Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman, the American theatre manager who settled in England and took over the lease of the Lyceum, where he employed one Henry Irving as his leading man. He married Sidney Frances Cowell - 1823-81 - the daughter of the English actor, Joseph Cowell. After Bateman's death in 1875, Mrs Bateman continued as lessee until 1878, when she surrendered it to Irving. She then went with her daughter, Isobel - all four daughters were on the stage from an early age - to Sadler's Wells, which she managed until her death. She was a noted actress herself, and also wrote several plays which were staged by her husband.
Sydney Frances Cowell - Mrs. Hezekiah Bateman.
Charles Mackenzie (1805-1877), who took the
name Henry Compton - Compton
was his grandmother's maiden name - when he became an actor. At the age of 70,
after a long and successful career as a 'low comedian' - specialising in comic
roles such as Tony Lumpkin in 'She Stoops to Conquer' - in the theatre, he
played the gravedigger to Irving's ' Hamlet. A critic wrote, " In every scene
but one [Irving] was the centre of attention, but in that one scene in which he
came to dialogue with the gravedigger, Mr Compton, he fell immediately and
naturally into second place." In 1847 he married the actress, Emmeline Montague
- who posed for Ophelia in Maclise's painting of the play scene in Hamlet. She
gave up her public career, taking part in private theatricals only, such as
those put on by Henry's friend, Charles Dickens.
Emmeline Montague - Mrs. Henry Compton Mackenzie.
Katherine Compton, (1853-1928) actress. Their daughter and eldest child, who later married the dramatist R.C. Carton.
Their son, Edward Compton (1854-1918), actor and manager.
