James Henry Marriott

James Henry Marriott (1799 – 25 August 1886) was a New Zealand theatre manager, actor, entertainer, playwright, songwriter, engraver, optician and bookseller. He was born in London, England, and arrived in New Zealand three years after the Wellington area was first settled. In Wellington he was involved with theatrical production at the Ship Hotel, Olympic Theatre, Britannia Saloon and Royal Lyceum. He made himself useful in the early days of the settlement by engraving tombstones, engraving illustrations for newspapers, and grinding lenses for telescopes. He ran a bookshop and sold sheet music, and contributed to the organised social and civic life of Wellington. In New Zealand he was the first regular producer of plays, a playwright (his play Marcilina premiered in 1848), and the first optics professional in that country to make a telescope. He was the father of Alice Marriott and the great-grandfather of Marriott Edgar and Edgar Wallace.

Background Marriott's parents were Leeds optician William Marriott and Alice McGuinness. His wife was Sarah Bateman (died Wellington, 1885), whom he married on 19 May 1822 in Hackney, London.

In July 1842, Marriott left his family and sailed through gales and wrecks with a drunken captain on the 497-ton barque Thomas Sparks. He disembarked at Port Nicholson, New Zealand, nearly seven months later on 31 January 1843, when Wellington was still a new town of three years.

Writing On 11 July 1848 at the Britannia Saloon, Marriott's company premiered his play, Marcilina. According to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, this is believed to have been the first performance of a play written by a New Zealander.

Business, civic and social contribution Marriott reckoned that he "did a bit of everything, from chiselling tombstones to putting in ladies' teeth." On Lambton Quay, Marriott had a bookshop and stationery business, which also sold music, between around 1853 and 1885. He worked for the Tradesmen's Club and the Mechanics' Institute. In 1843, along with his associate Rowland Davis, he was one of the founders of Wellington's Oddfellows Order. His civic duties included "sergeant at arms, inspector of weights and measures, registrar of cattle brands and registrar of dogs." "At most public dinners [Marriott] was employed in arranging the entertainment and decorating the hall."