William Oxberry

William Oxberry (1784–1824) was an English actor. He also wrote extensively on the theatre, and was a printer and publisher.

Early life Oxberry was the son of an auctioneer, born on 18 December 1784 in Moorfields, London, opposite Bedlam. After a false start as a pupil of George Stubbs at age 14, he worked in a bookseller's shop, and in the office in Tottenham Court Road of a printer named Seale, an amateur actor. At a stable near Queen Anne Street, and subsequently at the theatre in Berwick Street, he took on parts including Hassan in The Castle Spectre ("Monk" Lewis) and Rosse in Macbeth. He joined, as a low comedian, Trotter's company (Worthing, Hythe, and Southend theatres).

Metropolitan actor In 1807, Henry Siddons recommended Oxberry to the Kemble management at Covent Garden Theatre. He made his first appearance on 7 November 1807 as Robin Roughhead in Fortune's Frolic, but was not a critical success. At the close of the season he was released from his engagement, and went to Glasgow, where he made a success as Sir David Daw in the Wheel of Fortune. In Aberdeen, he was tried as Michael Ducas in Adalgitha: he then played other tragic roles. After the opening of the new Drury Lane theatre his name is not mentioned until the end of the season. At Drury Lane, he remained until the close of the season of 1819–20. He created many original parts in plays, dramatic or musical, by Arnold, Thomas John Dibdin, James Kenney, George Soane, and others.

Oxberry, as a comic actor, was not always a distinguished performer. He was compared only to John Emery as Tyke, John Lump, Robin Roughhead; his Slender, Sir David Daw, and Petro were held to have been unsurpassed. When Robert William Elliston reduced the salaries at Drury Lane, he refused the offer, and starred at minor theatres (the Surrey, the East London, and Sadler's Wells).