Boucicault, Dion, 1820-1890

Dionysius Lardner Boucicault was born in Dublin on 26th December 1820. His Irish mother Anna, nee Darley, was married to Samuel Boursiquot, but it is likely that Dion was the son of Dr. Dionysius Lardner, who was closer in age to Anna than her husband. In 1828, Anna and her children followed Lardner to London when he became Professor of Philosophy and Astronomy at the new University College. Dion attended several schools in London, but it was a production of Pizarro in 1835 which inspired his interest in the theatre; he wrote a sketch, Napoleon’s Old Guard, to follow the main play. When Anna returned to her family in Dublin, it was made clear that the theatre was not a respectable occupation, so Dion was apprenticed to Lardner as a Civil Engineer. During this time, Lardner had given up his chair at the university to write his Cabinet Cyclopedia and to carry out experiments involving the railway. Dion detested both the work and his ‘guardian’ and set off to the provinces to find work in the theatre.

With a quarterly allowance from Lardner, Boucicault acted under the name Lee Moreton in amateur productions in Cheltenham and in Gloucester, swiftly gaining title roles. Charles Hill took Boucicault to the Brighton Theatre Royal as part of his professional company, during which time Boucicault wrote A Lover by Proxy and A Legend of the Devil's Dyke . Frustrated by Hill’s reaction to his plays, Boucicault returned to Cheltenham, then to Bristol's Theatre Royal (under the management of Mrs. McCready) where acted in his own play Lodgings to Let . This was performed anonymously as an afterpiece to plays starring Benjamin Webster, manager of the Haymarket in London. The transfer of Lodgings (and Boucicault) to the Haymarket proved disastrous with a more sophisticated audience and Boucicault soon retreated to the Hull Theatre Royal, where his first full length play, Jack Sheppard, was performed. Although the play was successful, personal disagreements and reaching the end of his allowance from Lardner sent Boucicault back to Dublin in 1840, to work briefly as a clerk in the brewery belonging to the Guinness family.

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