the son of a lawyer of some note, was born in the parish of St Pancras, London, May 1, 1796. He received a classical education, but early manifested a predilection for the stage, and when seventeen years of age appeared in some unimportant parts. Subsequently he played Richard III. at Covent Garden, a part in which he suddenly became famous. In 1821 he migrated to the United States, where for the ensuing thirty years he followed his profession with much success. He died suddenly on board a Mississippi river steamer, November 12, 1852. He had long been subject to a natural eccentricity, which, at times, when aggravated by domestic affliction or habits of intemperance, developed into temporary insanity. —His son, EDWIN THOMAS BOOTH, American actor, was born in Harford county, Maryland, November 13, 1833. When sixteen years of age, he made his first appearance on the stage, in the part of Tressel, his father acting as Richard III. Two years later he himself successfully assumed the part of Richard in place of his father, who unexpectedly refused to fulfil an evening's engagement. The following year the two went to California, where the son remained for several years, visiting Australia meanwhile. Meeting with little pecuniary success, in 1856 he returned to the Atlantic states, and from that time thenceforward was recognised as a leading member of his profession. He visited England (1861–62), and in 1864 produced Hamlet at New York for 100 nights consecutively. In 1869 he opened a splendid theatre in New York, whose building cost over a million dollars, but which involved him in pecuniary ruin. He revisited California in 1876, and in the spring of 1877 was able to settle with his creditors, having earned during the season over £120,000. Booth visited Great Britain and Germany in 1880–82, and was everywhere received with enthusiasm. He died at New York, 7th June 1893. See his Life and Art by William Winter (1894). —JOHN WILKES BOOTH, another son of Junius Brutus Booth, was born at Baltimore in 1839, and was an unsuccessful actor. In 1865 he entered a conspiracy to avenge the defeat of the Confederates, and shot President Lincoln (q.v.). He broke his own leg, but managed to escape to Virginia and conceal himself till 26th April, when he was tracked, and, refusing to surrender, was shot.