1 See Robin Blackburn, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery 1776-1848 ( London, Verso , 1988), chapter VII, especially pp. 273-274 and 290.
2.
Washington, DC, Howard University Press , 1993, with an introduction by Errol Hill), chapter 4.
3.
3 Records of his life are fragmentary and it is largely owing to the black historian, the late Edward Scobie, that what English language records there are survive. He was instrumental in making these available to Aldridge's best known biographers, Herbert Marshall and Mildred Stock. Scobie's own manuscript was never finally completed for publication. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the distinguished historian Jan Carew, a close friend of Scobie's, who generously sent me a copy of the latter's manuscript, Victorian Ebony: the diaries, letters and criticisms of Ira Aldridge at a time when nearly every item I attempted to trace no longer appeared to exist. Many quotations I have, therefore, had to take second-hand from this and from Marshall and Stock, op. cit.
4.
4 See Blackburn, op. cit., chapter XI; Catherine Hall, Civilising Subjects: metropole and colony in the English imagination, 1830-1867 ( Cambridge, Polity , 2002), pp. 107-109.
5.
5 Announcement in The Times (10 October 1825), quoted in Marshall and Stock, op. cit., p. 53.
6.
6 Reproduced in ibid., facing p. 41.
7.
7 `The Coburg Theatre', The Times (11 October 1825), p. 2, col. 5.
8.
8 Ibid. `Baker-knee'd' means knock-kneed.
9.
9 One such crossing sweeper achieved it. Billy Waters, who played the fiddle on the streets as well as keeping a crossing, was made into a character in the popular play, Tom and Jerry. Portrayed as leading rather a high life, he died in the workhouse in utter poverty, supposedly lamenting that, after Tom and Jerry, he was assumed to be well off and in consequence made nothing for his efforts. (See the preface to W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry; or, Life in London, Lacy, vol. 88, [1850].)
10.
10 Quoted in Marshall and Stock, op. cit., p. 63.
11.
This is probably a shortened version of the anonymous Memoir and Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius ( London, J. Onwhyn , 1849).
12.
12 Edward Scobie, Black Britannia: a history of blacks in Britain ( London, Pall Mall Press , 1972), p. 131.
13.
See also James Walvin, `The rise of British popular sentiment for abolition 1787-1832' in C. Bolt and S. Drescher (eds) Anti-Slavery, Religion and Reform ( London, Wm. Dawson , 1980), pp. 149-162.
14.
14 See Lowell Joseph Ragatz, The Fall of the Planter Class in the British Caribbean 1763-1833: a study in social and economic history ( New York and London, Century, for American Historical Association , 1928), pp. 427-429.
15.
15 Ibid., p. 429.
16.
16 `The Surrey', Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper (25 March 1848), p. 407, col. 2.
17.
17 `The Surrey', Era (26 March 1848), p. 11, col. 4.
18.
18 `Surrey Theatre', Morning Post (21 March 1848), p. 6, col. 5. The `millions' referred to were the £20 million paid in compensation to slave owners upon abolition.
19.
19 Almost every comment on his performances, even when dismissive of his ability as a tragic actor, approves his comic powers - but then, it was acceptable for a black to be laughable. See, e.g., `He... performed Mungo... with so much humour... it is doubtful whether his forte be not rather comedy than tragedy.' (Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper (25 March 1848), p. 407, col. 2) and `His Mungo, in the “Padlock”, low as is the comedy, was one of the most successful and irresistibly ludicrous performances it has been our fortune to see.' (`Norwich' (Era, 9 January 1848), p. 12, col. 4.)
20.
20 See, for example, `The Surrey', Era (26 March 1848), p. 11, col. 4: `It is novel to see one who has been obtaining much applause in pourtraying [sic] passion in its most poetic shape, descend to the broad farce of mock drunkenness... it is only a man of natural genius who can do both so as to be commended for the faithfulness of his mimicry.'
21.
21 See Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 87-88, 90-95; W. G. Knight, A Major London `Minor': the Surrey theatre 1805-1865 ( London, Society for Theatre Research , 1997), p. 170.
22.
22 See Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 287-8; Hill, op. cit., p. 20. Scobie's Victorian Ebony also contains a transcript of a letter from the British Consul at Odessa, dated 2 February 1866, which describes Aldridge's `reading of the character of the semi-Oriental Jew of the middle ages... [as] a masterpiece of art'.
23.
in Lindfors' ` “Mislike me not for my complexion...” Ira Aldridge in white face' , African American Review (Vol. 33, no. 2, 1999), pp. 347-354 , p. 352 .
24.
24 See Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 94-5, 177.
25.
25 Ibid., p. 65.
26.
26 Quoted in ibid., p. 148, from Northern Whig ( Belfast ), 1 May 1838.
27.
27 Ibid., p. 150.
28.
28 From the Memoir and Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius, quoted in Marshall and Stock, op. cit., p. 46.
29.
