Frederick August Vining (4 November 1790 – 2 June 1871) was an English actor. His first appearance on the stage was at Gravesend, after which he worked at provincial theatres at Bath and Norwich.[1] He went on to perform in London and was manager of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.[2]: 260 He enjoyed considerable repute in his heyday[3] and was included in a collection of brief biographies of the principal actors and actresses of the British stage published in 1824 by Sherwood, Jones & Co.[2]
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Family edit
He was the son of Charles Vining, a silversmith in Kirby Street, Hatton Garden, and was born in London in 1790.[1] The actor George Vining was Frederick's nephew. They were part of an extensive family of actors.[3]
Career edit
His first appearance was at the age of sixteen. He played Young Norval in the play Douglas at the Theatre Royal, Gravesend.[2]: 259
He died in Camberwell and is buried in West Norwood Cemetery.[4] In an obituary published in the Birmingham Daily Gazette he was described as having the skill and gallant bearing which "gave evidence of the good training which characterised the comedian of the old school" which he exhibited up to his last engagement at the Olympic Theatre at the beginning of the 1860s, after which he suffered from reduced mental capacity, being cared for in a private asylum for the last years of his life.[3][5]
Garotte attack edit
In June 1867 he was the victim, with others, of what was termed 'a garotte attack', from which he recovered. The circumstances were not reported by the press, and are unknown;[6] however, robbery by clutching of the throat was then a widely-feared risk in London.[7]
References edit
- "Vining family". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53565. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Knight, John Joseph (1899). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 371.
- Frederic Boase. "Vining, Frederick". Modern English Biography. Netherton and Worth. 1901. Volume 3. Column 1104.
- "Death of Mr Frederick Vining". The Era. 11 June 1871. p 11.
- "Memoir of Mr F Vining (1848) 3 Theatrical Times 424 (4 November 1848)
- Elizabeth Grice. Rogues and Vagabonds: or, The Actors' Road to Respectability. Terence Dalton. 1977. pp 120 to 122, 124, 125 & 128. Google
- Charles H Shattuck (ed). Bulwer and Macready: A Chronicle of the Early Victorian Theatre. University of Illinois Press. 1958. pp 28, 29, 125, 165, 167 & 183. Google
- John Kennedy Melling. Southend Playhouses from 1793. Essex Countryside. 1969. pp 40 & 42. Google
- Charles Mackie. Norfolk Annals. Printed at the office of the Norfolk Chronicle. 1901. Volume 1. Pages 109, 126, 199, 222, 329 & 424.
- ^ a b Frecker, Paul. "Frederick Vining". Library of Nineteenth-Century Photography. Paul Frecker. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
- ^ a b c The Biography of the British Stage: Being Correct Narratives of the Lives of All the Principal Actors & Actresses .. Interspersed with Original Anecdotes and Choice and Illustrative Poetry. To which is Added, a Comic Poem, Entitled "The Actress". London: Sherwood, Jones & Co. 1824.
- ^ a b c Frecker, Paul. "Frederick Vining (1790–1871)". paulfrecker.com. Paul Frecker.
- ^ "Frederick Augustus Vining (1790–1871)". Find a Grave. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
- ^ Birmingham Daily Gazette, 9 June 1871, p 3
- ^ Untitled item, The Express (London), 10 June 1867, p3.
- ^ Sindall, R. (October 1987). "The London Garotting Panics of 1856 and 1862". Social History. 12 (3): 351–359. JSTOR 4285629.