John Lawrence Toole
Encyclopedia
John Lawrence Toole (12 March 1830 – 30 July 1906) was an English
comic actor
and theatrical producer. He was famous for his roles in farce and in serio-comic melodramas in a career that spanned more than four decades. He was so famous in his day that he was the first actor to have a West End theatre
named after him.
, the younger son of James Toole and his wife, Elizabeth. His father was a messenger for the East India Company
and for some years an usher at the Old Bailey, who for many years in the 1840s acted as toastmaster
in the City of London.
He was educated at the City of London School
from 1841–45, and started work as a clerk in a wine merchant's office. In 1854, Toole married Susan Hale (née Caslake), a widow five years older than he. They had a son, Frank Lawrence, and a daughter, Florence Mabel, but both children died in their 20s.
, who had heard of him and came to see him act. His last amateur role was as Simmons in The Spitalfields Weaver at the Haymarket Theatre
. Encouraged by Dickens, he made his professional stage debut in 1852 at the Queen's Theatre in Dublin, under the management of Charles Dillon
, and by 1853 became the principal "low comedian" at the Theatre Royale in Edinburgh
. His older brother, Francis, acted as his manager throughout his early career. During the next two years, he performed widely in Ireland and Scotland, gaining a reputation for sunny extemporaneous comedy, humorous expressions and a uniquely comic voice, freedom with his texts, and an engaging rapport with audiences.
In 1854, Toole made his first professional appearance in London at the St. James's Theatre
, acting as Samuel Pepys
in The King's Rival, by Tom Taylor
and Charles Reade
, and Weazel in My Friend the Major by Selby. There he also played in Boots at the Swan and Honours before Titles. He returned to the provinces, but by 1856 was engaged in London at the Lyceum Theatre, including as Hilarion Fanfaronade in Belphegor, in which Marie Wilton made her first London appearance. Thereafter, he frequently performed with Wilton. In 1857, having had a great success in London as Paul Pry
in John Poole
's farce of that name, he made his first of many successful provincial summer tours and often repeated the character thereafter. During this first tour, he met and acted together with Henry Irving
, and the two remained close friends over their long careers. In 1858, he scored a notable hit creating the role of Tom Cranky in John Hollingshead
's farce The Birthplace of Podgers.
and established his popularity as a farceur, creating, among other parts, Joe Spriggins in Ici on parle français and in Willow Copse, Birthplace of Podgers, Tom Dibbles in Good for Nothing by J. B. Buckstone, Bengal Tiger and other pieces. He remained at the Adelphi as principal low comedian for nine years, frequently partnering with Paul Bedford, whose sedate comic style complemented his own contrasting energetic style. His most successful roles there included Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol
(1859), the title role in Asmodeus
in 1859, Peter Familias in The Census by William Brough
(among many pieces by Brough), Milwood in George de Barnwell by H. J. Byron (1862), Caleb Plummer in Dot (1862), by Dion Boucicault
, Pitcher in The Area Belle (1864), and Prudent in The Fast Family by B. Webster, Jr. His other great successes there were as Mr. Tetterby in an adaptation of Dickens' The Haunted Man and of a frightened servant in Boucicault's The Phantom. He played a season in 1867 with the impressive new company at Queen's Theatre
that included Irving
, Henrietta Hodson
, Lionel Brough
and Charles Wyndham
, where he appeared in such works a H. J. Byron's Dearer Than Life, as Michael Garner, and W. S. Gilbert
's La Vivandière
, as Sergeant Sulpizio. Frederick Waddy wrote of Toole in 1873 that as Harry Coke in Off the Line, "Mr. Toole makes one of those perfect pictures of everyday life of the lower class in which he has so often proved himself a consummate artist. But in low comedy and broad farce it would be difficult to find an actor of equal merit.... As Paul Pry he keeps his audience in a roar whenever he is on the stage".
