Dion Boucicault

Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault /ˈdaɪˌɒn ˈbuːsɪˌkoʊ/ (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the English-speaking theatre. The New York Times hailed him in his obituary as "the most conspicuous English dramatist of the 19th century"; he and his second wife, Agnes Robertson Boucicault, applied for and received American citizenship in 1873.

Boucicault was born Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot in 1820 Dublin, where his family lived on Gardiner Street. His mother was Anne Maria Laura Beresford, sister of the poet and mathematician George Darley. The Darleys were an important Anglo-Irish Dublin family influential in many fields and related to the Guinnesses by marriage. Anne was married to Samuel Smith Boursiquot, of Huguenot ancestry, but the identity of Dion's father is uncertain. He was probably Dionysius Lardner, who was a lodger at Anne Boursiquot's house at a time when she had recently separated from her husband. Lardner later gave Dion Boucicault financial support until about 1840.

In 1828, Lardner was elected as professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at University College London ('London University' at the time), a position he held until he resigned in 1831. Anne Boursiquot followed him to London in 1828, taking all but one of her children with her.^{[citation needed]}

Consequently, Dion Boucicault attended various schools in and around London; there is confusion about the details of his education. Richard Fawkes has addressed this in a biography. For about four years, from 1829, Boucicault seems to have attended a very small private school in Hampstead kept by a Mr Hessey; between 1833 and 1835 he was at University College School, where he began his friendship with Charles Kenney. He later recalled having boarded in Euston Square with a Rev. Henry Stebbing, a historian. There is a gap of two years in the record, when Fawkes believes Boucicault may have attended Rowland Hill's Bruce Castle School, as stated in the Dictionary of National Biography.

In 1837, he was enrolled at Wyke House, a school at Sion Hill, Brentford, kept by a Dr Alexander Jamieson. There he appeared in a school play, in the part of Rolla in Sheridan's Pizarro. He also wrote his own first play, The Old Guard, which was produced some years later.

When Boucicault was in his late teens, his mother persuaded a cousin, Arthur Lee Guinness, to give her son a job as a clerk in the Dublin brewery. He began an affair with Guinness, which caused a crisis in his cousin's family. In 1840 Boucicault returned to London flush with cash, thought to be the result of blackmail or the family having paid him off. He enrolled as a student at the Dean Street Academy. He later claimed Guinness paid for his tuition and had made him his heir. The allowance was stopped and Boucicault became penniless.

Boucicault took up an acting offer in Cheltenham, adopting the stage name of Lee Morton. He joined William Charles Macready and made his first appearance on stage with Benjamin Webster at Bristol. Soon after this he began to write plays, occasionally in conjunction with his acting.

Boucicault's first play, A Legend of the Devil's Dyke, opened in Brighton in 1838. Three years later, he had a big success as a dramatist with London Assurance. First produced at Covent Garden on 4 March 1841, its cast included such well-known actors as Charles Mathews, William Farren, Mrs Nesbitt and Madame Vestris.