Oxberry, William Henry

1808

1852

This actor was born on 21 April 1808, the son of William Oxberry (q.v.), actor and author. After some time in his father’s printing office and an apprenticeship with a surgeon, young Oxberry appeared in some amateur theatricals and then made his professional debut at the Olympic Theatre on 17 March 1825 as Sam Swipes in “Exchange No Robbery”. Over the next 27 years he made a career as a comic dancer and as an actor in burlesques. He appeared at most London theatres, and he also managed a few, including the Lyceum (English Opera House) in the 1830s and the theatre at Windsor. In 1841 at Covent Garden he acted Flute in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and in June 1843 he was at the Princess’s playing the ridiculous schoolmaster in “The Swedish Ferryman”. Oxberry wrote a number of forgotten plays, most of which have remained unpublished. He died from lung disease on 29 February 1852, leaving behind a widow and three children whom he wished would be supported by the income from his 30 plays yet unacted. In his will he also requested that his heart be preserved in some medical museum as a specimen of a broken heart. Those requests, and others in his will concerning his funeral, were not observed. He was the editor of “Oxberry’s Weekly Budget of Plays” (1843-1844) and “Oxberry’s Dramatic Chronology” (1850).