Benjamin Victor - Poet-laureate of Ireland

Biography

Poet and friend of Thomas Sheridan. Deputy manager of Dublin Theatre (1746-1759). Drury Lane treasurer (1760-1778). Named poet-laureate of Ireland in 1755. In 1755 he published The Widow of the Wood,¹ and in 1761 came his magnum opus The History of the Theatres in London and Dublin. Oman (1958) gives his former trades as barber and linen trader.²

Also known as

• Old Victor

Life with James Boswell

Boswell met him at Thomas Sheridan's on November 30, 1762, and described him as "an honest, indolent, conversable man [who] has a great many anecdotes".

Notes

Note 1: A description of a first ed. of The Widow in the Wood on the Abebooks used books search engine goes as follow: "A scandalous book which brought such dishonor upon the name of the Staffordshire Wolseleys, that one descendant of orthey's fourth husband bought up and burned as many copies as he could. The "widow the wood" was Ann Northey, whose dalliances and serial marriages are chronicled by the theatre manager, literary dabbler, and poet-laureate of Ireland Benjamin Victor".

Note 2: In Oman, Carola. (1958) David Garrick., p. 79, 89. (Read it now at Questia)

Recommended literature

Early editions of both The Widow in the Wood and The History of the Theatres in London and Dublin (sometimes given as History of the Stage in... are often available from the AbeBooksused books search engine

Mentioned in

Benjamin Victor is mentioned in:

• London Journal 1762-1763