29 Marshall and Stock, op. cit., p. 89.
30.
30 Obi; or, Three-fingered Jack, attributed to W. H. Murrey [Murray], Dick's 478, Act 1, scene 1.
31.
31 Ibid., Act 1, scene 3.
32.
32 Ibid., Act 2, scene 4.
33.
33 Ibid., Act 2, scene 6.
34.
34 Theatrical Journal (Vol. 18, no. 908, 6 May 1857), p. 138 .
35.
35 Leman T. Rede, The Road to the Stage ( London, J. Onwhyn , 1836), p. 34.
36.
36 William Hazlitt, `Mr Booth's Iago', in The Complete Works of William Hazlitt in Twenty-one Volumes, edited by P. Howe, Volume 5, Lectures on the English Poets and A View of the English Stage ( London, J. M. Dent , 1930), pp. 355-357, p. 357.
37.
37 Interestingly, the actor-manager John Coleman who writes about Aldridge in his Fifty Years of an Actor's Life (London, Hutchinson, 1904) claims that, when he played Iago to Aldridge's Othello in Bristol, `The Roscius, who was as dark as ebony, toned his sable hue down to a copper tint; on the other hand, I was black as burnt cork and Indian ink could make me.' (p. 402). According to Marshall and Stock, Aldridge's skin colour was naturally copper. Elsewhere, Coleman disparages Aldridge as `an elderly, obese, woolly-headed Ethiopian' (p. 92) and quotes another actor's description of him as `a hideous old buck-nigger' (p. 404).
38.
38 Quoted in Marvin Rosenberg, The Masks of Othello ( Berkeley, University of California Press , 1961), p. 195.
39.
and Alan C. Dessau, Titus Andronicus ( Manchester, Manchester University Press , 1989), p. 11.
40.
40 See Rosenberg, op. cit., pp. 29 et seq.
41.
41 `A Critique on the Performance of Othello by F.W. Keene Aldridge, the African Roscius' by the author of `The talents of Edmund Keene delineated'... (Scarborough, John Cole, 1831).
42.
42 Marshall and Stock, op. cit., p. 103.
43.
43 Figaro in London (No. 42, 22 September 1832), p. [1]68.
44.
44 Figaro in London (No. 70, 6 April 1833), p. 56.
45.
45 In later issues, the Garrick was often on the receiving end of Figaro's venom for, allegedly, being the haunt of Jews. See, e.g., `Wit at the Garrick', (No. 233, May 1836), p. 83.
46.
46 Figaro in London (No. 71, 13 April 1833), p. 60.
47.
47 Figaro in London (No. 73, 27 April 1833), p. 64.
48.
48 Figaro in London (No. 74, 4 May 1833), p. 72.
49.
49 Figaro in London (Nos. 76 and 77, 18 May 1833 and 25 May 1833), pp. 80 and 84 respectively. Quotations from some of the Figaro articles are given by Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 137-8; however, they are unaware of their origin, which is as given in the preceding references.
50.
50 `Theatricals', John Bull (14 April 1833), p. 118, col. 3.
51.
51 `Covent-Garden Theatre', The Times (11 April 1833), p. 3, col. 3.
52.
52 `Covent Garden', Athenaeum (No. 285, 13 April 1833), pp. 235-6. The allegation that Aldridge had been a servant - or, in some cases, slave - to one or other of the Wallacks (both famous actors) was frequently made. Aldridge had met both brothers in New York - according to his Memoir, he brought with him to England a letter of recommendation from Henry Wallack and, according to McCune Smith, he was engaged as a personal attendant to James Wallack on the passage to England. (Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 45-6). A slightly different version of the story, which describes a rupture between Aldridge and James Wallack, is given by Aldridge's friend J. J. Sheahan, writing in Notes and Queries (Fourth series, no. X, 17 August 1872), p. 133.
53.
53 Sheahan, ibid.
54.
54 `The African actor' , Spectator (No. 250, 13 April 1833), p. 328 .
55.
55 `Theatres', Morning Post (11 April 1833), p. [3], col. 4.
56.
56 Quoted in Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 123-4 and 123 respectively.
57.
57 Memoir and Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius ( London, J. Onwhyn , 1849), quoted in Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 130-131.
58.
58 Knight, op. cit., also places him at the Surrey in 1838 and mentions a projected appearance in 1844, see pp. 170, 209.
59.
The Times (26 July 1858), p. 9 , cols. 2-3.
60.
60 Quoted in full in Marshall and Stock, op. cit., pp. 229-31. This lengthy passage from Gautier was the only omission in the translation by de Sumichrast of Gautier's complete works and was discovered by a black American PhD student working on Gautier in the early 1930s (ibid, pp. 8-9).
61.
61 Jack Gratus, The Great White Lie: slavery, emancipation and changing racial attitudes ( London, Hutchinson , 1973), pp. 189-190.
62.
62 Ibid., p. 190.
63.
