Stephen Kemble
Encyclopedia
George Stephen Kemble was a successful theatre manager
, British actor
, writer, and a member of the famous Kemble family
.
He was the second son of Roger Kemble
, brother of Charles Kemble
, John Philip Kemble
and Sarah Siddons
. He married prominent actress Elizabeth Satchell
(1783). His niece was the actress and abolitionist Fanny Kemble
. His daughter Francis Kemble married Richard Arkwright junior
's son Captain Robert Arkwright. Kemble's son Henry
was also an actor.
for fifteen years (1791–1806). He brought members of his famous acting family and many other actors out of London to Newcastle. Stephen's sister, Sarah Siddons
was the first London actor of repute to break through the prejudice which regarded summer " strolling," or starring in the provincial theatres, as a degradation. Stephen Kemble guided the Theatre through many celebrated seasons. The Newcastle audience quickly came to regard itself, that is, as "in a position of great theatrical privilege.". The original Theatre Royal was opened on the 21st January 1788 and was located on Mosley Street, next to Drury Lane. While in Newcastle upon Tyne
Kemble lived in a large house opposite the White Cross in Newgate Street.
Stephen Kemble quickly branched out and began to manage other theatres: Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
(1794–1800)); Theatre Royal, Glasgow (eventually replaced by Tivoli Theatre (Aberdeen)) (1795); Chester; Lancaster; Sheffield (1792); Berwick-upon-Tweed
(1794),; theatres in Northumberland
; Alnwick
(where he builds a theatre)(1796) and rural areas on the theatre circuit. From Newcastle, Kemble ran the Durham
circuit (1799), which included North Shields
, Sunderland
, South Shields
, Stockton
and Scarborough (opening for the Stockton Races). He also managed theatres at Northallerton
and Morpeth
. In Broadway
, he performed in the Assembly Room of the Lygon Arms (formerly known as the White Hart Inn). He also managed Whitehaven
and Paislie (1814), Northampton
Theatre, the theatre at Birmingham
and Theatre Royal, Dumfries
, Portsmouth. For a short time in 1792, actor Charles Lee Lewes
assisted Stephen Kemble in the management of the Dundee Repertory Theatre
He supported the careers of many leading actors of the time such as Master Betty
, his wife Elizabeth Satchell
, his sister Elizabeth Whitlock
, George Frederick Cooke
, Harriet Pye Esten, John Edwin, Joseph Munden, Grist, Elizabeth Inchbald
, Pauline Hall, Wilson, Charles Incledon, Egan. His nephew Henry Siddons
(Sarah Siddons' son) made his first appearance on stage in Sheffield (October 1792), his younger brother Charles Kemble, Thomas Apthorpe Cooper
, John Liston
, John Emery, Daniel Egerton
, William Macready.
Stephen presented London stars such as Edmund Kean
, Alexander and Elizabeth Pope (née Elizabeth Younge
), Mrs. Dorothea Jordan, his brother John Philip Kemble
, Wright Bowden, his sister Sarah Siddons
, Elizabeth Billington
, Michael Kelly (tenor), Anna Maria Crouch
, and Charles Lee Lewes
.
. Contemporary critics acclaimed that in this role Kemble achieved the "optimum balance between comedy and gravity.". After his performance in London at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in 1802, the Morning Chronicle
wrote that "It is to be regretted that his associations in the country prevent him from accepting a permanent engagement in London." Kemble would return to play Falstaff in London at Covent Garden (1806) and the Drury Lane
(1816), for which he received great acclaim. After Kemble's death, The Edinburgh literary journal wrote, "[Stephen] Kemble was perhaps the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw."
Kemble also played Hamlet
, King Lear
, Othello
and many other roles.
Writer for The London Magazine John Taylor wrote, "Mr. Stephen Kemble was an actor of considerable merit." Taylor writes about Kemble's commitment to address injustice through theatre: "All characters of an open, blunt nature, and requiring a vehement expression of justice and integrity, particularly those exemplifying an honest indignation against vice, he delivered in so forcible a manner, as to show. obviously that he was developing his own feelings and character. This manner was very successfully displayed in his representation of the Governor,Sir Christopher Curry, in the opera of " Inkle and Yarico
."
