George Selth Coppin
Encyclopedia
George Selth Coppin was a comic actor
, entrepreneur
and politician
, active in Australia
.
, Sussex
, England
, son of George Selth Coppin (1794-1854) and Elizabeth Jane, née Jackson. His grandfather had been a well-known clergyman at Norwich
. George Selth Coppin Senior, studied for the medical profession but abandoned this to go join a group of travelling actors. George Coppin Junior (he rarely used his middle name, Selth) became an assistant in his father's company, George and his sister performed their own act by 1826. At the age of 18 Coppin had an engagement at the Woolwich theatre, and soon afterwards was playing at Richmond, where he became low comedian at a salary of twenty-five shillings a week. He next obtained an engagement at the Queen's Theatre
, London, and in subsequent years played as first low comedian in the provinces and at Abbey Street theatre, Dublin, where he had a long acting engagement. There Coppin met Maria Watkins Burroughs, nine years older than Coppin. They lived together in 1842-48.
, Tasmania
in January 1845. At Launceston he formed a company, recruited George Herbert Rogers
, and in June 1845 took it to Melbourne
and opened at the Queen's Theatre, recently built by John Thomas Smith
. In August 1846 Coppin went to Adelaide
, converted a billiard room into the New Queen's Theatre with a 700-seat capacity, and on 2 November 1846 began his season with The King and the Comedian, Coppin playing the part of Stolbach (the comedian). Coppin subsequently played a variety of parts including Sir Peter Teazle, Jacques Strop in Robert Macaire, Jemmy Twitcher in The Golden Farmer, Don Caesar in Don Caesar de Bazan and many others in forgotten plays. In 1848 Coppin transferred the management of the theatre to John Lazar
.. Coppin suffered losses in copper-mining and with the exodus to the Victorian gold rush
, he became insolvent. Coppin left Adelaide and returned to Victoria in December 1851. Coppin tried his fortunes briefly as a gold-digger without success, began playing at Geelong, then returned to Adelaide in 1853 to pay his creditors 20 shillings in the pound. Still in 1853, Coppin visited England where he acted in the provinces. There he met Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
, engaged a company, and returned to Australia bringing with them an iron theatre in sections which was erected in Melbourne as the Princess Theatre
. Brooke was to establish a great reputation in Australia. In July 1855 Coppin was playing Colonel Damas with him in The Lady of Lyons, and about this time they became partners. They bought the Theatre Royal and the Cremorne Gardens
and spent £60,000 on them. In 1859 Coppin imported six camel
s from Aden
as exhibits for the Cremorne Gardens menagerie and in 1860 he sold them for £300 to the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria
who used them on the Burke and Wills expedition
.
The partnership of Brooks and Coppin was dissolved in 1859 and Coppin, having become security for a large sum in connection with the Melbourne and Suburban railway, was in financial difficulties again. The line was sold and he became freed from his liability. In 1862 he built the Haymarket Theatre on the south side of Bourke Street
, and in 1863 Mr and Mrs Charles Kean
played a season there.
In April 1858 Coppin began to take an interest in public affairs — he became a councillor in the Richmond municipality, and in October 1858 was elected for the South Western Province in the Victorian Legislative Council
for a term of five years. In 1859 he brought in a transfer of property bill which was passed in the council and rejected in the assembly. Three years later it became law, James Service
taking charge of it in the assembly, and Coppin in the council. This measure, often referred to as the "Torrens Act", has proved to be a very valuable one. In 1864 Coppin again lost his money and went to the United States. At a farewell dinner he was presented with a cheque for £300 and was given a public reception when he returned in 1866. He joined Messrs Harwood, Stewart and Hennings in the management of the Theatre Royal, and, although they lost heavily at times, Coppin's record from this point is one of increasing prosperity.
Coppin was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly
in 1874 and did useful work; for example, he established post office savings banks. Coppin was opposed to the payment of members of Parliament, and when the act passed to pay them, he gave his salary to charities. Coppin retired from theatrical management on 28 June 1882, but remained a member of the Legislative Assembly until losing his seat in 1889. Soon after he was elected as member for Melbourne Province in the Victorian Legislative Council for a term of five years. He took an interest in the development of Sorrento, Victoria
where he had a seaside home, and kept up his connection with the Old Colonists' Association (which he had founded), the Humane Society, Gordon House and other institutions. When managing the Cremorne Gardens he had brought out the first balloon to ascend in Melbourne, and was responsible for the acclimatization of English thrushes and white swans. He was also the first to suggest the value of camel
s for the Australian interior. He died early in the morning of 14 March 1906, aged 86. He was married twice, firstly in August 1855 to Harriet Hilsden née Bray (Gustavus Brooke's sister-in-law, died 2 September 1859), and then on 4 June 1861 to her daughter Lucy Hilsden, who survived him with their two sons and five daughters. Two of the three daughters of his first marriage also survived Coppin.