Toole was then engaged in 1868 at the Gaiety Theatre
by Hollingshead, appearing in many pieces there including Thespis
(1871), the first Gilbert and Sullivan
collaboration, and as John Lockwood, in a drama called Wait and Hope. In 1872–74, among other successes, he portrayed Tom Larkin in Good News by H. J. Byron, the Irishman Brulgruddery in John Bull by the younger Colman; Bob Acres in The Rivals
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
, together with Charles James Mathews
and Samuel Phelps
; the title role in a Robert Reece
burlesque called Don Giovanni in Venice; another title role in Guy Fawkes by H. J. Byron, and created the role of the barrister Hammond Coote in Wig and Gown by James Albery
. Toole's fame was at its height in 1874, when he went on tour to America, but he failed to reproduce there the success he had found in England. He remained based mostly at the Gaiety until the end of 1877, when he moved to the Globe Theatre
under his own management for two years.
In 1878, Toole created the role of Charles Liquorpond in A Fool and his Money by H. J. Byron. Liquorpond was a retired footman unexpectedly overtaken by wealth, and Toole's affectedly superior pronunciation, particularly of his own name, was a tremendous success. In his prime, Toole achieved wide popularity as a comic actor, being noted for his comic delivery of words, but he did not confine himself exclusively to comedy. He also excelled in domestic melodramas (adaptations by Dion Boucicault
and others of Charles Dickens
and similar writers), playing "tender-hearted victims of fate", where he was famously able to combine humour and pathos. The Times
said of his performance in Dearer than Life by Henry James Byron
:
in London. This triumph was offset by the death of his son in the same year, after a football injury. He renamed the theatre "Toole's Theatre" in 1882, becoming the first actor to have a West End theatre
named after him. He was often away in the provinces, but he produced here a number of plays:
Toole began to be troubled by gout
in 1886. After his daughter died in 1888, followed by his wife in 1889, Toole was disconsolate, and his health deteriorated further. Nevertheless, he toured Australia and New Zealand in 1890. After this, his stage appearances gradually became fewer. The gout left him sometimes unable to walk, and after an 1893 illness during Thoroughbred by Ralph Lumley, he retired from the London stage, although he made occasional appearances in the provinces until about 1896. His theatre was demolished in 1895 for an extension of Charing Cross Hospital
, and he dissolved his theatre company after an 1896 tour.
The critic Clement Scott
called him "one of the kindest and most genial men who ever drew breath.... No one acted with more spirit or enjoyed so thoroughly the mere pleasure of acting." Toole's genial and sympathetic nature was conspicuous off the stage as well as on it, and he was known as a great practical joker. He published his reminiscences in 1888.
Ultimately he retired to Brighton
, where after a long struggle with Bright's disease
and a degenerative spinal illness, he died at the age of 76. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
in London, next to his wife and children. Toole was a good businessman and left a considerable fortune of over £81,000, out of which he made a number of bequests to charity, to needy actors and to his friends.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comic actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and theatrical producer. He was famous for his roles in farce and in serio-comic melodramas in a career that spanned more than four decades. He was so famous in his day that he was the first actor to have a West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
named after him.
Life and career
Toole was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the younger son of James Toole and his wife, Elizabeth. His father was a messenger for the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and for some years an usher at the Old Bailey, who for many years in the 1840s acted as toastmaster
Toastmaster
Toastmaster is a general term, prevalent in the United States in the middle 20th century, referring to a person in charge of the proceedings of a public speaking event. The toastmaster is typically charged with organization of the event, arranging the order of speakers, introducing one or more of...
in the City of London.
He was educated at the City of London School
City of London School
The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...
from 1841–45, and started work as a clerk in a wine merchant's office. In 1854, Toole married Susan Hale (née Caslake), a widow five years older than he. They had a son, Frank Lawrence, and a daughter, Florence Mabel, but both children died in their 20s.
Early career
Toole began his acting career by training as an amateur with the City Histrionic Club, beginning in 1850 and by performing in other amateur theatricals and in comic sketches. He earned good notices, particularly as Jacob Earwig in Boots, and soon met Charles DickensCharles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, who had heard of him and came to see him act. His last amateur role was as Simmons in The Spitalfields Weaver at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
. Encouraged by Dickens, he made his professional stage debut in 1852 at the Queen's Theatre in Dublin, under the management of Charles Dillon
Charles Dillon
Charles J. Dillon was an English actor-manager and tragedienne.In 1840, he appeared at the City Theatre, London, as Hamlet, giving a performance which attracted some critical attention. He toured extensively, to improve his reputation. Becoming actor-manager of the Theatre Royal, Wolverhampton in...
