His hero wasn't averse to including a bit of headless retribution in his writing:
"Off with his head, and set it on York gates; So York may overlook the town of York." Queen Margaret in Henry VI Part III.
"Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul I swear, I will not dine until I see the same. The rest, that love me, rise and follow me." Gloucester in Richard III.
And so Shakespeare himself lost his head at the hands of the subject of this post. More on this shortly.
*** Warning: There are no references to manhole covers or wrought ironwork in this post ***
I’ve mentioned him briefly before, in Post 25 "The Wall", when I shared a photograph of a load of twigs and branches (and razor wire) obscuring The Astoria houseboat / recording studio moored on the Thames in Hampton, just outside where he used to live. Thought I should give him his own spot.
An actor and playwright, who also dabbled unconvincingly as a wine merchant, David Garrick bought Hampton House, now known as Garrick’s Villa, in 1754 at the age of 37. He and his wife used it as a country retreat and a place of recreation where they frequently entertained friends. Beheadings weren’t commonplace.
Garrick's Villa (previously known as Hampton House)
Born in 1717 in Hereford, he died - of natural causes - in 1779, less than three years after his retirement, at his house in Adelphi Buildings in London. He was interred in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
During his time as owner of Hampton House he made extensive alterations inside. He also employed Robert Adam to re-design the facade in the classical style then in vogue. Capability Brown popped over from nearby Wilderness House to advise on the layout of the gardens, (that would’ve cost a bob or two - hope Garrick checked his topiary after Brown left). Even then the highway from Kingston to Staines separated the house from its riverside land, a tunnel enabling the Garricks to reach their riverside garden privately, without having to cross said highway.
In 1756, a couple of years after buying his Villa, Garrick commissioned the building of a temple on his riverside lawn to celebrate the genius of William Shakespeare. Horace Walpole wrote in 1755 "Garrick is building a grateful temple to Shakespeare". It is typically open to the public from 2 to 5pm on Sunday afternoons from late March until late October. Admission to most events, including Garrick's Exhibition, (see next paragraph), is free, though donations are welcome. The Temple is also available for private events.
Garrick would entertain family and friends there, and used it to house his broad collection of Shakespearean relics. It is now home to an exhibition about Garrick himself, which includes reproductions of works by major 18th century artists including Zoffany, Hogarth, Gainsborough and Reynolds.
Garrick's front lawn, as seen from Hurst Park
From Hurst Park on the Surrey bank of the Thames this photograph tries to give an idea of the “Garrick landscape” on the Hampton bank: his villa (red arrow); his temple, a “Shrine to Shakespeare”, (yellow arrow). You can’t see it here, but a road passes in front of the villa where the highway used to be, and the tunnel remains from Garrick’s time that runs from his villa to the lawn and temple. The Astoria is moored just out of the picture to the right (white arrow).
Replica of Roubiliac's statue inside Garrick's temple
Of all the alterations and additions made by Garrick, his Temple was generally considered the crowning glory. The interior is dominated by a life-sized marble statue of Shakespeare by the Huguenot sculptor, Louis François Roubiliac, commissioned by Garrick in 1758 at a cost of 300 guineas (or £315, and equivalent to roughly £32,000 today). The finished article shows the Bard at the precise moment of inspiration.
The head was modelled on the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, Garrick “helping" by apparently posing for the body. Rumour has it he struck a pose, exclaiming, "Lo, the Bard of Avon!" to show how he wanted the playwright to be portrayed. Indeed, his involvement evidently came across in the finished article to such an extent that its appearance to some was felt more akin to Garrick than Shakespeare. Ultimately not to Garrick's satisfaction, due in part at least to faint veins showing across the face by way of natural blemishes in the marble, Roubiliac was compelled to remove the statue's head and replace it with another from a purer marble.
During Garrick's lifetime the statue was displayed in his temple, while on his death it was willed to the British Museumwhere it was displayed until 1998 in the King's Library, then being moved to the British Library. A copy of the statue was donated by the museum, and is currently displayed inside a recess in Garrick's temple, as shown above.
