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SAMUEL PHELPS (1804-1878)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 363 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SAMUEL See also:PHELPS (1804-1878)  , See also:English actor and manager, was See also:born at See also:Devonport on the 13th of See also:February 1804 . He was See also:early thrown upon his own resources, and worked in various newspaper offices . Shortly after his See also:marriage in 1826 to Sarah See also:Cooper (d . 1867), he accepted a theatrical engagement in the See also:York See also:circuit at eighteen shillings a See also:week, and afterwards appeared in See also:south of See also:England towns in prominent tragic roles, attracting sufficient See also:attention to be spoken of as a See also:rival to See also:Kean He made his first See also:London See also:appearance on the 28th of See also:August 1837 as Shylock .at the Haymarket . After a See also:short See also:season there he was with See also:Macready for about six years at Covent See also:Garden, the Haymarket and See also:Drury See also:Lane successively . In 1844 he became co-lessee of See also:Sadler's See also:Wells See also:Theatre with See also:Thomas L . See also:Greenwood and Mrs See also:Mary Amelia See also:Warner (1804-18J4) . Greenwood supplied the business capacity, See also:Phelps was the theatrical manager, and Mrs 'Warner leading See also:lady . In this position Phelps remained for twenty years, during which See also:time he raised the Sadler's Wells See also:house to an important position, See also:PHENACETIN 363 and himself appeared in a very exsensive and varied repertory . See also:Thirty-four of See also:Shakespeare's plays were presented there under his direction, with See also:great educational effect, both on public and players . In 1861 Greenwood retired from the See also:partnership, and Phelps, unable to See also:cope with the business of management, retired from it in the following See also:year . For the next fifteen years he acted under various managements, achieving considerable success in some of See also:Halliday's dramatic versions of See also:Scott's novels, such as The Fortunes of See also:Nigel and Ivanhoe .

His last appearance was in 1878 as See also:

Wolsey in See also:Henry VIII., and he died on the 6th of See also:November 1878 . He was a See also:sound and capable actor, rather than one of any marked See also:genius; and, in spite of his predilection for tragedy, was most successful in such characters of See also:comedy as called for dry See also:humour . Perhaps See also:Sir See also:Pertinax Macsycophant in See also:Charles See also:Macklin's The See also:Man of the See also:World was his finest impersonation . He published an annotated edition of Shakespeare's plays (2 vols., 1852-1854) .

End of Article: SAMUEL PHELPS (1804-1878)
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