Taylor writes of Kemble's reputation in the provincial theatre circuit: "Stephen Kemble, who was an accurate observer of human life, and an able delineater of character and manners, was so intelligent and humorous a companion, that he was received with respect into the best company in the several provincial towns, which he occasionally visited in the exercise of his profession."
(i.e. Little Theatre or Theatre Royal, Haymarket).
Kemble also published a collection of his writings Ods, Lyrical Ballads and Poems (1809). About Kemble's poetry, John Wilson (Scottish writer)
stated, "Stephen Kemble was a man of excellent talents, and taste too; and we have a volume of his poems... in which there is considerable powers of language, and no deficiency either of feeling or of fancy. He had humour if not wit, and was a pleasant companion and worthy man." Of particular interest is Kemble's writing is his reflections on contemporaneous events such as the Battle of Trafalgar
, the death of Lord Nelson, the death of Robert Burns
, his conversion to the abolitionist movement and support of the Slave Trade Act 1807, the death of his brother-in-law William Siddons.
Stephen published a play with his son Henry Kemble (1789–1836) entitled Flodden Field (1819) based on the Battle of Flodden (1513). The text is based on Sir Walter Scott's Marmion: a tale of Flodden field. In six cantos. The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
, on Thursday evening, December 31, 1818. The European Magazine
, and London Review reported that at its debut "the whole [play] went off without opposition, and its repetition, was received with applause."
An essay of his entitled "In the Character of Touchstone, Riding on an Ass" was published by William Oxberry in his book The Actor's Budget (1820).
.jpg)
Kemble moved from Newcastle to Durham
, and lived in retirement after 1806. In later life, Kemble took on less responsibilities in management and made only occasional appearances on the stage.
He was a close friend of another famous Durham resident, the 3 ft 3 inch tall Polish dwarf, Józef Boruwłaski. When these two friends - one little and one large - strolled along the wooded paths of the city, they were reported to be an interesting sight for the people of Durham.
Kemble's last performance at Durham was in May 1822, a fortnight before his death. He was fondly remembered by the natives of Durham, and was honoured with a burial in the Chapel of the Nine Altars in the Durham Cathedral
. He and his close friend Józef Boruwłaski where buried beside each other. The heyday of Durham theatre came to an end with Kemble's death.
Actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the company's business and financial arrangements, sometimes taking over the management of a theatre, to perform plays of their own choice and in which they will usually star...
, British 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...
, writer, and a member of the famous Kemble family
Kemble family
Kemble is the name of a family of English actors, all distinguished actors and actresses who reigned over the British stage for decades. The most famous were Sarah Siddons and her brother John Philip Kemble , the two eldest of the twelve children of Roger Kemble , a strolling player and manager of...
.
He was the second son of Roger Kemble
Roger Kemble
Roger Kemble was an English theatre manager, strolling player and actor. In 1753, he married actress Sarah "Sally" Ward at Cirencester, Gloucester, and they had twelve children, who formed the great Kemble family of 19th-century actors and actresses.Roger Kemble was born in Hereford...
, brother of Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble was a British actor.-Life:The youngest son of Roger Kemble, and younger brother of John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble and Sarah Siddons, he was born at Brecon, South Wales. Like John Philip, he was educated at Douai...
, John Philip Kemble
John Philip Kemble
John Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...
and Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
. He married prominent actress Elizabeth Satchell
Elizabeth Satchell
Elizabeth Kemble was a British actress.-Life:She was born in London, and she was a talented performer when she married Stephen Kemble, of the Kemble family, in 1783. They acted together for several years both in London and in the provincial circuits. She outlived him by 19 years...
(1783). His niece was the actress and abolitionist Fanny Kemble
Fanny Kemble
Frances Anne Kemble , was a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century.-Youth and acting career:...
. His daughter Francis Kemble married Richard Arkwright junior
Richard Arkwright Junior
Richard Arkwright junior , the son of the famous Sir Richard Arkwright of Cromford, Derbyshire, was the financier of Samuel Oldknow of Marple and Mellor and a personal friend. His son Captain Arkwright married Francis Kemble, daughter of the famous theatre manager Stephen Kemble.-Biography:Richard...
's son Captain Robert Arkwright. Kemble's son Henry
Henry Stephen Kemble
Henry Stephen Kemble was a British actor and son of Stephen Kemble.Kemble was born in Villiers Street, Strand, London...
was also an actor.
