David Garrick
Born in Hereford on February 19, 1717, died in London on January 20, 1779. Famous 18th-century actor, producer, dramatist, poet and co-manager of the Drury Lane Theatre. A star of his times.
In 1737 Garrick moved from the family home at Lichfield to London in order to study law at Lincoln’s Inn but when he received a legacy of £1,000 from an uncle, he changed his plan. He had spent some time in Lisbon as an apprentice to his uncle, who was a vintner, and founded – together with his brother – the company Garrick and Co., wine merchants. Due to his business he found himself often in places of entertainment and met a lot of actors and also the manager of Drury Lane Theatre, Charles Fleetwood.
Garrick started his profession as an actor in 1741 at an unlicensed theatre in Goodman’s Fields, anonymously and masked or with a blackened face. He kept his work a secret and even his family did not come to know about it until his success as Richard III on October 19, 1741. From this time on he became a very popular and much praised actor. Although Fleetwood rejected him when he was still unknown to the theatre sector, he then wanted Garrick for Drury Lane Theatre and offered him a salary larger than ever offered to an actor before. In the following years he also became very famous in Dublin. In April of 1747 Garrick and his friends raised £8,000 which helped him with leasing and furnishing of Drury Lane Theatre. He became part owner of the theatre and was responsible for performing, and choosing plays and actors. The Drury Lane Theatre re-opened in September 1747 and presented a high number of Shakespeare plays. David Garrick married the Viennese opera dancer Eva Maria Veigel on June 22, 1749.
In his last years, he was a member of Samuel Johnson’s Literary Club and at Hampton he was a squire. After his death in 1779 he was buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey at the foot of Shakespeare’s statue.
Some of his works
- Lethe: or, Esop in the Shades (1740)
- Miss in Her Teens; or, The Medley of Lovers (1747)
- The Male Coquette; or, Seventeen Fifty Sevent (1756)
- A Peep Behind the Curtain, or The New Rehearsal (1767)
- The Jubilee (1769)
- A Christmas Tale (1773)