Clarence Blakiston

Clarence Blakiston (23 April 1864 – 21 March 1943) was a British film and stage actor, comedian and singer who during his career across five decades played the title role in the Sherlock Holmes parody Sheerluck Jones, or Why D’Gillette Him Off at Terry's Theatre (1901–02) which ran for 138 performances[1][2][3] and who appeared in the original production of The Admirable Crichton at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1902.

Clarence Blakiston as Prince Badahur in The Blue Moon (1905)

Early life

He was born at Giggleswick in North Yorkshire in England, one of five children of Marie Jane née Simon (1825–1908) and John Richard Blakiston (1829–1917), HM Chief Inspector of Schools and Headmaster of Giggleswick School (1858–1866). In 1880 aged 16 Clarence Blakiston joined the Merchant Navy as an apprentice at Cardiff[4] while in 1884 he was awarded a Certificate of Competency to serve as Second Mate.[5] In 1888 he married Glasgow-born Clementina Lindsay née Low (1864–1936)[6] and they had a daughter, Marie Blakiston (1889–1890).[7]

Stage career
Blakiston as Sheerluck Jones (right) in Sheerluck Jones, or Why D’Gillette Him Off – Tatler (1902)

After leaving the Merchant Navy Blakiston determined to try his hand at the theatre. His brief biography in The Play Pictorial review of The Blue Moon in 1905 recorded that:

Blakiston's first engagement was with a modern, but somewhat shady, repertoire Company whose manager cast him for juvenile lead, only because he possessed a presentable wardrobe. The thirsty members of the company were most eager to show him how his parts really should be played, but stipulated that the coaching was done in the nearest bar-parlour. Soon after joining, his manager called him aside and said, "My boy, you're too good for juveniles. When I see real talent I always help it on. I'll sacrifice myself by exchanging parts with you – I'll lend you my clothes (take care of them as it has taken me years to collect them), and you shall lend me yours." "Whereupon this gentleman" says Mr. Blakiston, "possessed himself of all my available suits and linen, and two weeks later gave me 12/- for two weeks' work, explaining with tears in his eyes that business was so bad owing to my inability to play such important parts. I never saw my clothes again. The manager's clothes (mostly rags) I sold for a few shillings, and got insulted over the transaction." After going through many vicissitudes Mr. Blakiston obtained an introduction to Mr. Edward Compton who engaged him as prompter, and thenceforth he worked his way up to the position of leading man, which position he retained for five years before trying his fate in town.[8]

His stage roles included Chastelard in The Queen's Room (1891) at the Opera Comique;[9] Harry Dornton in The Road to Ruin (1891) at the Opera Comique; Roger Conant in The Mayflower (1892); Captain Simmonds in Delia Harding (1895) at the Comedy Theatre; Mr Goldie in A Breezy Morning (1895) at the Comedy Theatre; Butler in The Manoeuvres of Jane at the Haymarket Theatre (1899); Stingo in She Stoops to Conquer (1900) at the Theatre Royal Haymarket;[10] Mr Fenwick in The Second in Command (1900) at the Theatre Royal Haymarket;[11] Captain Trent in The New Clown and Sheerluck Jones in the Sherlock Holmes parody Sheerluck Jones, or Why D’Gillette Him Off (1901)[12] and Edgar Blatcher in A Tight Corner (1901) at Terry's Theatre;[13] Harry Brandon in The Little French Milliner (1902) at the Avenue Theatre;[14] John Treherne in The Admirable Crichton (1902) at the Duke of York's Theatre;[15] Dr Topping in Little Mary (1903);[16] Grieve in Du Barry (1905) at the Savoy Theatre;[17] Sm in The Faddists (1905) at St James's Theatre;[18] Prince Badahur Sanatsinjhi of Kharikar in The Blue Moon (1905) at the Lyric Theatre;[19] Prince Hassan in A Persian Princess (1909) at the Queen's Theatre; Richard Gilder in Within the Law (1916) at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne in Australia and the same role at the Kingsway Theatre (1920); Dr Macfarlane in The Unknown by W. Somerset Maugham at the Aldwych Theatre (1920) starring Basil Rathbone and Lady Tree;[20] Harding in Send for Dr. O'Grady (1923) at the Criterion Theatre; Sir Robert Shale in The Lie (1924) at the Regent Theatre, and Archbishop in High Treason at the Strand Theatre (1928).[21]

Film roles

Blakiston's film roles include Richard Gilder in the Australian film Within the Law (1916), M. Duval in The Lady of the Camellias (1922), Sir John Edmonds in Somebody's Darling (1925), Sir George Venning in Rogues of the Turf (1923), Henry Leslie in A Peep Behind the Scenes (1929), Mr Peabody in The Girl in the Crowd (1935),[22] Love Up the Pole (1936), and the Duke of Sussex in Victoria the Great (1937).[23]

By 1939 Clarence Blakiston was living in Ainsdale in Southport, Merseyside and here he died in 1943. In his will he left £221 3s 11d to Ellen Rosemary Blakiston.[24]

References
  1. Clarence Blakiston – Sherlock Holmes Actors – No Place Like Holmes database
  2. Amnon Kabatchnik, Blood on the Stage, 1800 to 1900: Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem, Rowman & Littlefield (2017) – Google Books pg. 558
  3. Marvin Lachman, The Villainous Stage: Crime Plays on Broadway and in the West End, MacFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (2014) – Google Books pg. 30]
  4. Liverpool, England, Crew Lists 1861–1919 for Clarence Blakiston – Ancestry.com (subscription required). Retrieved 24 April 2019
  5. Clarence Blakiston in the UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850–1927, Ancestry.com (subscription required). Retrieved 24 April 2019
  6. 1911 England Census Record for Clarence Blakiston, Ancestry.com (subscription required). Retrieved 24 April 2019
  7. Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813–1912 for Clarence Blakiston – Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, 1888–1897 – Ancestry.com (subscription required). Retrieved 24 April 2019
  8. The Blue Moon in The Play Pictorial No. 82 (1905)
  9. J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1890–1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel, Rowman & Littlefield (2014) – Google Books pg. 88
  10. J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1900–1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel, Rowman & Littlefield (2014) – Google Books pg. 1
  11. Wearing, pg. 37
  12. Clarence Blakiston on Historical & Fictional Characters in Sherlockian Pastiches – Sherlockian Theatre
  13. Wearing, pg. 76
  14. Wearing, pg. 95
  15. The Blue Moon in The Play Pictorial No 11 (1903) – Rob Wilton Theatricalia site
  16. Postcard of the Cast of Little Mary (1903) – National Portrait Gallery, London Collection
  17. Wearing, pg. 224
  18. Wearing, pg. 248
  19. Cast of The Blue Moon (1905). British Musical Theatre at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. Retrieved 24 April 2019
  20. The Unknown (1920) – The Basil Rathbone website
  21. J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1920–1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel Rowman & Littlefield (2014) – Google Books pg. 29
  22. Denis Gifford, Girl in the Crowd – British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set – The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film, Volume 2, Routledge (2000) – Google Books 08666
  23. Filmography for Colin Blakiston – British Film Institute
  24. Clarence Blakiston in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966 – Ancestry.com (subscription required)
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