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JERROLD, DOUGLAS WILLIAM (1803-1857)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 330 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JERROLD, See also:DOUGLAS See also:WILLIAM (1803-1857) , See also:English dramatist and See also:man of letters, was See also:born in See also:London on the 3rd of See also:January 1803. His See also:father, See also:Samuel Jerrold, actor, was at that See also:time lessee of the little See also:theatre of Wilsby near See also:Cranbrook in See also:Kent, but in 1807 he removed to See also:Sheerness. There, among the See also:blue-jackets who swarmed in the See also:port during the See also:war with See also:France, Douglas See also:grew into boyhood. He occasionally took a See also:child's See also:part on the See also:stage, but his father's profession had little attraction for the boy. In See also:December 1813 he joined the guardship " See also:Namur," where he had Jane See also:Austen's See also:brother as See also:captain,and he served as a See also:midshipman until the See also:peace of 1815. He saw nothing' of the war See also:save a number of wounded soldiers from See also:Waterloo; but till his dying See also:day there lingered traces of his See also:early See also:passion for the See also:sea. The peace of 1815 ruined Samuel Jerrold; there was no more See also:prize See also:money. On the 1st of January 1816 he removed with his See also:family to London, where the ex-midshipman began the See also:world again as a printer's apprentice, and in 1819 became a compositor in the See also:printing-See also:office of the See also:Sunday See also:Monitor. Several See also:short papers and copies of verses by him had already appearedin the sixpenny magazines, and one evening he dropped into the editor's See also:box a See also:criticism of the See also:opera Der Freischiitz. Next See also:morning he received his own copy to set up, together with a flattering See also:note from the editor, requesting further contributions from the See also:anonymous author. Thenceforward Jerrold was en-gaged in journalism. In 1821 a See also:comedy that he had composed in his fifteenth See also:year was brought out at See also:Sadler's See also:Wells theatre, under the See also:title More Frightened than Hurt.

Other pieces followed, and in 1825 he was engaged for a few pounds weekly to produce dramas and farces to the See also:

order of Davidge of the See also:Coburg theatre. In the autumn of 1824 the " little See also:Shakespeare in a camlet cloak," as he was called,married See also:Mary Swann; and, while he was engaged with the See also:drama at See also:night, he was steadily pushing his way as a journalist. For a short while he was part proprietor of a small Sunday newspaper. In 1829, through a See also:quarrel with the exacting Davidge, Jerrold See also:left the Coburg; and his three-See also:act See also:melodrama,See also:Black-eyed Susan; or, All in the See also:Downs, was brought out by R. W. See also:Elliston at the See also:Surrey theatre. The success of the piece was enormous. With its See also:free gallant sea-flavour, it took the See also:town by See also:storm, and " all London went over the See also:water to see it." Elliston made a See also:fortune by the piece; T. P. See also:Cooke, who played William, made his reputation; Jerrold received about £6o and was engaged as dramatic author at five pounds a See also:week. But his fame as a dramatist was achieved. In 183o it was proposed that he should adapt something from the See also:French for See also:Drury See also:Lane.

" No," was his reply, " I shall come into this theatre as an See also:

original dramatist or not at all." The See also:Bride of Ludgate (December 8, 1831) was the first of a number of his plays produced at Drury Lane. The other patent houses threw their doors open to him also (the Adelphi had already done so); and in 1836 Jerrold became co-manager of the Strand theatre with W. J. See also:Hammond, his brother-in-See also:law. The venture was not successful, and the See also:partnership was dissolved. While it lasted Jerrold wrote his only tragedy, The Painter of See also:Ghent, and himself appeared in the title-role, with-out any very marked success. He continued to write sparkling comedies till 1854, the date of his last piece, The See also:Heart of See also:Gold. Meanwhile he had won his way to the pages of numerous See also:periodicals—before 183o of the second-See also:rate magazines only, but after that to those of more importance. He was a contributor to the Monthly See also:Magazine, See also:Blackwood's, 'the New Monthly, and the See also:Athenaeum. To See also:Punch, the publication which of all others is associated with his name, he contributed from its second number in 1841 till within a few days of his See also:death. He founded and edited for some time, though with indifferent success, the Illuminated Magazine, Jerrold's See also:Shilling Magazine, and Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper; and under his editorship See also:Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper See also:rose from almost nonentity to a circulation of 182,000. The See also:history of his later years is little more than a See also:catalogue of his See also:literary productions, interrupted now and again by brief visits to the See also:Continent or to the See also:country.

