Henry Thornton Craven

Henry Thornton Craven (born Henry Thornton; 26 February 1818 – 13 April 1905) was an English actor and dramatist.

Early life and career Craven was born in London in 1818, son of Robert Thornton, a schoolmaster in Holborn. Starting life as a publisher's clerk in Paternoster Row, he subsequently acted as amanuensis to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and began writing for Bentley's Miscellany. Ambitious to become a dramatist, he took to the stage, making his first appearance at York in 1840 and his London debut soon after at Fanny Kelly's Theatre in Soho.

In 1841 he was acting on the Sunderland circuit, and in 1842 his first play, Bertram the Avenger, was produced at North Shields. Craven produced his second play, Miserrimus, at Portsmouth late in 1843. In the spring of 1844 he joined Robert Keeley and Mary Anne Keeley at the Lyceum Theatre, London, and after both acting and writing for the stage of the smaller theatres he was in 1850 engaged at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where, on the occasion of William Macready's farewell in February 1851, he played Malcolm to the tragedian's Macbeth. In Sydney they fulfilled a successful engagement at the Royal Victoria Theatre. In partnership with the actor W. H. Stephens, Craven then refurbished the little (over 1,000 seats) Lyceum theatre in the same city, which as "Our Lyceum" opened in 1855. In April 1857 the Cravens appeared at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, in several of Craven's own pieces.

Later career In the dual role of actor and dramatist Craven scored again at the New Royalty on 17 October 1866, when Meg's Diversion opened, with himself as Jasper, the play running 330 nights. In 1873 he made his last provincial tour. His last play Too True, an historical drama, was produced at the Duke's, opening on 22 January 1876, and in this he made his final appearance on the stage.

Many of his numerous plays were published by Duncombe, Lacy, and French. In 1876 he published a novel, The Old Tune.

He was described in 1880: "Mr Craven is a genuine humorist, and contrives to blend the pathetic and comic sides of human nature in a manner that places him in the front rank of living actors. Since Mr Robson, whose style Mr Craven recalls, no English actor has equalled him in presenting beneath a droll exterior underlying touches of subtle pathos."

Craven died at his home in Clapham Park, on 13 April 1905, and his widow in Eastbourne on 20 March 1908. Both were buried in Norwood Cemetery. Two of their four children survived them, a daughter and a son, Tom Sidney Craven, who became a dramatist and actor.