William Thomas Moncrieff

William Thomas Moncrieff (24 August 1794 – 3 December 1857) commonly referred as W.T. Moncrieff was an English dramatist.

Biography

He was born in London, the son of a Strand tradesman named Thomas. The name Moncrieff he assumed for theatrical purposes. Moncrieff's first success was at Astley’s circus with The Dandy Family an equestrian drama, and in 1820 The Lear of Private Life, with Junius Brutus Booth as hero, enjoyed a long run. He supplied Drury Lane with a romantic melodrama called The Cataract of the Ganges; or, The Rajah’s Daughter which gave the national theatre an opportunity of displaying upon its stage both real horses and a real waterfall. This work became very popular with performances at provincial theatres throughout England. In 1830, he conceived the operatic drama Van Diemen's Land, concerning the notorious bush-ranger Michael Howe. But his most popular production was Tom and Jerry (1821), a dramatization of Life in London by Pierce Egan, whose Boxiana Moncrieff had begun to publish in 1818. He managed Vauxhall Gardens in 1827 and in 1833 leased the City Theatre. Soon afterward his sight failed, and in 1843 he became totally blind. The following year he entered the Charterhouse in London. Moncrieff's theatrical reminiscences were published in the Sunday Times in 1851. He edited Selections from Dramatic Works (London, 1850), containing 24 of his own plays.

Sources

• The New Century Cyclopedia of Names, ed. Clarence L. Barnhart (Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1954). p. 2788

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: