Comedian, born in Liverpool; at 23 went on the stage, and for some time was a member of the stock company of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham; afterwards acted in America, and made his mark in Tom Taylor's "Our American Cousin" (1858) in the small part of Lord Dundreary, which he gradually developed into an elaborate and phenomenally successful caricature of an English peer, and in which he appeared thousands of times in America and England; scored a great success also as David Garrick in Robertson's well-known comedy (1826-1881).