SQUIRE BANCROFT

'Sir Squire Bancroft' (14 May, 1841 - 19 April, 1926), born 'Squire White Butterfield', was an English actor and manager.

Contents

Early life and career

Later life and career

Publications

References

Early life and career

Bancroft was born in Rotherhithe, London.
His first appearance on the stage was in 1861 at Birmingham, and he played in the provinces with success for several years. His first London appearance was in 1865 in J. P. Wooler's ''A Winning Hazard'' at the Prince of Wales's Theatre off Tottenham Court Road. This theatre was managed by Effie Marie Wilton (b. 1840), whom he married in 1868. The pair continued as joint managers of the theatre.
Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft produced and starred in all the Thomas William Robertson comedies beginning in 1865: ''Society'' (1865), ''Ours'' (1866), ''Caste'' (1867), ''Play'' (1868), ''School'' (1869) and ''M.P.'' (1870), and, after Robertson's death, in revivals of the old comedies, for which they surrounded themselves with an admirable company. Together, Robertson and the Bancrofts are considered to have instigated a new form of drama known as 'drawing-room comedy' or 'cup and saucer drama'.
The Bancroft management at the Prince of Wales's Theatre constituted a new era in the development of the English stage and had the effect of reviving the London interest in modern drama. They were also responsible for making fashionable the 'box set', which Lucia Elizabeth Vestris had first used at the Olympic Theatre in the 1830s – this consisted of rooms on stage which were dressed with sofas, curtains, chairs, and carpets on the stage floor. They also provided their actors with salaries and wardrobes. Also, the Bancrofts redesigned their theatre to suit the increasingly upscale audience: "The cheap benches near the stage, where the rowdiest elements of the audience used to sit were replaced by comfortable padded seats, carpets were laid in the aisles, and the pit was renamed the stalls."[1]
Other plays they premiered or produced there were W. S. Gilbert's ''Allow Me To Explain'' (1867) and his romantic comedy tribute to Robertson, ''Sweethearts'' (1874), as well as ''Tame Cats'' (1868), Lytton's ''Money'' (1872), ''The School for Scandal'' (1874), Boucicault's ''London Assurance'' (1877), and ''Diplomacy'' (1878, an adaptation of Sardou's ''Dora'').

Later life and career

In 1879 the Bancrofts moved to the Haymarket Theatre, where they produced or starred in a revival of ''Money'', and in Sardou's ''Odette'' (for which they engaged Madame Helena Modjeska) and ''Fedora'', and Pinero’s ''Lords and Commons'', with revivals of previous successes.
Having made a considerable fortune, they retired in 1885. Bancroft was knighted in 1897. Both he and his wife are buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Publications

The Bancrofts collaborated in the production of two volumes of reminiscences called ''Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft On and Off the Stage, Written by Themselves'' (London, 1888) and ''The Bancrofts: Recollections of Sixty Years'' (Dutton and Co.: London, 1909).

References

★ ''The Bancrofts: Recollections of Sixty Years'' (Dutton and Co.: London, 1909)

★ Information about the Bancroft's and "cup and saucer drama" from the People Play website

★ Brittanica article