Everything about William Evans Burton totally explained
William Evans Burton (
September 24,
1804 –
February 10,
1860), who often went by the nickname
Billy, was an
English actor,
playwright, theater manager and publisher who relocated to the
United States.
Life and work
Early life
Born in
London on
September 24,
1804, Burton was the son of
William George Burton (1774-1825), a printer and the author of
Research into the religions of the Eastern nations as illustrative of the scriptures in
1805. William Junior was intended for a career in the church but success as an amateur actor led him to attempt a career on the stage. After several years in the provinces, he made his first London appearance in
1831.
Relocation to the United States
In
1834 he relocated to the
United States, where he appeared in
Philadelphia as Dr. Ollapod in
The Poor Gentleman. He took a prominent place, both as actor and manager, in
New York City, Philadelphia and
Baltimore, the theatre which he leased in New York being renamed Burton's Theatre.
He was very successful as Captain Cuttle in
John Brougham's dramatization of
Dombey and Son, and in other low comedy parts in plays from
Charles Dickens's novels. Burton was the author of a large number of plays, one of which,
Ellen Wareham (1833), was produced simultaneously at five London theatres.
Publishing work
In 1837 in Philadelphia he established the
Gentlemen's Magazine, of which
Edgar Allan Poe was for some time the editor. His magazine was intended for a general audience, incorporating the standard fare of
poetry and fiction, but had a focus on sporting life like
hunting and
sailing. Burton likely served as a literary critic himself for the magazine. To remain competitive, the magazine included better paper, more
illustrations, and higher-quality printing, making production costs high. Poe became an editor in 1839, though Burton disliked Poe's harsh style of criticism. Even so, Poe's responsibilities increased whenever Burton left town to perform at other venues. Poe left the magazine in June of 1840.
Burton and Poe had a tumultuous working relationship. Burton tried selling the magazine without telling Poe, and Poe made plans to launch his own competing Philadelphia-based magazine called
The Penn without mentioning it to Burton. Additionally, Burton may have written a particularly scathing negative review of Poe's novel
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and spread rumors of his drunkenness, which Poe denied. Poe told a friend that Burton was a "blackguard and a villain."
Later life
In late 1840, Burton sold his magazine to
George Rex Graham for the price of $3,500 (one dollar for each subscriber), who transformed it into
Graham's Magazine. Burton went on to become the editor of the
Cambridge Quarterly and the
Souvenir. He also wrote several books, including a
Cyclopaedia of Wit and Humour in 1857.
Burton died
February 10,
1860 in New York City. At the time of his death, he'd collected a library of over 500,000 volumes, especially rich in books by and relating to
William Shakespeare.
Further Information
Get more info on 'William Evans Burton'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://william_evans_burton.totallyexplained.com">William Evans Burton Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
