William Elton

William Elton (1 May 1847 – 27 January 1903) was an English comedian, actor and singer, who played in London and New York theatres and had a successful career in Australia, playing comic opera and pantomime.

History

Elton was born William John Shuttleworth ("Shuttlesworth" according to one source.) He was attracted to the theatre while quite young, reportedly appearing at the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, at age 10. He spent some of his school years at Scotch College, Melbourne,

By 1867, he was playing comic roles at the Queen's Theatre, Manchester.

Australia Though a relative unknown in Britain, he became a great favorite in Australia, and attracted good houses wherever he appeared. Elton was known for playing Lurcher opposite Alice Barnett's Mrs Privett in Dorothy, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard, Old Macclesfield in E. G. Lankester's The Guv'nor, Bob Acres in The Rivals, Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops to Conquer, and Ulysses Tinkler in Arthur Shirley's As Large as Life.

He was a keen sportsman, and rode with the Adelaide Hunt Club whenever he was playing in that city.

Last years Elton joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1897 and played two seasons with them. but never followed up. In later years he suffered greatly from a cancerous tumor, for which he underwent surgery in New York.

Personal Elton married Fanny Eliza Lewis in England, on 1 September 1872. ) was a comic actor also, and successful writer for the stage. He toured Australia with the Hawtrey Comedy Company. On 29 March 1901, in Melbourne, he married Adela Florence Furniss Harrison, adopted daughter of Mrs. Amos Norcott (aka Miss Ida Osborne). Fanny Elton, later Fanny Elton Barnard. She may have been the student at Hawksburn College in 1888 who excelled at elocution and had ambitions as a lady of leisure. Frank Elton ("still at boarding school" in 1895 so born c. 1880)