Horace Walpole wrote in 1755 "Garrick is building a grateful temple to Shakespeare".
Roubiliac's original statue of Shakespeare (head two, I think)
Chandos portrait of Shakespeare (painted 1600 to 1610)
Painting by Zoffany showing the Garricks resting in front of the Temple
(I can’t make it out, but it’s a matter of historical record that the statue can be spotted through the open door, reminding us of Garrick’s devotion to his idol)
A few words on Garrick's career.
Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager, director and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th Century, and was a pupil and friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson.
He promoted realistic acting that departed from the bombastic style entrenched when he first came to prominence. His acting grew popular with audiences, and his direction influenced the style of many of the top actors of the English stage too.
The consensus of critics at the time was that Garrick was not a particularly gifted playwright, but he did help bring Shakespeare to contemporary audiences, and successfully adapted many older plays that might have been forgotten, including many from the Restoration era.
Garrick was educated at Lichfield Grammar School, after which, aged 19, he enrolled in Samuel Johnson’s Edial Hall School. After Johnson's school was closed, he and Garrick, now friends, travelled to London together to seek their fortunes. Upon his arrival in 1737, Garrick and his younger brother George became partners in a wine business, with operations in both London and Lichfield. The business failed to flourish, possibly due to Garrick's distraction by amateur theatricals. Playwright Samuel Foote remarked that he had known Garrick to have barely three quarts of vinegar in his cellar, and yet still called himself a wine merchant.
In 1740, four years after his arrival in London, and with his wine business failing, Garrick saw his first play, a satire, Lethe: or Aesop in the Shade, produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In under a year he was appearing professionally, playing small parts at the Goodman’s Fields Theatre under the management of Henry Gifford.
In 1741 Garrick took London by storm with his performance as Richard III. By 1747 he had earned enough to buy a half-share in managing Drury Lane Theatre.
To escape the pressure of London theatrical life he went to Hampton in 1754, first renting and then buying Hampton House.
Garrick's legacy is interestingly summarised by historian Rev Nicolas Tindal as “The 'deaf' hear him in his 'action, and the 'blind' see him in his 'voice'.”
Memorials include:
The Garrick Club in London, named in his honour (more on which later)
Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare built on Garrick’s Lawn in the riverside gardens of his Villa near Hampton Court, now restored as a memorial to Garrick and his life in Hampton
Garrick’s Ait, previously known as Shank's Eyot, in the Thames is the only island in the UK named after an actor. As with most islands on the Thames near developed places, it became used for growing and harvesting willow / weeping willow trees when they arrived in the country in the 18th Century. Wood from pollarding was used for cricket bats, paddles, ladders, gun stocks, crates and poles for fences. Harvested branches, called osiers, are strong, flexible and resistant to rot and were used for fish traps, basket making and for reinforcing riverbanks.
A monument to Garrick in Lichfield Cathedral bears Johnson's famous comment: “I am disappointed by that stroke of death that has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.”
Garrick’s Villa changed hands a number of times in the 19th Century after the death of his wife in 1822. Early in the 20th it came within a gnat’s whisker of disappearing when, in 1902 and the coming of trams, the road was widened and the house bought by the London United Tramway Company for demolition. Fortunately the General Manager, Clifton Robinson, took a fancy to it and decided to live there.
It was commandeered by the army in WWI and subsequently Flora Hutchinson, who had acquired the house, let it on a repairing lease to Mr James Wooller who neglected to conduct any repairs. In March 1922 Mrs Hutchinson divided the house into seven flats and in 1923 sold the Temple and most of the riverside lawn, along with the kitchen garden and stabling. During WWII the house again became regarded as a country retreat, though in a different sense. Hoping to avoid the blitz, Sir Desmond MacCarthy, Literary Editor of the Sunday Times, moved to Hampton from central London and lived in a large flat on the first floor.
Post-war conditions made it hard for a single owner to maintain the estate. Throughout the late 1940s, 50s and 60s Dr Laura McConnell, who was now the owner, was unsuccessful in seeking planning permission for houses to be built in the grounds. Finally, in 1966, a plan preserving the broad sweep of the lawn between the villa and the Orangery was approved and, under the watchful eye of the Hampton Residents' Association, the development went ahead.
