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BOOTH, EDWIN [THOMAS] (1833–1893)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 240 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOOTH, See also:EDWIN [See also:THOMAS] (1833–1893) , See also:American actor, was the second son of the actor See also:Junius See also:Brutus Booth, and was See also:born in Belair, See also:Maryland, on the 13th of See also:November 1833, His See also:father (1996–1852) was born in See also:London on the 1st of May 1796, and, after trying See also:printing, See also:law, See also:painting and the See also:sea, made his first See also:appearance on the See also:stage in 1813, and appeared in London at Covent See also:Garden in 1815. He became almost at once a See also:great favourite, and a See also:rival of See also:Kean, whom he was thought to resemble. To Kean's Othello nevertheless he played Iago on several occasions. See also:Richard III., See also:Hamlet, See also:King See also:Lear, Shylock and See also:Sir See also:Giles Overreach were his best parts, and in See also:America, whither he removed in 1821, they brought him great popularity. His eccentricities sometimes bordered on See also:insanity, and his excited and furious See also:fencing as Richard III. and as Hamlet frequently compelled the See also:Richmond and Laertes to fight for their lives in deadly See also:earnest. Edwin Booth's first See also:regular appearance was at the See also:Boston Museum on the loth of See also:September 1849, as Tressel to his father's Richard, in See also:Colley See also:Cibber's version of Richard III. He was lithe and graceful in figure, buoyant in See also:spirits; his dark See also:hair See also:fell in waving curls across his brow, and his eyes were soft, luminous and most expressive. His father watched him with great See also:interest, but with evident disappointment, and the members of the theatrical profession, who held the acting of the See also:elder Booth in great reverence, seemed to agree that the See also:genius of the father had not descended to the son. Edwin Booth's first appearance in New See also:York was in the See also:character of Wilford in The See also:Iron See also:Chest, which he played at the See also:National See also:theatre in See also:Chatham See also:Street, on the 27th of September 1850. A See also:year later, on the illness of the father, the son took his See also:place in the character of Richard III. It was not until after his See also:parent's See also:death that the son conquered for himself an unassailable position on the stage. Between 1852 and 1856 he played in See also:California, See also:Australia and the See also:Sandwich Islands, and those who had known him in the See also:east were surprised when the See also:news came that he had captivated his audiences with his brilliant acting.

From this See also:

time for-See also:ward his dramatic triumphs were warmly acknowledged. His Hamlet, Richard and See also:Richelieu were pronounced to be See also:superior to the performances of Edwin See also:Forrest; his success as Sir Giles Overreach in A New Way to Pay Old Debts surpassed his father's. In 1862 he became manager of the See also:Winter Garden theatre, New York, where he gave a See also:series of Shakespearian productions of then unexampled magnificence (1864–1867), including Hamlet, Othello and The See also:Merchant of See also:Venice. The splendour of this See also:period in his career was dashed for many months when in 1865 his See also:brother, See also:John Wilkes Booth, assassinated See also:President See also:Lincoln (see LINCOLN, See also:ABRAHAM). The three Booth See also:brothers, Junius Brutus (1821–18.83), Edwin and John Wilkes (1839–1865), had played together in See also:Julius See also:Caesar in the autumn of the previous year—the performance being memorable both for its own excellence, and for the tragic situation into which two of the See also:principal performers were subsequently hurled by.the See also:crime of the third. Edwin Booth did not reappear on the stage until the 3rd of See also:January 1866, when he played Hamlet at the Winter Garden theatre, the See also:audience showing by unstinted See also:applause their conviction that the See also:glory of the one brother would never be imperilled by the See also:infamy of the other. In 1868–1869 Edwin Booth built a theatre of his own—Booth's theatre, at the corner of 23rd Street and 6th See also:Avenue, New York—and organized an excellent stock See also:company, which produced Romeo and Juliet, The Winter's See also:Tale, Julius Caesar, See also:Macbeth, Much See also:Ado about Nothing, The Merchant of Venice and other plays. In all cases Booth used the true See also:text of See also:Shakespeare, thus antedating by many years a similar reform in See also:England. Almost invariably his ventures were successful, but he was of a generous and confiding nature, and his management was not economical. In 1874 the See also:grand dramatic structure he had raised was taken from him, and with it went hisentire See also:fortune. By arduous toil, however, he again accumulated See also:wealth, in the use of which his generous nature was shown. He converted his spacious See also:residence in Gramercy See also:Park, New York, into a club—The Players'—for the elect of his profession, and for such members of other professions as they might choose.

The See also:

house, with all his books and See also:works of See also:art, and many in-valuable mementos of the stage, became the See also:property of the See also:club. A single apartment he kept for himself. In this he died on the 7th of See also:June 1893. Among his parts were Macbeth, Lear, Othello, Iago, Shylock, See also:Wolsey, Richard II., Richard III., Benedick, Petruccio, Richelieu, Sir Giles Overreach, Brutus (See also:Payne's), Bertuccio (in Tom See also:Taylor's The See also:Fool's Revenge), Ruy Blas, See also:Don Cesar de Eazan, and many more. His most famous See also:part was Hamlet, for which his extraordinary See also:grace and beauty and his eloquent sensibility peculiarly fitted him. He probably played the part oftener than any other actor before or since. He visited London in 1851, and again in 188o and in 1882, playing at the Haymarket theatre with brilliant success. In the last year he also visited See also:Germany, where his acting was received with the highest See also:enthusiasm. His last appearance was in See also:Brooklyn as Hamlet in 1891. Booth was twice married: in 186o to See also:Mary Devlin (d. 1863), and in 1869 to Mary F. McVicker (d.