Coppin initially made his reputation as an actor but, after he had been a few years in Australia, management took up increasing amounts of his time. He was a comedian, who starred in parts like Paul Pry, Bob Acres, and Lancelot Gobbo. He also played Aminadab Sleek in The Serious Family, Mawworm in The Hypocrite and Tony Lumpkin. James Smith
, a critic of his time, spoke of his success in presenting "the ponderous stolidity and impenetrable stupidity of certain types of humanity--the voice, the gait, the movements, the expression of the actor's features, were all in perfect harmony with the mental and moral idiosyncrasies of the person he represented, so that the man himself stood before you a living reality".
A bronze plaque to Coppin's memory was unveiled at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
, on 26 March 1939. He is there described as "Philanthropist and Father of the Theatre in Victoria".
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, active in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Early life
Coppin was born at SteyningSteyning
Steyning is a small town and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles north of Shoreham-by-Sea...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, son of George Selth Coppin (1794-1854) and Elizabeth Jane, née Jackson. His grandfather had been a well-known clergyman at Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
. George Selth Coppin Senior, studied for the medical profession but abandoned this to go join a group of travelling actors. George Coppin Junior (he rarely used his middle name, Selth) became an assistant in his father's company, George and his sister performed their own act by 1826. At the age of 18 Coppin had an engagement at the Woolwich theatre, and soon afterwards was playing at Richmond, where he became low comedian at a salary of twenty-five shillings a week. He next obtained an engagement at the Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre
The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
, London, and in subsequent years played as first low comedian in the provinces and at Abbey Street theatre, Dublin, where he had a long acting engagement. There Coppin met Maria Watkins Burroughs, nine years older than Coppin. They lived together in 1842-48.
Australia
Coppin decided to leave England in search of other opportunities; a coin toss meant he sailed for Australia, not America, towards the end of 1842, arriving in Sydney on 10 March 1843. Coppin negotiated with Joseph Wyatt and had a successful season at the Royal Victoria Theatre. Coppin bought a hotel but, being quite inexperienced, lost his money and went to HobartHobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in January 1845. At Launceston he formed a company, recruited George Herbert Rogers
George Herbert Rogers
George Herbert Rogers was an Australian stage actor.Rogers was born at St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, the son of Thomas Rogers, a surgeon, and brother of Henry Rogers, the essayist and author of The Eclipse of Faith. George Rogers, having quarrelled with his family, enlisted in the army and...
, and in June 1845 took it to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and opened at the Queen's Theatre, recently built by John Thomas Smith
John Thomas Smith
John Thomas Smith was an Australian politician and seven times Mayor of Melbourne.-Early life:Smith was born at Sydney, the son of John Smith, a Scottish shoemaker, and his wife Elizabeth, née Biggs. He was educated under William Timothy Cape...
. In August 1846 Coppin went to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, converted a billiard room into the New Queen's Theatre with a 700-seat capacity, and on 2 November 1846 began his season with The King and the Comedian, Coppin playing the part of Stolbach (the comedian). Coppin subsequently played a variety of parts including Sir Peter Teazle, Jacques Strop in Robert Macaire, Jemmy Twitcher in The Golden Farmer, Don Caesar in Don Caesar de Bazan and many others in forgotten plays. In 1848 Coppin transferred the management of the theatre to John Lazar
John Lazar
John Lazar was Mayor of Adelaide from 1855 to 1858....
.. Coppin suffered losses in copper-mining and with the exodus to the Victorian gold rush
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
, he became insolvent. Coppin left Adelaide and returned to Victoria in December 1851. Coppin tried his fortunes briefly as a gold-digger without success, began playing at Geelong, then returned to Adelaide in 1853 to pay his creditors 20 shillings in the pound. Still in 1853, Coppin visited England where he acted in the provinces. There he met Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
Gustavus Vaughan Brooke was an Irish stage actor who enjoyed success in Ireland, England and Australia.-Early life:...
, engaged a company, and returned to Australia bringing with them an iron theatre in sections which was erected in Melbourne as the Princess Theatre
Princess Theatre, Melbourne
The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...
. Brooke was to establish a great reputation in Australia. In July 1855 Coppin was playing Colonel Damas with him in The Lady of Lyons, and about this time they became partners. They bought the Theatre Royal and the Cremorne Gardens
Cremorne Gardens, Melbourne
Cremorne Gardens were a pleasure garden established in 1853 on the banks of the Yarra River at Richmond in Melbourne, Australia. The gardens were established by James Ellis who had earlier managed and leased similar gardens of the same name on the banks of the River Thames at Chelsea in London...
and spent £60,000 on them. In 1859 Coppin imported six camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s from Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
as exhibits for the Cremorne Gardens menagerie and in 1860 he sold them for £300 to the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria
Royal Society of Victoria
The Royal Society of Victoria is the oldest learned society in the state of Victoria in Australia.The Royal Society of Victoria was formed in 1859 from a merger between The Philosophical Society of Victoria and The Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science , both founded...
who used them on the Burke and Wills expedition
Burke and Wills expedition
In 1860–61, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres...
