Thomas James Serle

Thomas James Serle (1798–1889) was an English dramatist and actor. He was also a journalist with the Weekly Dispatch.

Early life Serle was born in Gracechurch Street, London, on 28 October 1798, and educated for the Bar. Between the ages of 16 and 18, he wrote four five-act plays, which were presented to Drury Lane Theatre by Peter Moore, then on its committee, without result.

At the age of 18 Serle played Romeo at the Theatre Royal, Liverpool, with John Vandenhoff as Mercutio, in Romeo and Juliet; and soon after (1820 and 1821) played the lead in Hamlet at Cambridge, Croydon, and seven times at the Regency Theatre, Tottenham Court Road. He brought out a five-act play there, and acted the principal character, Rupert Duval, over three nights. Serle next played a season at the old Royalty Theatre, opening in Hamlet, at the time when Clarkson Frederick Stanfield painted the scenery there.

Serle's next production was The Yeoman's Daughter, a domestic drama, in two acts, in which, with the Lyceum Company, at the Adelphi Theatre, he played the principal character. In 1833 was produced The Ghost Story, two acts, under Bond's management at the Adelphi.

In 1836, Serle spoke the Prologue to the tragedy of Ion, on its first representation at Covent Garden, for Macready's benefit, and wrote The Witch's Son, two acts. He lectured on the plays of Shakespeare and dramatic subjects at institutions in London, Liverpool, and Manchester. Henry Crabb Robinson thought well of the plot. Serle was acting manager, for the season 1838–9, and produced Agnes Bernauer, two acts. In 1840, he brought out Master Clarke, a play in five acts, on the subject of Richard Cromwell, at the Haymarket Theatre — Cromwell being acted by Macready. In autumn of 1840, he wrote four plays on the history of France, to be read as lectures, and read them at London institutions: The Proscribed, The Jacquerie, The Queen and the Minister and Gaston de Foix, each in five acts. From then on, Serle began to concentrate on his other interests. He managed for John Mitchell (1806–1874) the English Company in Paris, 1844–5, when Macready and Helen Faucit played there; and wrote the opening address for Sadler's Wells (the Mary Warner–Samuel Phelps management). He produced there The Priest's Daughter, a tragedy. In the end he gave up the theatrical world.

Works Two early five-act plays, published but not known to have been performed, were Raffaele Cimaro (1819), and Fulvius Valeus (1823). He wrote the paper on Ben Jonson in No. 2 of the Retrospective Review.

In 1838 and 1839 Serle travelled over the parts of France connected with Joan of Arc. He wrote The Players: or the Stage of Life (1847), a novel and Joan of Arc, a romance, published by Henry Colburn.

Journalist The Weekly Dispatch was a high-circulation popular newspaper in Victorian Britain. Serle wrote in it, under the pen name "Caustic". He served as its editor in the 1870s.

Family In 1836 Serle married Cecilia (1812–1890), daughter of Vincent Novello, and sister of Mary Cowden Clarke and Clara Novello. She had been a pupil of the singing teacher Mrs. Blaine Hunt, and performed in public. Their daughter Emma Clara (died 1877) was a soprano.