Manager
Similar to his father, Stephen Kemble became a very successful theatre manager of the Eighteenth-Century English Stage. He managed the original Theatre Royal, NewcastleTheatre Royal, Newcastle
The Theatre Royal is a Grade I listed building situated on Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was designed by local architects John and Benjamin Green as part of Richard Grainger's grand design for the centre of Newcastle, and was opened on 20 February 1837 with a performance of The Merchant...
for fifteen years (1791–1806). He brought members of his famous acting family and many other actors out of London to Newcastle. Stephen's sister, Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
was the first London actor of repute to break through the prejudice which regarded summer " strolling," or starring in the provincial theatres, as a degradation. Stephen Kemble guided the Theatre through many celebrated seasons. The Newcastle audience quickly came to regard itself, that is, as "in a position of great theatrical privilege.". The original Theatre Royal was opened on the 21st January 1788 and was located on Mosley Street, next to Drury Lane. While in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
Kemble lived in a large house opposite the White Cross in Newgate Street.
Stephen Kemble quickly branched out and began to manage other theatres: Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
Four theatre buildings in Edinburgh have borne the name Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, though the final three were all rebuildings of the second. The first was the Theatre Royal, Shakespeare Square, at the east end of Princes Street. This was opened 9 December 1769 by actor manager David Ross, and was...
(1794–1800)); Theatre Royal, Glasgow (eventually replaced by Tivoli Theatre (Aberdeen)) (1795); Chester; Lancaster; Sheffield (1792); Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
(1794),; theatres in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
; Alnwick
Alnwick
Alnwick is a small market town in north Northumberland, England. The town's population was just over 8000 at the time of the 2001 census and Alnwick's district population was 31,029....
(where he builds a theatre)(1796) and rural areas on the theatre circuit. From Newcastle, Kemble ran the Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
circuit (1799), which included North Shields
North Shields
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
, Sunderland
City of Sunderland
The City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...
, South Shields
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...
, Stockton
Stockton
-Places:Australia:*Stockton, New South WalesNew Zealand:*Stockton, New ZealandUnited Kingdom:*Stockton, Cheshire*Stockton, Norfolk*Stockton, Warwickshire*Stockton, Wiltshire*Stockton-on-Tees*Stockton-on-Teme*Stockton-on-the-ForestUnited States:...
and Scarborough (opening for the Stockton Races). He also managed theatres at Northallerton
Northallerton
Northallerton is an affluent market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census...
and Morpeth
Morpeth, Northumberland
Morpeth is the county town of Northumberland, England. It is situated on the River Wansbeck which flows east through the town. The town is from the A1, which bypasses it. Since 1981, it has been the administrative centre of the County of Northumberland. In the 2001 census the town had a population...
. In Broadway
Broadway, Worcestershire
Broadway is a village and civil parish in the Worcestershire part of the Cotswolds in England.Often referred to as the "Jewel of the Cotswolds", Broadway village lies beneath Fish Hill on the western Cotswold escarpment...
, he performed in the Assembly Room of the Lygon Arms (formerly known as the White Hart Inn). He also managed Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
and Paislie (1814), Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
Theatre, the theatre at Birmingham
Theatre Royal, Birmingham
The Theatre Royal, originally the New Theatre, was a theatre located on New Street in Birmingham, England between 1774 and 1956.-Bibliography and further reading:**...
and Theatre Royal, Dumfries
Dumfries
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...
, Portsmouth. For a short time in 1792, actor Charles Lee Lewes
Charles Lee Lewes
-Biography:He was born the son of a hosier in London. After attending a school at Ambleside he returned to London, where he found employment as a postman. In about 1760 he went on the stage in the provinces, and some three years later began to appear in minor parts at Covent Garden Theatre...
assisted Stephen Kemble in the management of the Dundee Repertory Theatre
Dundee Repertory Theatre
Dundee Repertory Theatre or Dundee Rep is a theatre and arts company in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house - staging at least six of its own productions each year, and a receiving house - hosting work from visiting companies throughout Scotland and the United...
He supported the careers of many leading actors of the time such as Master Betty
Master Betty
William Henry West Betty was by far the most popular child actor of the nineteenth century. Both of his parents were very wealthy by inheritance. His mother inherited money from Shropshire and his father from North Ireland...