63 I. V. Bridgeman, The Black Doctor, Royal Victoria Theatre, 13 November 1846 (Lacy, no. 331); Ira Aldridge, The Black Doctor, City of London Theatre, July 1841. (Dick's, no. 460). The date of the latter is incorrect.
64.
64 Bridgeman, The Black Doctor, [p. vi]; The Black Doctor, attributed to Aldridge, p. 2.
65.
65 The Black Doctor, attributed to Aldridge, Act 1, scene 2.
66.
66 Ibid.
67.
67 Ibid., Act 1, scene 4.
68.
68 Ibid., Act 2., scene 1.
69.
69 Ibid.
70.
70 See the Era (14 February 1847), p. 10. col. 3; (2 January 1848), p. 12, col. 4; (9 January 1848), p. 12, col. 4; (16 January 1848), p. 12, col. 2; (2 April 1848), p. 12, col. 1.
71.
71 `Surrey' , The Satirist or, The True Censor of the Times (26 March 1848), p. 102 , col. 2.
72.
72 Theatrical Journal (Vol. 13, no. 647, 31 March 1852), p. 99 , col. 2.
73.
73 Quoted in Scobie, Victorian Ebony, p. 87.
74.
74 Notes and Queries (Fourth Series, X, 9 November 1872), p. 373.
75.
75 `Britannia Saloon' , Theatrical Journal (Vol. 13, no. 641, 24 March 1852), p. 91 , col. 2.
76.
76 See Charney, op. cit., p. xiv and Dessau, op. cit., pp. 7-11.
77.
77 Notes and Queries (Fourth Series, IX, 25 May 1872), p. 423.
78.
78 Notes and Queries (Fourth Series, X, 17 August 1872), p. 132.
79.
79 Notes and Queries (Fourth Series, X, 9 November 1872), p. 373.
80.
80 Scobie, Victorian Ebony, op. cit., pp. 91-2. The letter is signed C. A. Somervil - whether this is a misreading of Somerset's handwriting or a typing error, I do not know.
82 `Britannia' , Era (26 April 1857), p. 10 , col. 2.
83.
83 `Covent-Garden Theatre' , Morning Post (11 April 1833), [p. 3 ], col. 4.
84.
84 `Covent-Garden Theatre' , The Times (11 April 1833), p. 3 , col. 3.
85.
Athenaeum (No. 285, 13 April 1833), p. 236 .
86.
86 `Surrey' , The Satirist, or The True Censor of the Times (2 April 1848), p. 110 , col. 2.
87.
87 `Surrey' , Era (2 April 1848), p. 12 , col. 1.
88.
88 `The African Roscius' , Era (22 March 1846), p. 6 , col. 3. At times, the reviewer's enthusiasm does run away with him. Considering Aldridge in other parts (Gambia, Rolla), he declares him ` the greatest wonder we have ever seen, even upon the stage'.
89.
89 `Provincial theatricals, Devonport' , Era (20 December 1846), p. 10 , col. 4.
90.
Madge Kendal, his last Desdemona, in her memoirs, comments on the play that Aldridge would make on the contrast between her white hand and his black one (Dame Madge Kendal by Herself ( London, John Murray , 1933), p. 87).
91.
91 Photocopy of Aldridge's letter, dated 2 November 1858, from Scobie's papers, in my possession.
92.
92 `Theatres and Entertainments' , The Times (26 July 1858), p. 9 , col. 2.
93.
93 `Britannia' , Era (26 April 1857), p. 10 , col. 2. Quoted in Hill, op. cit., p. 19 and Marshall and Stock, Ira Aldridge, op. cit., pp. 171-3.
94.
94 Dame Madge Kendal by Herself, p. 87.
95.
95 `Haymarket' , Athenaeum (No. 1974, 26 August 1865), p. 285 , cols. 2-3.
96.
96 Theatre Museum production file for Othello, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 21 August 1865
97.
97 Rosenberg, Masks, op. cit., p. 102. Frustratingly, Rosenberg does not give dates for Salvini's performances.
98.
98 Quoted in ibid., p. 113, from E. T. Mason, The Othello of Tommaso Salvini (New York, 1890).
99.
99 Quoted from the Negro Times (16 October 1922) in Scobie, Victorian Ebony, op. cit., p. 70. There is also a briefer account in William Wells Brown, The Black Man: his antecedents, his genius and his achievements (Boston, James Redpath, 1863), pp. 118-9. Wells Brown claims in the book that this performance was given at the Haymarket - but his book was published two years before that last London performance. He also describes a performance by Aldridge of Hamlet - comparing it favourably to one given a few nights before at the Princess's by Charles Kean. The Othello Wells Brown saw must, I think, have been the 1858 one at the Lyceum, in which Stuart did play Iago, and which was obviously an `occasion' of the sort described by Wells Brown.
100.
100 `The late Ira Aldridge' , Era (25 August 1867), p. 10 , col. 4.
