# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Wyndham, Charles

​WYNDHAM, Sir CHARLES (1837–1919), actor-manager, whose original name was Charles Culverwell, was born in Liverpool 23 March 1837, the only son of Major Richard Culverwell, doctor. He was educated abroad, at King's College, London, and at the College of Surgeons and Peter Street anatomical school, Dublin. He took the degree of M.R.C.S. in 1857 and that of L.M. in 1858. His first appearance on the stage was in amateur theatricals at Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair's private theatre at St. Andrews. In 1862 he went on the stage in London. Later in that year he went to America, and took service as an army surgeon in the federal army during the Civil War. He served till the War was nearly over, though during the winters he appeared on the stage in New York, at one time in a company which included John Wilkes Booth (who shortly afterwards assassinated Abraham Lincoln). In 1865 he returned to England and, after some appearances in provincial theatres, came to London, where during the next two years he was engaged at the Royalty Theatre, at the St. James's under Miss Herbert, and at the Queen's Theatre in a company which included (Sir) Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. In May 1868 Wyndham began a brief and unsuccessful management of the Princess's Theatre. Then, in the summer of 1869, he sailed for the United States, where, after playing leading comedy parts in New York, he began in 1871 a two years' tour with his own company, the repertory including the comedies of Thomas William Robertson [q.v.]. Subsequently he acted in the United States in 1882–1883, 1888, 1904, 1909, and 1910.
In May 1874 Wyndham appeared in London in one of his most popular parts, Bob Sackett in the farce Brighton, an anglicized version of Saratoga, by Bronson Howard. In 1875 he began a series of afternoon performances at the Crystal Palace, where in three years he produced more than one hundred plays ranging from Greek tragedy to farce. In December 1875 he took the play Brighton to the Criterion Theatre, and in April 1876 ​became manager of that theatre, which he made his London stage till 1899. His earliest successes here were in farce especially in Pink Dominoes, by James Albery; and he maintained his fame as a light comedian of grace and gaiety and a skilful producer of plays. Always anxious to increase the range of his acting, he appeared in 1886 in the title-part of David Garrick, by T. W. Robertson, and this became his best-known character: in January 1888 he gave the play in German (his own translation) before royal audiences in Germany and Russia. As Charles Surface and in other parts in the old comedy he was much admired. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the comedies of Henry Arthur Jones (The Bauble Shop, The Case of Rebellious Susan, The Liars) showed Wyndham's varied powers at their ripest.
In November 1899 Wyndham opened a new theatre, which he had built and which took his name, in Charing Cross Road. Here he played the title-part in Cyrano de Bergerac; but his excursions into romance were not appreciated by the public. At Wyndham's Theatre, too, he produced Mrs. Gorringe's Necklace, the first of four comedies by Hubert Henry Davies, which gave him the best parts of his later years. In 1903 he opened another theatre, the New Theatre, which he had built in St. Martin's Lane. Till his failing memory led to his retirement he continued to act well in revivals of his former successes. In 1902 he was knighted on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward VII. He died in London 12 January 1919.
Wyndham married twice: first, in 1860 Emma Silberrad (died 1916), granddaughter of Baron Silberrad, of Hesse-Darmstadt; by her he had four children of whom one son and one daughter survived him; secondly, in 1916 Mary, youngest daughter of Charles Moore, parliamentary agent, and widow of the dramatist, James Albery; she had first acted in Wyndham's company in 1881, and was its leading lady from 1885 to the end of his career; she was also his partner in the management and building of his theatres.
[The Times, 13 January 1919; T. E. Pemberton, Sir Charles Wyndham, 1904; private information. Portrait, Royal Academy Pictures, 1917.]
H. H. C.