Phoenix-squares

1881). He See also:

left by his first wife one daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, who published Edwin Booth: Recollections (New York, 1894). Edwin Booth's prompt-books were edited by See also:William Winter (1878). In a series of volumes, Actors and Actresses of Great See also:Britain and America, edited by See also:Lawrence See also:Hutton and See also:Brander See also:Matthews, Edwin Booth contributed recollections of his father, which contain much valuable autobiographic material. For the same series Lawrence See also:Barrett contributed an See also:article on Edwin Booth. See also William Winter, See also:Life and Art of Edwin Booth (1893); Lawrence Hutton, Edwin Booth (1893); See also:Henry A. Clapp, Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic (Boston, 1902) ; A. B. See also:Clarke. The Elder and the Younger Booth (Boston, 1882). (J. J.*) BOOTH, WILLIAM (1829– ), founder and " See also:general " of the Salvation See also:Army (q.v.), was born at See also:Nottingham on the loth of See also:April 1829.

At the See also:

age of fifteen his mind took a strongly religious turn, under the See also:influence of the Wesleyan Methodists, in which See also:body he became a See also:local preacher. In 1849 he came to London, where, according to his own See also:account, his See also:passion for open-See also:air See also:preaching caused his severance from the Wesleyans. Joining the Methodist New Connexion, he was ordained a minis-ter, but, not being employed as he wished in active " travelling evangelization," left that body also in 1861. Meanwhile he had (1855) married See also:Miss See also:Catherine Mumford, and had a See also:family of four See also:children. Both he and his wife occupied themselves with preaching, first in See also:Cornwall and then in See also:Cardiff and See also:Walsall. At the last-named place was first organized a " Hallelujah See also:band " of converted criminals and others, who testified in public of their See also:conversion. In 1864 Booth went to London and continued his services in tents and in the open air, and founded a body which was successively known as the East London Revival Society, the East London See also:Christian See also:Mission, the Christian Mission and (in 1878) the Salvation Army. The Army operates (1) by outdoor meetings and processions; (2) by visiting public-houses, prisons, private houses; (3) by holding meetings in theatres, factories and other unusual buildings; (4) by using the most popular See also:song-tunes and the See also:language of everyday life, &c.; (5) by making every convert a dailywitness for See also:Christ, both in public and private. The army is a quasi-military organization, and Booth modelled its "Orders and Regulations" on those of the See also:British army. Its See also:early " See also:campaigns " excited violent opposition, a " See also:Skeleton Army " being organized to break up the meetings, and for many years Booth's followers were subjected to See also:fine and imprisonment as breakers of the See also:peace. Since 1889, however, these disorders have been little heard of. The operations of the army were extended in 188o to the See also:United States, in 1881 to Australia, and spread to the See also:European See also:continent, to See also:India, See also:Ceylon and elsewhere, " General " Booth himself being an indefatigable traveller, organizer and See also:speaker.

His wife (b. 1829) died in 1890. By her preaching at See also:

Gateshead, where her See also:husband was See also:circuit See also:minister, in 186o, she began the See also:women's See also:ministry which is so prominent a feature of the army's See also:work. A See also:biography of her by Mr Booth See also:Tucker appeared in 1892. In 1890 " General " Booth attracted further public See also:attention by the publication of a work entitled In Darkest England, and the Way Out, in which he proposed to remedy See also:pauperism and See also:vice by a series of ten expedients: (1) the See also:city See also:colony; (2) the See also:farm colony; (3) the over-sea colony; (4) the See also:household See also:salvage See also:brigade; (5) the See also:rescue homes for fallen women; (6) deliverance for the drunkard; (7) the See also:prison-See also:gate brigade; (8) the poor See also:man's See also:bank; (9) the poor man's lawyer; (io) Whitechapel-bythe-Sea. See also:Money was liberally subscribed and a large part of the See also:scheme was carried out. The opposition and ridicule with which Booth's work was for many years received gave way, towards the end of the 19th See also:century, to very widespread sympathy as his genius and its results were more fully realized. The active encouragement of King See also:Edward VII., at whose instance in 1902 he was invited officially to be See also:present at the See also:coronation ceremony, marked the completeness of the See also:change; and when, in 1905, the " general " went on a progress through England, he was received in See also:state by the mayors and corporations of many towns. In the United States also, and elsewhere, his work was cordially encouraged by the authorities. See T. F.Coates, The Life See also:Story of General Booth (2nd ed., London, 1906), and bibliography under SALVATION ARMY.

End of Article: BOOTH, EDWIN [THOMAS] (1833–1893)

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