Frederick Robson, born Thomas Frederick Brownbill (22 February 1821 – 12 August 1864) was an English comedian, actor and ballad singer. During his acting career, he combined outstanding comic gifts with the power of moving an audience to a sense of tragedy or pathos. Although Robson's career spanned more than two decades, the period of his greatest success was at the Olympic Theatre, beginning in 1853 and lasting only a few years.
Early life
Robson was born in Margate as Thomas Brownbill, son of Philip Brownbill and his wife Margaret. Philip Brownbill is described on his son's wedding certificate in 1842 as 'deceased, stockbroker' and appears to have died early, as no allusion to him by his son has survived.
In November 1828 the young Robson went with his mother to London, possibly to visit relations. He was deeply impressed by the performances he saw there at the Coburg Theatre, in a week when the bill included both plays and comic songs. While still a boy he later took part in amateur theatricals, with his mother's encouragement: the actor Walter Lacy recalled seeing him play the title role in Richard III in a juvenile performance at Mile End Assembly Rooms. By this time Robson and his mother may have settled in London, as they were certainly living there in 1836, when he was apprenticed to a copperplate-engraver near the Strand. Although his apprenticeship was not fully served out, due to the early retirement of his master, Robson was skilled enough to set up in business for himself, and according to one source was 'a seal engraver of considerable talent'. By this time he had also earned a reputation among colleagues as a flamboyant and idiosyncratic character. He was also a clever mimic, and his interest in the stage was growing. On 12 May 1842 he bought a part and appeared as Simon Mealbag in Grace Huntley at a small theatre off the Strand. He was not a success: nevertheless he gave up his engraving business and began to try to break into acting.
Early career
According to one source Robson's first professional engagement was late in 1842 at Whitstable: another suggests he may have begun at a London tavern-cum-concert hall, the Bower Saloon, where he began developing his repertoire as a comic singer. He still described himself as engraver, however, when on 21 September 1842 he married Rosetta Frances May, a woman with theatrical connections, in Lambeth. He signed the marriage register as Thomas Frederick Brownbill, beginning the change to his stage name. Shortly thereafter Robson began work as a strolling player in the provinces, a precarious existence but a recognised method of learning his craft before attempting to work in the London theatres. His first earnings were meagre, about five shillings per week in Whitstable, and he faced frequent privation. After some eighteen months in the provinces, in February 1844 he won an engagement at the Grecian Saloon, City Road, London, where he began his climb to success. The entertainment provided at the Grecian varied from Shakespearean drama to ballet to comedy song solos, and, while there, Robson considerably extended his range, appearing in everything from The Merchant of Venice (as Shylock) to a blackface comedy sketch, More Ethiopians.
Ireland
The engagement at the Grecian gave Robson varied experience, but though the venue presented plays, its theatrical standing (and that of its performers) was tainted by its downmarket past as a saloon. In 1850 Irish theatre manager John Harris offered Robson an engagement, and he moved to Dublin, acting first at the Queen's Theatre and later, after Harris himself had moved, at the Theatre Royal. Over the next three years he played some 150 parts, including some in Shakespeare, and was popular enough twice to put on his own one-man show, Seeing Robson. Early in 1853, however, occurred an incident in which during a performance Robson appeared to insult the Roman Catholic faith by a slighting reference to a priest. According to one report it was an unfortunate slip of the tongue; according to another the result of a bet. The Irish audience identified closely with the Catholic church, and any slur on it was an insult to them. Robson did not appear at all for two weeks during January 1853, and although he then played till the end of the season, appearing last on 12 March 1853, he left shortly after for London.