Harley, John Pritt

1786

1858

The son of John Harley, a draper and silk mercer, and his wife Elizabeth, John Pritt Harley was born in February 1786 and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 5 March. During his apprenticeship with a linen draper in Ludgate Hill and later during his employment as a clerk to Windus and Holloway, attorneys in Chancery Lane, Harley engaged in amateur theatricals and then acted from 1806 at Cranbrook, Canterbury, Brighton, Rochester and Southend. He remained at Southend for some time, where his singing won him favour. After an engagement in the north of England from 1812 to 1814, he engaged with Samuel J. Arnold at the English Opera House, where he made his London debut on 15 July 1815 as Marcelli in “The Devil’s Bridge” and then acted several other roles. Soon after he went over to Drury Lane Theatre, where he first appeared as Lissardo in “The Wonder” on 16 September 1815. Harley remained at Drury Lane, continually appearing before the public in a number of comic heroes, especially in operas, until the 1840s; he made occasional summer excursions and had some engagements at the Lyceum, where for some time he served as stage manager. He also was at the St James’s Theatre under Braham’s management in the mid 1830s. He was with W. C. Macready at Covent Garden in 1838, and remained at that theatre when Mme Vestris and Charles Mathews took up management in 1840. He also joined Charles Kean at the Princess’s Theatre during the 1850s. Harley was much enjoyed in the roles of Shakespearean clowns and as Bobadil in “Every Man in His Humour”. On 20 August 1858, while acting Lancelot Gobbo he suffered a stroke in the wings and died penniless two days later at his residence at No 14, Upper Gower Street; he was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery on 28 August. Harley was considered an eccentric. An avid collector of walking sticks, he amassed some 300, which were in the sale of his effects. He was an original member of the Garrick Club in 1831, and served as master and treasurer of the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund. He never married.