BROUGH, William Francis (b nr Byker, Newcastle on Tyne 10 July 1797; d Bee Hotel, Queen Square, Liverpool 20 May 1867).
A decidedly useful bass singer, in metropolitan and provincial theatres, on both sides of the Atlantic during the early-to-mid 19th century.
‘Mr Brough’ was born in the Newcastle area, one of the sons of an engine-wright, William Brough, and his wife Mary née Trotter. This family was to find considerable fame in the Victorian theatre, although not principally through our William. His elder brother, Barnabas, auctioneer and a sometime stage writer (‘Barnabas de Burgh’), fathered a dynasty of theatrical Broughs, including the celebrated burlesque and extravaganza writers, William and Robert Barnabas Brough, and the outstanding comic actor Lionel Brough. But uncle William also strutted the stage for more than a quarter of a century before abandoning performing for agenting.
Small parenthesis to say that a number of reference works, including Grove and Kutsch and Riemens, state that Brough was born in Wexford, Ireland. They have evidently culled this ‘information’ from the same place, or each other, but the parish records of the Salem Methodist Chapel, Newcastle on Tyne, for 1801, bear witness to the baptism of William and Mary’s first four children; other local records, for 1791 (22 January), to the wedding of the couple … so, why Wexford?
It was said that William began his performing career at Worthing, and thence progressed to London’s Haymarket Theatre. Well, I hav'n't found him at Worthing, but I have picked him up at Bath, in November 1820, playing Don Caesar in The Castle of Andalusia ('sang 'Flow thou purple stream' and the 'Wolf song' extremely well), Derncleugh in The Falls of Clyde, Gabriel in Guy Mannering, Augustine in The Duenna, Diego in Paul and Virginia. In December he was Jupiter in Midas, Basil in The Barber of Seville, Flavius in Julius Caesar, Orasmin in Timour the Tartar, A Gamekeeper in A Roland for an Oliver, High Priest in Pizzaro and 2nd Robber in The Iron Chest, in regular stock company fashion. He can be spotted still in Bath into the new year: Tyrrell in Richard III, Compton in An Agreeable Surprise...
He was engaged for the Haymarket, so it is said, for three (some say, preposterously, eight!) years. Well, three is perfectly possible. He was certainly at the Haymarket in 1821 (the new theatre opened 4 July), and he ended his time there in late 1824. But it was not a continuous engagement. The Haymarket seasons were, often, only of a number of months duration, and in between, the actor had to find other work. In fact, even though he is ‘of the Haymarket’, one of my first veritable sightings of our Mr Brough is in March 1822, guesting at the Aberdeen Theatre: ‘The principal parts were divided between Mr Broughand Mr Williamson. The former of these gentlemen, I had before heard at the Haymarket, and think he possesses decidedly the best bass voice on the English Stage. I was agreeably surprised to find him not only an excellent singer, but a very respectable actor. His Inkle, and many other parts, were highly creditable to his talents, but his Malcolm in The Falls of Clyde was as bold and as manly a specimen of melodramatic acting as could be witnessed. I was delighted with a song of his which was deservedly encored every time it was sung called ‘The Martial Spirit of Caledonia’…’
Mr Brough was, in the manner of the day, hired at the Haymarket as a ‘singing gentleman’. In other words, he played bit parts and walk-ons in the comedies and dramas (‘a Mandingo Warrior’ in The Africans, A gentleman in The Belle Stratagem), and rather better ones in the operas. In 1822-3, these included Matt o’ the Mint in The Beggar’s Opera alongside Miss Paton and Leoni Lee, McStuart in Rob Roy, Basil in The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville, the Genius in the pantomime Harlequin Hoax, Glumdalca in Tom Thumb, Gabriel in Guy Mannering, as well as lesser roles in pieces such as Love, Law and Physick (John Brown, Ali Beg in The Mountaineers, and Flint (with song ‘The Wolf’) in Morning, Noon and Night.
On 14 November 1823 he opened at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, again playing Don Caesar in The Castle of Andalusia, and was again most successful: ‘Mr Brough’s voice is remarkably deep-toned at the same time void of all harshness’, ‘Mr Brough makes an excellent Don Caesar; and we think we may now fearlessly hazard an opinion which we have deliberately formed, that as a general actor Mr Brough will be very respectable. As a singer, he is, next to Home, the most scientific we have heard within the walls of our Theatre …’, ‘Mr Brough has very speedily made himself a favourite with the public, and he deserves to continue so. As a singer, he is certainly the first who has had a permanent engagement in our Theatre.’
