AUSTRALIA - CANADA CONNECTION

[Patrick O'Neill]

On Saturday, September 27 the following request was sent to Candrama:

A leading actor from the Ballarat gold fields theatres ended up in
Canada. I am seeking information about Henry Neil Warner, who was
tragedian and leading actor at the Ballarat Theatre Royal and other
Australian theatres in the early 1860's, before leaving for England
circa 1865.
I have a 1904 reference which states that he was last heard of as a
teacher of elocution in Toronto. Does anyone know whether Warner had a
Canadian stage career?

Peter Freund
Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat

I have sent the following response to the request, and thought that I
would share it with the other subscribers to Candrama.

     Warner was connected to the theatres in Saint John, New
Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Montreal.  The problem that you
might be having in tracing his career is that he acted primarily
under the name of Neil Warner in America and Canada.

     Henry Neil Warner was born at Bury St. Edmonds, England, 5
April 1831.  He came from a family of clergymen, and this caused
him to take the name Warner when he went on the stage.  His real
name was William Burton Lockwood.  His career began in England at
Brighton, Sussex, under Henry Farren's management in 1852. In 1854,
he went to Australia.  In 1865 he returned to England and may have
performed the role of Hamlet at the Marylebone Theatre as 6 March
1865. [Another source states his first London performance was as
Horatio in Hamlet at the Marylebone Theatre prior to leaving for
Australia.]  In May, 1865, he performed the role of Othello at the
Sadlers Wells Theatre.  He came to America in 1869, and made his
debut at the old New York Theatre on 20 February, as Othello to the
Iago of McKean Buchanan.  He toured in the States, and became the
leading actor at the Boston Theatre Stock Company in 1870-71.  He
was back in New York by 10 April 1871 at the Niblo's Garden for
their revival of "Richard III."  In November, he was the leading
man at the Brooklyn Theatre, where he met and married Belle
Chippendale on 16 March 1874.  Possibly through connections made in
Boston, the couple spent the 1874-76 seasons with Nannery and
McDowell acting primarily in the New England and the Canadian
Maritime regions.  [Mrs. Warner acted under her maiden name Miss
Chippendale when they first appeared in Halifax in June 1874.]  As
a member of McDowell's company, the couple first went to Montreal
to perform at the Theatre Royal on 7 December 1875 where Neil
Warner performed the role of Sir Giles Overreach in "A New Way To
Pay Old Debts."  When the Academy of Music, Montreal, opened on 15
November 1875, under the management of E.A. McDowell, the Warners
were not members of the company.  They did join the troupe six
weeks later and Neil Warner again opened as Sir Giles Overreach in
"A New Way To Pay Old Debts" on 1 January 1876.  Other Warner roles
during McDowell's first season at the Academy included Robert
Macaire, Shylock, and Macbeth.
    Warner and his wife were great favourites in Montreal, where
they remained for the next fifteen years and raised a family of
three girls.  He opened a school of elocution in Montreal and
directed a number of amateur productions.  He performed at the
Academy of Music throughout this period and his final performance
there was on 3 October 1891, when he played Macbeth to the Lady
Macbeth of Modjeska.  His farewell performance in Montreal was 19
September 1892, when he appeared at the Windsor Hall in "Othello",
supported by Mrs. Warner and amateurs (including W.A. Tremayne who
became a dramatist in New York later).  He returned to New York
where he was engaged by Augustin Daly on a four year contract, but
difficulties arose between the two men and they mutually terminated
the contract.  He then joined the "Aristocracy" Company.  The
remainder of his career was spent in America touring in Shakespeare
and other classical fare.  On a western tour he suffered a stroke
and died in New York City on 15 June 1901.
    One reason that the family left Montreal was to start their
three daughters in theatrical careers.  The oldest daughter,
Marien, acted in the 1890s but gave up the theatre to marry E.S.
Butterfield of Boston in 1900.  The second daughter, Leonore acted
under her father's real name, Leonore Lockwood, while the youngest
daughter acted as Affie Warner.