, and by 1853 became the principal "low comedian" at the Theatre Royale in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. His older brother, Francis, acted as his manager throughout his early career. During the next two years, he performed widely in Ireland and Scotland, gaining a reputation for sunny extemporaneous comedy, humorous expressions and a uniquely comic voice, freedom with his texts, and an engaging rapport with audiences.
In 1854, Toole made his first professional appearance in London at the St. James's Theatre
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was a 1,200-seat theatre located in King Street, at Duke Street, St James's, London. The elaborate theatre was designed with a neo-classical exterior and a Louis XIV style interior by Samuel Beazley and built by the partnership of Peto & Grissell for the tenor and theatre...
, acting as Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
in The King's Rival, by Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine...
and Charles Reade
Charles Reade
Charles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring; William Winwood Reade the influential historian , was his nephew. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
, and Weazel in My Friend the Major by Selby. There he also played in Boots at the Swan and Honours before Titles. He returned to the provinces, but by 1856 was engaged in London at the Lyceum Theatre, including as Hilarion Fanfaronade in Belphegor, in which Marie Wilton made her first London appearance. Thereafter, he frequently performed with Wilton. In 1857, having had a great success in London as Paul Pry
Paul Pry
Paul Pry may refer to:* Paul Pry , 1825 English play* Paul Pry , newspaper published by Anne Royall* The Adventures of Paul Pry, nine stories by author Erle Stanley Gardner* William Heath , pseudonym...
in John Poole
John Poole (playwright)
John Poole , an English playwright, was one of the earliest and best known 19th century playwrights of the comic drama, the farce. Paul Pry is considered his most notable work, while Hamlet Travestie, performed as a burlesque, was the first Shakespeare parody since the Restoration.-Partial...
's farce of that name, he made his first of many successful provincial summer tours and often repeated the character thereafter. During this first tour, he met and acted together with Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, and the two remained close friends over their long careers. In 1858, he scored a notable hit creating the role of Tom Cranky in John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered as the first manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London...
's farce The Birthplace of Podgers.
Peak Years
In 1858, at the suggestion of Dickens, Toole joined Benjamin Webster's company at the Adelphi TheatreAdelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
and established his popularity as a farceur, creating, among other parts, Joe Spriggins in Ici on parle français and in Willow Copse, Birthplace of Podgers, Tom Dibbles in Good for Nothing by J. B. Buckstone, Bengal Tiger and other pieces. He remained at the Adelphi as principal low comedian for nine years, frequently partnering with Paul Bedford, whose sedate comic style complemented his own contrasting energetic style. His most successful roles there included Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
(1859), the title role in Asmodeus
Asmodeus
Asmodeus may refer to:* Asmodai, a demon-like figure of the Talmud and Book of Tobit* Asmodeus , Austrian black-metal band*Asmodeus , the name of several characters in Marvel Comics*Asmodeus...
in 1859, Peter Familias in The Census by William Brough
William Brough
William Brough was an English royalist churchman, Dean of Gloucester from 1643.-Life:He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1613, graduating B.A. 1617 and M.A. 1620. He proceeded B.D. 1627, and D.D. 5 February 1636. He was presented to the rectory of St...
(among many pieces by Brough), Milwood in George de Barnwell by H. J. Byron (1862), Caleb Plummer in Dot (1862), by Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
, Pitcher in The Area Belle (1864), and Prudent in The Fast Family by B. Webster, Jr. His other great successes there were as Mr. Tetterby in an adaptation of Dickens' The Haunted Man and of a frightened servant in Boucicault's The Phantom. He played a season in 1867 with the impressive new company at Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre, Long Acre
The Queen's Theatre was established in 1867, as a theatre on the site of St Martin's Hall, a large concert room that opened in 1850. It stood on the corner of Long Acre and Endell Street, with entrances in Wilson Street and Long Acre...
that included Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, Henrietta Hodson
Henrietta Hodson
Henrietta Hodson was an English actress and theatre manager best known for her portrayal of comedy roles in the Victorian era. She had a long affair with the journalist-turned-politician Henry Labouchère, later marrying him....
