Edward Compton

Edward Compton (14 January 1854 – 16 July 1918) was an actor and actor-manager of the Victorian era who enjoyed considerable success in touring the English provinces with plays by Shakespeare, Sheridan and Goldsmith but who met with failure while trying to break into the West End theatre. Early career Born in 1854 at 16 Charing Cross Road in London as Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, he was the fifth of nine children born to Charles Mackenzie, an actor known as Henry Compton (1805–1877), and Emmeline Catherine née Montague (1823–1911). Edward Compton was educated at the private academy of Revd J. Gaitskell. His first stage appearance was in 1873 at the New Theatre Royal in Bristol as Long Ned in F. Boyle's Old London. In 1874 he joined the Francis Fairlie Touring Company for who he appeared in East Lynne by Alfred Kempe, in Progress by C. R. Munro and The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, followed by seasons in Bristol, Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Liverpool and Birmingham. His first role in London was at his father's benefit at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in March 1877 in which he played Alfred Evelyn in Money by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, going on to appear in his father's second benefit in Manchester later in the same month. This was followed by appearances with the companies of Henry James Byron and Mrs Hermann Vezin. From 1877 to 1879 Compton toured the United Kingdom in the company of Ellen Wallis for whom he appeared as Michael Cassio in Othello, Malcolm in Macbeth, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Florizel in The Winter's Tale, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Orlando in As You Like It, Master Wildrake in The Love Chase, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal and as Claude Melnotte in The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. On 23 April 1879 he played Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing at the dedication of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Later that year with his brother Charles he published the Memoir of Henry Compton. Compton Comedy Company