, his wife Elizabeth Satchell
Elizabeth Satchell
Elizabeth Kemble was a British actress.-Life:She was born in London, and she was a talented performer when she married Stephen Kemble, of the Kemble family, in 1783. They acted together for several years both in London and in the provincial circuits. She outlived him by 19 years...
, his sister Elizabeth Whitlock
Elizabeth Whitlock
Elizabeth Whitlock was a British actress.A member of the Kemble family of actors, she made her first appearance on the stage in 1783 at Drury Lane as Portia. In 1785 she married Charles E. Whitlock, went with him to America, and played with much success there...
, George Frederick Cooke
George Frederick Cooke
George Frederick Cooke was an English actor. As famous for his erratic habits as for his acting, he was largely responsible for initiating the romantic style in acting that was later made famous by Edmund Kean.-Career:Although he claimed to have been born in Westminster, it seems likely that he...
, Harriet Pye Esten, John Edwin, Joseph Munden, Grist, Elizabeth Inchbald
Elizabeth Inchbald
Elizabeth Inchbald was an English novelist, actress, and dramatist.- Life :Born on 15 October 1753 at Standingfield, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, Elizabeth was the eighth of the nine children of John Simpson , a farmer, and his wife Mary, née Rushbrook. The family, like several others in the...
, Pauline Hall, Wilson, Charles Incledon, Egan. His nephew Henry Siddons
Henry Siddons
Henry Siddons was an English actor and theatrical manager, now remembered as a writer on gesture.-Life:Born on 4 October 1774, he was the eldest child of Sarah Siddons, and was educated at Charterhouse School, being intended by his mother for the church...
(Sarah Siddons' son) made his first appearance on stage in Sheffield (October 1792), his younger brother Charles Kemble, Thomas Apthorpe Cooper
Thomas Apthorpe Cooper
Thomas Apthorpe Cooper was an actor. He received a good education, and, on the death of his father, was adopted by Thomas Holcroft and William Godwin. His first appearance on the stage was with Stephen Kemble's company in Edinburgh, and later he acted at Covent Garden, London, with great success...
, John Liston
John Liston
John Liston , English comedian, was born in London.He made his public debut on the stage at Weymouth as Lord Duberley in The Heir-at-law...
, John Emery, Daniel Egerton
Daniel Egerton
-Life:Egerton was born in the city of London on 14 April 1772. According to various accounts, presumably supplied by himself, he was 'bred to the law in a public office.' Another source says, however, 'he was in business near Whitechapel, and made his first attempt on the stage in this assumed name...
, William Macready.
Stephen presented London stars such as Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever.-Early life:Kean was born in London. His father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect’s clerk, and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th century composer and playwright Henry Carey...
, Alexander and Elizabeth Pope (née Elizabeth Younge
Elizabeth Younge
Elizabeth Younge was an English actress who specialized in Shakespearean roles.-Biography:She was born near Old Gravel Lane, Southwark. Little is known about her early life and family background. An Elizabeth Young, daughter of Samuel and Mary Young, was baptized at St Olave's, Southwark, on 14...
), Mrs. Dorothea Jordan, his brother John Philip Kemble
John Philip Kemble
John Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...
, Wright Bowden, his sister Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
, Elizabeth Billington
Elizabeth Billington
Elizabeth Billington was a British opera singer born in London, her father being a German clarinetist named Carl Friedrich Weichsel , and her mother Fredericka Weichsel née Weirman , a popular singer. Her brother, Charles Weichsel Elizabeth Billington (1765 or 1768 in London – 25 August 1818 in...
, Michael Kelly (tenor), Anna Maria Crouch
Anna Maria Crouch
Anna Maria Crouch , often referred to as Mrs Crouch, was a singer and stage actress in the London theatre. She was a mistress of George, Prince of Wales.-Early life and acting career:...
, and Charles Lee Lewes
Charles Lee Lewes
-Biography:He was born the son of a hosier in London. After attending a school at Ambleside he returned to London, where he found employment as a postman. In about 1760 he went on the stage in the provinces, and some three years later began to appear in minor parts at Covent Garden Theatre...
.