So he was Stauncheon in Rob Roy, alongside Mr Bing and Miss Halford, Hecate in Macbeth, Little John in Ivanhoe, Zadak in The Forty Thieves, Tom Swivel in Robinson Crusoe, sang in Cherry and Fairstar and Harlequin’s Olio … as well as Orson in The Iron Chest, Hempseed in George Heriot, Saucy Dick in Life in London, Paulo in The Hunter of the Alps, not to mention taking part in Julius Caesar (Soothsayer), King Lear (Burgundy), King John (Leopold of Austria), Hamlet (Player King) et al, in the quickly turning repertoire. For his Benefit he played Gabriel in Guy Mannering, and Lucy Bertram was played by ‘Mrs Brough’. Mrs Brough was one Elizabeth Hobley, and the couple were wed in Arbroath on 17 February 1823. Unfortunately, as the reviewer commented, she could ‘neither sing nor act’.
Back at the Haymarket, he returned to playing supporting basso roles in musical plays – Rob Roy, The Lord of the Manor, The Beggar’s Opera, The Marriage of Figaro, Rosina, No Song No Supper – and bits in a variety of comedies through the second half of 1824, before, this year, he took off in the off-season for the Theatre Royal in Dublin, ‘engaged to fill Mr [Paul] Bedford’s situation’ as the bass singer of the establishment. He made his first appearance as Hecate in Macbeth, and the local press nodded ‘His voice is good though not at all equal in point of volume and richness to Bedford’s ...’, but when he appeared as Don Caesar, opposite Sally Forde, in The Castle of Andalusia they were more enthusiastic: ‘Mr Brough made his second appearance in Don Caesar, and was favourably received... His voice is good, though not remarkable for particular excellence in either the lower or upper-tones, and we have to state, that in point of acting, he is very superior to many musical performers.' He went on to repeat his performances in such as The Iron Chest, Kenilworth, his perennially lukewarm Basil in The Marriage of Figaro et al, as he settled in for what was to be a lengthy engagement. The biographical notes and obituaries say ‘twelve years’, and that seems to be just about right. I make it eleven. Eleven years acting and singing as a member of the stock company, in both plays and the usual English operatic pieces, until, latterly, the star touring system brought guests stars to play the Italian repertoire.
In 1832, he played Crop in No Song, No Supper, Owen in Samuel Lover’s Grana Uile, Major Galbraith in Rob Roy, Gabriel in Guy Mannering (‘Safely follow him’), Matt o’ the Mint in The Beggar’s Opera, Tropic in Paul and Virginia, Chanteloupe in Victorine, Jupiter in Midas, but his best opportunities came when the now Mr and Mrs Wood guested at the theatre with their repertoire including Oberon (Sherasmin), Malvina (Starso), The Barber of Seville (Basil), The Devil’s Bridge, Guy Mannering, Robert the Devil et al. The Woods were regular visitors to Dublin, and it would be they who would change Brough’s career and life. But not just yet.
For the moment, through 1833-4, it carried on as before: more Jupiter in Midas, more Charles in The Haunted Tower, Citizen in John of Paris and Aladdin with Mrs Waylett, The Beggar’s Opera with Collins, Captain Cannonade in The Pet of the Petticoats; Artabanes in Artaxerxes, Dandini in Cinderella, more Beggar’s Opera and Love in a Village all with Fanny Healy, Don Guzman in the Don Giovanni burlesque, in which Mrs B walked on as Squalling Fan, Shirro in The Dumb Brigand with Celeste, Somerdyke in The Slave, Don Diego in The Padlock, Brun in The Lady of the Lake; Third Muleteer (Bedford and George Horncastle were the other two, so I suspect an incidental trio) in The Mountaineers, Major Galbraith in Rob Roy, John Dory in Wild Oats and Rubaldo in The Brigand with the guesting Wallack, and Giacomo when the Woods presented Fra Diavolo. Neukomm’s ‘The Sea’ was rolled out repeatedly in both the theatre and in concert, and ‘Rolling in foaming billows’ on sacred occasions …
Brough played at the Theatre Royal with the Woods in June 1835 – taking, on the occasion, the role of Hela in The Mountain Sylph – and, then, in July, he and the star couple together boarded the George Washington for America and New York’s Park Theatre. They opened there with Cinderella, and followed up with their repertoire as known – The Mountain Sylph, La Sonnambula, Fra Diavolo, The Maid of Judah, Masaniello, The Barber of Seville, Robert the Devil – and, in the shadow of the two big names, Brough provided fine support: ‘a baritone of rather extraordinary power, whose efforts, both as an actor and singer, have met with the encouragement and applause which their decided excellence fully merited’.