Douglas Jerrold died at his See also:

house, Kilburn Priory, in London, on the 8th of See also:June 1857. Jerrold's figure was small and spare, and in later years bowed almost to deformity. His features were strongly marked and expressive from the thin humorous lips to the keen blue eyes gleaming from beneath the shaggy eyebrows. He was brisk and active, -with the careless bluffness of a sailor. Open and sincere, he concealed neither his anger nor his See also:pleasure; to his See also:simple frankness all polite duplicity was distasteful. The cynical See also:side of his nature he kept for his writings; in private See also:life his See also:hand was always open. In politics Jerrold was a Liberal,and he gave eager sympathy to See also:Kossuth, Mazzini and See also:Louis See also:Blanc. In social politics especially he took an eager part; he never tired of de-claiming against the horrors of war, the luxury of bishops, and the iniquity of See also:capital See also:punishment. Douglas Jerrold is now perhaps better known from his reputation as a brilliant wit in conversation than from his writings. As a dramatist he was very popular, though,his plays have not kept the stage. He dealt with rather humbler forms of social life than had commonly been represented on the boards. He was one of the first and certainly one of the most successful of those who in See also:defence of the native English drama endeavoured to See also:stem theetide of See also:translation from the French, which threatened early in the 19th See also:century altogether to drown original native See also:talent.

His skill in construction and his mastery of See also:

epigram and brilliant See also:dialogue are well exemplified in his comedy, Time See also:Works Wonders (Haymarket, See also:April 26, 1845). The tales and sketches which See also:form the bulk of Jerrold's collected works vary much in skill and See also:interest; but, although there are evident traces of their having been composed from week to week, they are always marked by keen satirical observation and pungent wit. Among the best known of his numerous works are: Men of See also:Character (1838), including " See also:Job See also:Pippin: The man who couldn't help it," and other sketches of the same See also:kind; Cakes and See also:Ale (2 vols., 1842), a collection of short papers and whimsical stories; some more serious novels—The See also:Story of a See also:Feather (1844), The See also:Chronicles of Clovernook (1846), A Man made of Money (1849), and St See also:Giles and St See also:James (1851); and various See also:series of papers reprinted from Punch—Punch's Letters to his Son (1843), Punch's See also:Complete See also:Letter-writer (1845), and the famous Mrs See also:Caudle's See also:Curtain Lectures (1846). See W. B. Jerrold, Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold (1859). A collected edition of his writings appeared in 1851-1854, and The Works of Douglas Jerrold, with a memoir by his son, W. B. Jerrold, in 1863-1864; but neither is complete. Among the numerous selections from his tales and witticisms are two edited by his See also:grand-son, See also:Walter Jerrold, Bons Mots of See also:Charles See also:Dickens and Douglas Jerrold (new ed. 1904), and The Essays of Douglas Jerrold (1903), illustrated by H. M.

See also:

Brock. See also The Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold (1858), edited by W. B. Jerrold. His eldest son, WILLIAM See also:BLANCHARD JERROLD (1826-1884), English journalist and author, was born in London on the 23rd of December 1826, and abandoning the See also:artistic career for which he was educated, began newspaper See also:work at an early See also:age there. He was appointed Crystal See also:Palace See also:commissioner to See also:Sweden in 1853, and wrote A Brage-See also:Beaker with the Swedes (1854) on his return. In 1855 he was sent to the See also:Paris See also:exhibition as correspondent for several London papers, and from that time he lived much in Paris. In 1857 he succeeded his father as editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, a See also:post which he held for twenty-six years. During the See also:Civil War in See also:America he strongly supported the See also:North, and several of his leading articles were reprinted and placarded in New See also:York by the federal See also:government. He was the founder and See also:president of the English See also:branch of the See also:international literary association for the assimilation of See also:copyright See also:laws. Four of his plays were successfully produced on the London stage, the popular See also:farce Cool as a See also:Cucumber (See also:Lyceum 1851) being the best known. His French experiences resulted in a number of books, most important of which is his Life of See also:Napoleon III.

(1874). He was occupied in See also:

writing the See also:biography of Gustave See also:Dore, who had illustrated several of his books, when he died on the loth of See also:March 1884. Among his books are A Story of Social Distinction (1848) Life and Remains of Douglas Jerrold (1859), Up and Down in the World (1863), The See also:Children of Lutetia (1864), Cent per Cent (1871), At See also:Home in Paris (1871), The Best of all See also:Good ,See also:Company (1871-1873), and The Life of See also:George See also:Cruikshank (1882).

End of Article: JERROLD, DOUGLAS WILLIAM (1803-1857)

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