Actor
He was also famous for playing FalstaffFalstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
. Contemporary critics acclaimed that in this role Kemble achieved the "optimum balance between comedy and gravity.". After his performance in London at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in 1802, the Morning Chronicle
Morning Chronicle
The Morning Chronicle was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London, England, and published under various owners until 1862. It was most notable for having been the first employer of Charles Dickens, and for publishing the articles by Henry Mayhew which were collected and published in book format in...
wrote that "It is to be regretted that his associations in the country prevent him from accepting a permanent engagement in London." Kemble would return to play Falstaff in London at Covent Garden (1806) and the Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
(1816), for which he received great acclaim. After Kemble's death, The Edinburgh literary journal wrote, "[Stephen] Kemble was perhaps the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw."
Kemble also played Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
and many other roles.
Writer for The London Magazine John Taylor wrote, "Mr. Stephen Kemble was an actor of considerable merit." Taylor writes about Kemble's commitment to address injustice through theatre: "All characters of an open, blunt nature, and requiring a vehement expression of justice and integrity, particularly those exemplifying an honest indignation against vice, he delivered in so forcible a manner, as to show. obviously that he was developing his own feelings and character. This manner was very successfully displayed in his representation of the Governor,Sir Christopher Curry, in the opera of " Inkle and Yarico
Inkle and Yarico
Inkle and Yarico is a comic opera first staged in London, England in August 1787, with music by Samuel Arnold and a libretto by George Colman the Younger....
."
Taylor writes of Kemble's reputation in the provincial theatre circuit: "Stephen Kemble, who was an accurate observer of human life, and an able delineater of character and manners, was so intelligent and humorous a companion, that he was received with respect into the best company in the several provincial towns, which he occasionally visited in the exercise of his profession."
Writer
He also published a dramatic play The Northern Inn (1791). The play was also known as The northern lass, or, Days of good Queen Bess, The good times of Queen Bess. The play was first produced August 16, 1791, as The northern inn, or, The good times of Queen Bess, at the Haymarket TheatreHaymarket 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...
(i.e. Little Theatre or Theatre Royal, Haymarket).
Kemble also published a collection of his writings Ods, Lyrical Ballads and Poems (1809). About Kemble's poetry, John Wilson (Scottish writer)
John Wilson (Scottish writer)
John Wilson of Ellerey FRSE was a Scottish advocate, literary critic and author, the writer most frequently identified with the pseudonym Christopher North of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine....
stated, "Stephen Kemble was a man of excellent talents, and taste too; and we have a volume of his poems... in which there is considerable powers of language, and no deficiency either of feeling or of fancy. He had humour if not wit, and was a pleasant companion and worthy man." Of particular interest is Kemble's writing is his reflections on contemporaneous events such as the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
, the death of Lord Nelson, the death of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
, his conversion to the abolitionist movement and support of the Slave Trade Act 1807, the death of his brother-in-law William Siddons.
Stephen published a play with his son Henry Kemble (1789–1836) entitled Flodden Field (1819) based on the Battle of Flodden (1513). The text is based on Sir Walter Scott's Marmion: a tale of Flodden field. In six cantos. The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, on Thursday evening, December 31, 1818. The European Magazine
The European Magazine
European Magazine, published in London, ran from 1782 until 1826, publishing eighty-nine volumes. As the European Magazine, and London Review it was launched in January 1782, promising to offer "the Literature, History, Politics, Arts, Manners, and Amusements of the Age." It was in direct...
, and London Review reported that at its debut "the whole [play] went off without opposition, and its repetition, was received with applause."
An essay of his entitled "In the Character of Touchstone, Riding on an Ass" was published by William Oxberry in his book The Actor's Budget (1820).
Retirement
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, and lived in retirement after 1806. In later life, Kemble took on less responsibilities in management and made only occasional appearances on the stage.
He was a close friend of another famous Durham resident, the 3 ft 3 inch tall Polish dwarf, Józef Boruwłaski. When these two friends - one little and one large - strolled along the wooded paths of the city, they were reported to be an interesting sight for the people of Durham.
Kemble's last performance at Durham was in May 1822, a fortnight before his death. He was fondly remembered by the natives of Durham, and was honoured with a burial in the Chapel of the Nine Altars in the Durham Cathedral
Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...
. He and his close friend Józef Boruwłaski where buried beside each other. The heyday of Durham theatre came to an end with Kemble's death.