William returned to Britain in 1836, and played a series of dates, both with and without the Woods, including a Dublin Benefit (26 January 1837) in which he performed The Castle of Andalusia, interpolating alongside ‘Flow, thou regal purple stream’ and ‘The Wolf’, both ‘The Light of Other Days’ and ‘Farewell to the Mountain’, and an 1837 season at Liverpool, Manchester et al with tenor Templeton and prima donna Jane Shirreff (La Sonnambula, Rob Roy, Pietro in Masaniello, Anackstroem in Gustavus III, Robin in No Song, No Supper).
However, he was back in America soon afterwards for another considerable visit, during which he performed in opera with Rosalbina Caradori Allan, (La Sonnambula, Michel in The Siege of Rochelle) with Miss Shirreff and Wilson, with Madame Otto and Tom Bishop in the south, and, once again, with the Woods (Beppo in Fra Diavolo, Alphonso in Masaniello, Matt o’ the Mint, Captain Fitzroy in The Poor Soldier &c), as well as in some less starry local combinations and concerts. When he took a Benefit at the Park Theatre 2 February 1838, he took on the title-role of Fra Diavolo. Presumably transposed down! When Cinderella was given at Niblo’s, with him as Dandini, he sang his own arrangement of ‘Oh, 'Twas not my own native land’ as an afterpiece.
By 1841, he was once more back in England, and once more supporting the Woods, as they toured the major dates (Oroveso in Norma, Caspar in Der Freischütz, Bijou in The Postillon de Lonjumeau et al). Returning to Dublin, he sang with Adelaide Kemble and Elizabeth Rainforth in their local season, but, soon afterwards, he announced his retirement. It was an operatic retirement. He would not give up performing for a while yet. But he did return to America.
While he began a bundle of alternative activities – agent for the London Illustrated News, agent for hunting, fishing and shooting products (‘The Merchant Vocalist’), agent for various performers, songwriting etc – he still appeared in various concerts (New York Sacred Music Society et al) and, in 1845, he got involved with the operatic company set up by Rophino Lacy to feature his daughter, Miss Delcy, as prima donna (La Sonnambula, Fra Diavolo, Der Freischütz, Lucia di Lammermoor, Love in a Village). At one stage, the company was billed as the ‘William F Brough Opera Company’ which is possibly why some commentators refer to Brough as an ‘operatic producer’. He wasn’t. Merely a wheeler-dealer, agent and still useful basso.
In 1847, he paid one further visit to Britain in his latest capacity, as the umpteenth imitator of Henry Russell, with an American Entertainment. He presented his first programme, featuring ‘It was not my own native land’, ‘I am bidding you a lone farewell’, ‘The Deserted Wreck’, ‘She Lay on the Roll of the Sea’, ‘My Ancestors were British Men (Yankee Doodle)’, ‘Mein Herz ist am Rhein’, ‘The Poisonous Serpent’, ‘Across the Waves of Waters’, ‘Did you ebber see a gin sling made out of brandy’, ‘De old Mississippi’, ‘Long time ago’ and ‘My Fader come from the Coast of Guinea’ at the Dublin Music Hall on 11 March 1847, and gave a handful of performances there before moving on to Liverpool, where Henry Russell just happened to be appearing. At Liverpool he joined the Cambria, for one more Atlantic crossing.
He toured, in America, with the tenor Manvers and his stepdaughter in 1848, but, soon, his appearances did become intermittent, as he devoted himself to working as an agent for artists such as Braham, Catherine Hayes, Alboni, Jullien and Louis Gottschalk. In 1856, long settled in Brooklyn, he became a naturalised American citizen. He and Elizabeth, his wife, are to be seen in the Brooklyn census of 1865. He admits to 65 and ‘first marriage’, she to 40 and ‘second marriage’. Which, of course, doesn’t add up at all.
He toured, in America, with the tenor Manvers and his stepdaughter in 1848, but, soon, his appearances did become intermittent, as he devoted himself to working as an agent for artists such as Braham, Catherine Hayes, Alboni, Jullien and Louis Gottschalk. In 1856, long settled in Brooklyn, he became a naturalised American citizen. He and Elizabeth, his wife, are to be seen in the Brooklyn census of 1865. He admits to 65 and ‘first marriage’, she to 40 and ‘second marriage’. Which, of course, doesn’t add up at all.
William Brough died in 1867. Some folk insist he died ‘at sea’. He didn’t. He had gone to Britain as business agent for Ada and Emma Webb, and was taken ill during the passage. He was stretchered ashore in Liverpool and died in an hotel there, three days later. The event was chartered in detail in the Liverpool press. Elizabeth returned to their Brooklyn home where she died, 2 January 1875, aged 74. Which is more like it than the numbers in 1865 census listing.
He may have been far from the most famous of the Brough family of Byker, but William Francis, nevertheless, had a solid, extensive and well-liked career as a vocalist and an actor on two continents.
1 comment:
I love the English title for Cosi: Tit for Tat. I shall pinch that!
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