.
The partnership of Brooks and Coppin was dissolved in 1859 and Coppin, having become security for a large sum in connection with the Melbourne and Suburban railway, was in financial difficulties again. The line was sold and he became freed from his liability. In 1862 he built the Haymarket Theatre on the south side of Bourke Street
Bourke Street, Melbourne
Bourke Street is one of Melbourne's best known streets. Historically been regarded as Melbourne's "second street", with the main street being Collins Street and "busier than Bourke Street" is a popular catchphrase. Bourke Street has traditionally been Melbourne's entertainment hub...
, and in 1863 Mr and Mrs Charles Kean
Charles Kean
Charles John Kean , was born at Waterford, Ireland, the son of the actor Edmund Kean.After preparatory education at Worplesdon and at Greenford, near Harrow, he was sent to Eton College, where he remained three years...
played a season there.
In April 1858 Coppin began to take an interest in public affairs — he became a councillor in the Richmond municipality, and in October 1858 was elected for the South Western Province in the Victorian Legislative Council
Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...
for a term of five years. In 1859 he brought in a transfer of property bill which was passed in the council and rejected in the assembly. Three years later it became law, James Service
James Service
James Service , Australian colonial politician, was the 12th Premier of Victoria, Australia.-Biography:Service was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, and as a young man worked in a Glasgow tea importing business, Thomas Corbett and Company...
taking charge of it in the assembly, and Coppin in the council. This measure, often referred to as the "Torrens Act", has proved to be a very valuable one. In 1864 Coppin again lost his money and went to the United States. At a farewell dinner he was presented with a cheque for £300 and was given a public reception when he returned in 1866. He joined Messrs Harwood, Stewart and Hennings in the management of the Theatre Royal, and, although they lost heavily at times, Coppin's record from this point is one of increasing prosperity.
Coppin was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...
in 1874 and did useful work; for example, he established post office savings banks. Coppin was opposed to the payment of members of Parliament, and when the act passed to pay them, he gave his salary to charities. Coppin retired from theatrical management on 28 June 1882, but remained a member of the Legislative Assembly until losing his seat in 1889. Soon after he was elected as member for Melbourne Province in the Victorian Legislative Council for a term of five years. He took an interest in the development of Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne...
where he had a seaside home, and kept up his connection with the Old Colonists' Association (which he had founded), the Humane Society, Gordon House and other institutions. When managing the Cremorne Gardens he had brought out the first balloon to ascend in Melbourne, and was responsible for the acclimatization of English thrushes and white swans. He was also the first to suggest the value of camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s for the Australian interior. He died early in the morning of 14 March 1906, aged 86. He was married twice, firstly in August 1855 to Harriet Hilsden née Bray (Gustavus Brooke's sister-in-law, died 2 September 1859), and then on 4 June 1861 to her daughter Lucy Hilsden, who survived him with their two sons and five daughters. Two of the three daughters of his first marriage also survived Coppin.
Coppin initially made his reputation as an actor but, after he had been a few years in Australia, management took up increasing amounts of his time. He was a comedian, who starred in parts like Paul Pry, Bob Acres, and Lancelot Gobbo. He also played Aminadab Sleek in The Serious Family, Mawworm in The Hypocrite and Tony Lumpkin. James Smith
James Smith (journalist)
James Smith was an English-born Australian journalist and encyclopedist.-Early life:Smith was born at Loose near Maidstone, Kent, England, son of James Smith, supervisor of inland revenue, and his wife Mary...
, a critic of his time, spoke of his success in presenting "the ponderous stolidity and impenetrable stupidity of certain types of humanity--the voice, the gait, the movements, the expression of the actor's features, were all in perfect harmony with the mental and moral idiosyncrasies of the person he represented, so that the man himself stood before you a living reality".
A bronze plaque to Coppin's memory was unveiled at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
The Comedy Theatre is a 997 seat theatre in Melbourne. It was built in 1928, and was built in the Spanish style, with a Florentine-style exterior and wrought-iron balconies. It is located at 240 Exhibition Street, and diagonally opposite Her Majesty's Theatre, it is a part of the Marriner Theatre...
, on 26 March 1939. He is there described as "Philanthropist and Father of the Theatre in Victoria".
External links
- Coppin, George Selth at the Victorian Parliament website
- George Coppin 1819-1906 at Live Performance Australia Hallof Fame