Robert Wyndham

Robert Henry Wyndham (8 April 1814 – 16 December 1894) was a British actor-manager. From 1851 to 1875 he was actor-manager in Edinburgh, where notable plays of the day were performed and where Henry Irving's early career took place. Early career Wyndham was born in Dublin in 1814. He made his first stage appearance in Salisbury in 1836, paying the theatre manager so he could play the long-studied role of Norval in Douglas. Six years later he played Romeo at Birmingham to the Juliet of Ellen Tree, and subsequently was seen at the Tuileries Garden before Louis Philippe I as Colonel Freelove in A Day after the Wedding. During 1844 he appeared at the Adelphi, Glasgow, and next year he fulfilled his ambition of making a prominent debut at Edinburgh (filling the place vacated by Leigh Murray who moved to London): he appeared as Sir Thomas Clifford in The Hunchback by Sheridan Knowles to the Julia of Helen Faucit at the Theatre Royal, and made a favourable impression. Among the parts allotted to him during the ensuing season were Mercutio, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal, and Rashleigh Osbaldistone in Rob Roy by William Henry Murray. In 1846 he married Rose, daughter of minor actor William Saker and sister of Edward Saker. She developed a special aptitude for training juvenile troupes in ballet and pantomime. In May 1849 Wyndham appeared at the Adelphi Theatre, Edinburgh, as Orlando, and in 1850 he was Brycefield in Marston's Strathmore.