, Lionel Brough
Lionel Brough
Lionel Brough was a British actor and comedian. After beginning a journalistic career and performing as an amateur, he became a professional actor, performing mostly in Liverpool during the mid-1860s...
and Charles Wyndham
Charles Wyndham
Sir Charles Wyndham was an English actor-manager, born as Charles Culverwell in Liverpool, the son of a doctor. He was educated abroad, at King's College London and at the College of Surgeons and the Peter Street Anatomical School, Dublin...
, where he appeared in such works a H. J. Byron's Dearer Than Life, as Michael Garner, and W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
's La Vivandière
La Vivandière (Gilbert)
La Vivandière; or, True to the Corps! is a burlesque by W. S. Gilbert, described by the author as "An Operatic Extravaganza Founded on Donizetti's Opera, La figlia del regimento." In the French or other continental armies a vivandière was a woman who supplied food and drink to troops in the...
, as Sergeant Sulpizio. Frederick Waddy wrote of Toole in 1873 that as Harry Coke in Off the Line, "Mr. Toole makes one of those perfect pictures of everyday life of the lower class in which he has so often proved himself a consummate artist. But in low comedy and broad farce it would be difficult to find an actor of equal merit.... As Paul Pry he keeps his audience in a roar whenever he is on the stage".
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
by Hollingshead, appearing in many pieces there including Thespis
Thespis (opera)
Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, is an operatic extravaganza that was the first collaboration between dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. No musical score of Thespis was ever published, and most of the music has been lost...
(1871), the first Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
collaboration, and as John Lockwood, in a drama called Wait and Hope. In 1872–74, among other successes, he portrayed Tom Larkin in Good News by H. J. Byron, the Irishman Brulgruddery in John Bull by the younger Colman; Bob Acres in The Rivals
The Rivals
The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
, together with Charles James Mathews
Charles James Mathews
Charles James Mathews was a British actor. He was one of the few British actors to be successful in French-speaking roles in France. A son of the actor Charles Mathews, he achieved a greater reputation than his father in the same profession and also excelled at light comedy...
and Samuel Phelps
Samuel Phelps
Samuel Phelps was an English actor and theatre manager...
; the title role in a Robert Reece
Robert Reece
Robert Reece was a British comic playwright and librettist active in the Victorian era. He wrote many successful musical burlesques, comic operas, farces and adaptations from the French, including the English-language adaptation of the operetta Les cloches de Corneville, which became the...
burlesque called Don Giovanni in Venice; another title role in Guy Fawkes by H. J. Byron, and created the role of the barrister Hammond Coote in Wig and Gown by James Albery
James Albery
James Albery was an English dramatist.-Life and career:Albery was born in London. On leaving school Albery entered an architect's office, and started to write plays. His farce A Pretty Piece of Chiselling was given its first production by the Ingoldsby Club in 1864...
. Toole's fame was at its height in 1874, when he went on tour to America, but he failed to reproduce there the success he had found in England. He remained based mostly at the Gaiety until the end of 1877, when he moved to the Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street)
The Globe was a Victorian theatre built in 1868 and demolished in 1902. It was the third of five London theatres to bear the name. It was also known at various times as the Royal Globe Theatre or Globe Theatre Royal. Its repertoire consisted mainly of comedies and musical shows...
under his own management for two years.
In 1878, Toole created the role of Charles Liquorpond in A Fool and his Money by H. J. Byron. Liquorpond was a retired footman unexpectedly overtaken by wealth, and Toole's affectedly superior pronunciation, particularly of his own name, was a tremendous success. In his prime, Toole achieved wide popularity as a comic actor, being noted for his comic delivery of words, but he did not confine himself exclusively to comedy. He also excelled in domestic melodramas (adaptations by Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
and others of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and similar writers), playing "tender-hearted victims of fate", where he was famously able to combine humour and pathos. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
said of his performance in Dearer than Life by Henry James Byron
Henry James Byron
Henry James Byron was a prolific English dramatist, as well as an editor, journalist, director, theatre manager, novelist and actor....
