Henry Irving: All Somerset’s a stage

Sir Henry Irving, one of Britain’s most celebrated actors, and the first to be knighted, was born in Keinton Mandeville on 6 February 1838, as plain John Brodribb (he later changed his name to Henry Irving for professional reasons). However, by 1842 the family had moved to Bristol, and shortly after, when his parents moved to London, young John was sent to live with an aunt near St Ives, Cornwall, not rejoining them in the capital until 1849.

So, just how ‘Somerset’ was Irving? In February 1905, he concluded a speech at a Bath event in his honour by declaring that he was “a Somerset man.” On his death on 13 October 1905, Somerset newspapers were quick to claim him, with anecdotes of the Brodribbs’ Somerset life and his own later connections with the county.

Irving assessed his ‘Somersetness’ in a speech to the Liverpool Somersetshire Society at the Adelphi Hotel on 29 November 1904. His memories of his birthplace “were rather vague”, and he had only revisited Keinton Mandeville once, when “I was shown a stone edifice supposed to be my old home… The place was quite unfamiliar to me” and he doubted “the authenticity of that ancient dwelling.”

One reason was the lack of any memorial on it: “It is significant that the spot is marked by no colossal bust, no trophy for triumphal show. I do not hear that even a mural adorns the walls which may have stifled the uproar of my infantile protests against the discomforts of being washed. Mind you, I don’t say this in any spirit of resentment. Don’t suppose that I am suggesting that you should organise a subscription and set off to Keinton Mandeville in a body to repair any oversight on the part of the local authorities. After all, the historical evidence is doubtful; and it would be awkward to affix a mural table to that old house, only to find the tradition extinguished by some conscientious archaeologist who proved that my early minstrelsy never made those rafters ring.”

Following his death, local papers reported that such a memorial should be organised. It took 20 years, but a subscription drive was initiated by a Mr Green-Armytage of Bath, who reported a “fairly good” response, especially from the acting profession, but he complained that “the people of Somerset have shown little interest in the memorial.”

Sir John Martin-Harvey, a long-time actor colleague of Irving, unveiled a tablet above the front door of what was by then called Irving House on 31 October 1925. He declared “that not only the present men and women of Somerset but generations to come shall know where this great man was born.” The Taunton Courier said: “In many quarters it has been felt that the absence of such a memorial was almost a reproach to his native shire”, and this unveiling “can only be regarded as the discharge of a debt that is long overdue.”

Over time, this memorial became worn, and in 2010, two professional actors from Frome, husband-and-wife duo of Jeremy Burnham and Veronica Strong, planned a new plaque. This was supported by the Irving Society, the actors’ union Equity, and the parish council, and SSDC approved a blue plaque on what is a Grade II listed building. It was agreed that the existing 1925 memorial need not be removed. The new plaque was unveiled on 6 February 2011, the anniversary of Irving’s birth, by the actor Richard Briers.

This story demonstrates how local communities can, even with outside prompting and support, claim their native celebrities as part of their own heritage, especially when they are people of national or international renown. Many physical memorials celebrate Irving in London (including burial in Westminster Abbey) and elsewhere, but the two memorials on his Keinton Mandeville birthplace cement his Somerset roots.