# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Penley, William Sydney

​PENLEY, WILLIAM SYDNEY (1852–1912), actor-manager, was born at St. Peter's, near Broadstairs, 19 November 1852, the only son of William George Robinson Penley, schoolmaster, by his wife, Emily Ann Wootton, widow of Walter Pilcher. His grandfather was Aaron Edwin Penley [q.v.], water-colour painter to William IV. The family had old theatrical associations; his great-uncles William, Sampson, and Belville Penley were all actor-managers, and his great-aunt, Rosina Penley, was an actress. Penley attended his father's school, Grove House Academy, St. Peter's, for a short time, and when his father removed to Charles Street, Westminster, he also attended there. He then became one of the children of the Chapel Royal, St. James's, and was subsequently a chorister of Westminster Abbey. From the Abbey he went as chief bass vocalist to Bedford chapel, Bloomsbury, where the incumbent was John Chippendall Montesquieu Bellew [q.v.], the well-known preacher, father of the actor, Harold Kyrle Bellew. He also sang at the Russian Embassy chapel. After apprenticeship with a City firm of milliners and fancy-goods manufacturers, he joined the staff of Copestake, Moore, Crampton, & Co.
Through the introduction of William Terriss, Penley obtained an engagement at the old Court Theatre under the management of Marie Litton [q.v.], and first appeared on the professional stage at that theatre on 26 December 1871 in the farce My Wife's Second Floor by John Maddison Morton. His salary was thirteen shillings a week. In the following October he played in T. F. Plowman's Zampa, and subsequently appeared at the Holborn Theatre in Doctor Faust. In 1875 he appeared at the Royalty Theatre, under the management of Madame Selina Dolaro, in Trial by Jury by (Sir) W. S. Gilbert and (Sir) Arthur Sullivan. After touring in comic opera, he returned to London to appear at the Strand Theatre (October 1876) in the comic opera, Princess Toto, by W. S. Gilbert and Alfred Cellier. He remained at the Strand Theatre under the management of Mrs. Swanborough for three years, appearing principally in burlesque. In April 1879, at the Royalty, he appeared with success in Sullivan's The Zoo and in Crutch and Toothpick by G. R. Sims. Later in that year he toured the provinces in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera H.M.S. Pinafore. In March 1880 he appeared at the Gaiety in La Voyage en Suisse with the Hanlon-Lees, a well-known troupe of pantomimists, and accompanied them to the United States. He reappeared in London at the Globe Theatre (July 1882) in The Vicar of Bray, and at the Comedy Theatre (September 1882) in Robert Planquette's Rip Van Winkle.
Penley made the first notable advance ​in his profession when he appeared as Lay Brother Pelican in Chassaigne's Falka at the Comedy (October 1883), an exceedingly droll performance. A greater opportunity followed when he was chosen by (Sir) Charles Hawtrey to succeed (Sir) Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the title-rôle of The Private Secretary, when that play was transferred to the Globe Theatre in May 1884. He played this part for two years and firmly established his reputation. He remained with Hawtrey for some years at the Globe, at the Comedy, and at the Strand, appearing in many plays of varied merit. His long engagement with Hawtrey having terminated, Penley appeared at Terry's Theatre (1890) in New Lamps for Old and The Judge; the following January at Toole's Theatre in Our Regiment, and later at the Savoy Theatre in The Nautch Girl. In 1891 he returned to the Comedy Theatre for a short time.
Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas—the play with which Penley's name is chiefly associated—was produced on 29 February 1892 at Bury St. Edmunds. The humorous possibilities of the piece were only discovered a short time after its production. Gradually it was developed into the famous farce as produced at the Royalty Theatre on 21 December 1892. Penley's remarkable impersonation of the part of Lord Fancourt Babberley became the talk of the town, and the play, transferred to the Globe Theatre early in 1893, settled down to the longest run on record for any farce, being played continuously over a period of four years in 1,466 consecutive performances. Charley's Aunt has since been translated into several languages and played all over the world. In 1898 Penley produced in the provinces A Little Ray of Sunshine, and he re-opened at the Royalty Theatre with this play in December 1898. He then acquired the lease of the Novelty Theatre, which he re-named the Great Queen Street Theatre, and opened on 24 May 1900 with the same play. At this theatre he also revived The Private Secretary and Charley's Aunt, but without much success, and his acting career ended with the run of the last-mentioned play in 1901. He retired to Working, where he lived a quiet country life, until his death at St. Leonards-on-Sea 11 November 1912. Most of the large fortune which he had made from the success of Charley's Aunt was lost in later years.
Penley's face was his fortune. He had a great sense of humour; but it was the expression of his countenance and the dry, metallic quality of his voice which had such irresistible effect on his audience.
Penley was an active churchman, one of the proprietors of the Church Family Newspaper, and also a prominent freemason. He was the author of a little work, Penley on Himself, published in 1884. He married in 1880 Mary Ann, daughter of William Arthur Ricketts, of Cuckfield, Sussex, who survived him, together with three sons and three daughters.
[The Times, 12 November 1912; Daily Telegraph, 12 November 1912; private information; personal knowledge.]
J. P.