:
Later years
In 1879, Toole realized a lifelong ambition by taking over the management of the Folly TheatreFolly Theatre
The Folly Theatre was a London theatre of the late 19th century, in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. It was converted from the house of a religious order, and became a small theatre, with a capacity of 900 seated and standing. The theatre specialised in presenting...
in London. This triumph was offset by the death of his son in the same year, after a football injury. He renamed the theatre "Toole's Theatre" in 1882, becoming the first actor to have a West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
named after him. He was often away in the provinces, but he produced here a number of plays:
- H. J. Byron's A Fool and His Money (1879)
- Arthur Wing PineroArthur Wing PineroSir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
's Hester's Mystery (1880) - Byron's Upper Crust (1880) and Auntie (1882)
- A. W. Pinero's Girls and Boys: a Nursery Tale (1882) starring Toole as Solomon Prothero
- F. C. Burnand's Stage Dora; or, Who Killed Cock Robin (1883), a burlesque of Sardou's Fédora, starring Toole
- Burnand's Paw Claudian (1884), a burlesque of the 1883 costume (Byzantine) drama 'Claudian' by Henry Herman and W. G. Wills
- Pinero's Girls and Boys (1885)
- Mr. Guffin’s Elopement and The Great Tay-Kin, both with words by Arthur LawArthur LawWilliam Arthur Law , better known as Arthur Law, was an English playwright, actor and scenic designer.-Life and career:...
and music by George GrossmithGeorge GrossmithGeorge Grossmith was an English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer. His performing career spanned more than four decades...
, starring Toole (1885) - A revival of Billee TaylorBillee TaylorBillee Taylor, or The Reward of Virtue is "a nautical comedy opera" by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens.The piece was first produced at the Imperial Theatre in London on 30 October 1880, starring Arthur Williams as Sir Mincing Lane and Frederick Rivers as Billee. It...
(1886) - The Butler, by Herman Charles MerivaleHerman Charles MerivaleHerman Charles Merivale MA was an English dramatist and poet, son of Herman Merivale. He also used the punning pseudonym Felix Dale....
, starring Toole (1886) - Pepita, an operetta by Charles Lecocq (1888)
- The Don, by Merivale, starring Toole (1888).
- The Bungalow, by Fred Horner (1890)
- J. M. BarrieJ. M. BarrieSir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's Ibsen's Ghost, or, Toole up to Date, a one-act satire on London productions of Ibsen, including Hedda GablerHedda GablerHedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
, starring Irene VanbrughIrene VanbrughDame Irene Vanbrugh DBE , née Barnes, was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession, and sustained a career for more than 50 years....
and Toole (1891) - Barrie's Walker, London, a highly successful farce, directed by Toole (1892)
Toole began to be troubled by gout
Gout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
in 1886. After his daughter died in 1888, followed by his wife in 1889, Toole was disconsolate, and his health deteriorated further. Nevertheless, he toured Australia and New Zealand in 1890. After this, his stage appearances gradually became fewer. The gout left him sometimes unable to walk, and after an 1893 illness during Thoroughbred by Ralph Lumley, he retired from the London stage, although he made occasional appearances in the provinces until about 1896. His theatre was demolished in 1895 for an extension of Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....
, and he dissolved his theatre company after an 1896 tour.
The critic Clement Scott
Clement Scott
Clement Scott was an influential English theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph, and a playwright and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century...
called him "one of the kindest and most genial men who ever drew breath.... No one acted with more spirit or enjoyed so thoroughly the mere pleasure of acting." Toole's genial and sympathetic nature was conspicuous off the stage as well as on it, and he was known as a great practical joker. He published his reminiscences in 1888.
Ultimately he retired to Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, where after a long struggle with Bright's disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
and a degenerative spinal illness, he died at the age of 76. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
in London, next to his wife and children. Toole was a good businessman and left a considerable fortune of over £81,000, out of which he made a number of bequests to charity, to needy actors and to his friends.