In 1969 the villa, by now a Grade I listed building, was re-converted into nine self-contained apartments. Though much of the interior has been altered over the years, some internal features from Garrick's time have survived.
In October 2008 the villa was badly damaged by fire
The scene was attended by seventy firefighters, and it took over five hours to bring the fire under control. The roof collapsed, and the first and second floors didn't fare much better. All occupants were evacuated and no injuries were reported. Building work had been taking place at the property. English Heritage structural engineers assessed the damage, remarking "The Grade One listed building Garrick's Villa was of national importance. The fire which took place there is a tragedy." London Director Paddy Pugh said it would work with the owner to restore the building.
The villa stands proud today as Grade I listed, and regardless of the fire enough remains of the original landscaping for the garden to be listed Grade II. Several very old trees survive, among them a mulberry visible from the pavement, said to be a scion of the tree originally planted by the Garricks, itself a cutting from Shakespeare's mulberry in Stratford. The tunnel, still there but not open to the public, was designated Grade II in 1974. Together with a small section of the riverside lawn it remained part of the Garrick Estate until the 1970s when it was sold to the owner of The Astoria houseboat, which itself was expertly restored by its present owner in the early 1990s, and is visible both from the river and the towpath on the Surrey bank.
The Astoria houseboat, from Hurst Park
Had to take this picture to make up for my effort in Post 25, when I was perched as close as I could get in a mass of tangled foliage on the north bank of the river, just left of the white arrow.
David Garrick
The Garrick Club
It was founded in 1831, 52 years after Garrick’s death, by a group of literary gentlemen under the patronage of the King’s brother, the so-called egalitarian Duke of Sussex. The all men’s club is located in central London at No. 15 Garrick Street, WC2 where ‘actors and men of refinement and education might meet on equal terms’, where ‘patrons of the drama and its professors were to be brought together’, and where ‘easy intercourse was to be promoted between artists and patrons’. Apparently.
Early members were considered a cosmopolitan and sophisticated bunch that included 24 peers of the realm as well as actors, writers, publishers and musicians who were attracted by the combination of traditions of 18th century literary society with the benefits of a well-run dining and drinking social club.
These days there are about 1,300 members, many of whom are distinguished actors and men of letters in England. All of whom are still men. The original assurance of the committee, “that it would be better that ten unobjectionable men should be excluded than one terrible bore should be admitted”, is taken to prevail today, and thus ensure the lively atmosphere for which the club was so well-known in the 19th century continues into the twenty-first century.
*April 2024 update: Male-only membership is being challenged, (not for the first time), by a group of men at the club who hope for change. Seven women with leading positions in the British establishment have been nominated to join:
Mary Beard (Classicist)
Amber Rudd (Former Home Secretary)
Cathy Newman (Channel 4 News Presenter)
Ayesha Hazarika (New Labour Peer)
Juliet Stevenson (Actress)
Elizabeth Gloster (Former Appeal Court Judge)
Margaret Casely-Hayford (Chair of Trustees of Shakespeare’s Globe, and Chancellor of Coventry University)
Among signatories proposing these women are actor, writer, etc Stephen Fry, broadcaster and journalist Matt Frei and opera singer Ian Bostridge. After securing confirmation from the women that they were happy in principle to be put up as members, the proposers sent their names to the Garrick chair on Wednesday, March 27th requesting guidance on how to proceed.
The release of the women’s names is seen as an attempt by members at damage limitation to try and protect the Garrick’s bruised reputation. This follows a string of high-profile resignations from the club after controversy over publication by the Guardian newspaper of a lengthy list of names of senior figures from Whitehall, politics, the arts and the judiciary as members of a club guilty of repeatedly blocking the admission of women since the 1960s.
Interesting listening to this topic being discussed at length on LBC how many listeners phoned in preferring to just ban this type of elitist and influential club for the wealthy completely, male-only or otherwise.
Red arrow: Garrick's Villa
Yellow arrow: Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare
Blue arrow: The Astoria
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