Benjamin Victor

Life
?-1778; prompter and later theatre manager; Norwich tradesman, 1722; London linendraper; deputy manager of Dublin theatre, 1746-59; Drury Lane treasurer, 1760-78; poet-laureate of Ireland, 1755; pamphlets and ‘wretched’ verse [ODNB], 1722-76; issued memoirs of Barton Booth, actor, 1733; also History of the Stage in London and Dublin (1761-71), a key source of 18th-c. Irish theatrical history. ODNB

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Works
The History of the Theatres of London and Dublin from the Year 1730 to the present Time. To Which is Added, an Annual Register of All the Plays, &c. Performed at the Theatres-Royal in London from the Year 1712. With Occasional Notes and Anecdotes, 2 vols. (London 1761; reprinted in 1 Vol. by Blom, NY 1969).

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Commentary
Sir John Gilbert, History of the City of Dublin, 3 vols. (Dublin: McGlashan & Gill 1854-59; facs. rep. IUP 1972), remarks: ‘in his reformation of the Theatre, Sheridan was ably seconded by Benjamin Victor, who has lef the following account of a riot at Smock Alley [i.e., the Kelly Riot of 1747]: “I have often exclaimed loudly and publicly against the indecency of the scenes, by the admission of every idler that had a laced coat, the youths of the College were in the custom of crowding to every morning rehearsal. I have seen actors and actresses rehearsing within a circle of forty or fifty of those young gentlemen. I proposed several methods for the redressing of these grievances; which were all objected to by the Manager, as too dangerous to be executed in Dublin, his common reply was, ‘you forget yourself, you think you are on English ground.’” (Gilbert, II. 81ff.) Further, ‘Thus it remained till [the ensuing outrage involves Mrs. Bellamy [see supra]. Sheridan’s part in theatre reform was, according to Victor, the ‘defence of decency and decorum on the stage.’ (q.p.)

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