# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Coppin, George Selth

​COPPIN, GEORGE SELTH (1819–1906), actor and Australian politician, born at Steyning, Sussex, on 8 April 1819, was only child of George Selth Coppin (1794-1854) and his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Jane Jackson. His father, of a Norwich family, gave up medical practice for the stage and became a theatrical manager.
As a child the son showed proficiency on the violin, became a musical prodigy at the age of four, and played juvenile characters on the stage a year or two later. At seventeen he took to his profession seriously, and in November 1837 he was a minor member of the Sheffield stock company, playing at that period Osric to the Hamlet of the young starring tragedian Gustavus Vaughan Brooke [q. v.]. Developing into a capable low comedian, he was engaged at the Queen's Theatre, Manchester, early in 1841, and on 7 August in that year (when he was described as 'from the Strand Theatre') began an engagement at the Abbey Street Theatre, Dublin. For a tune he sang comic songs nightly between the pieces, accompanying himself on the violin. Here he met a fascinating American actress, Mrs. Watkins Burroughs, the wife of a provincial actor-manager, with whom he eloped to Australia, landing at Sydney on 10 March 1843. There Coppin acted on sharing terms at the Victoria Theatre, and frequently made 501. a night. But the money thus amassed was lost in commercial enterprises, and he left Sydney in debt. On 5 January 1845 Coppin began a ​starring engagement at Hobart Town, and on 3 March commenced theatrical management at Launceston, where he had a prosperous season. Three months later he took his company to Melbourne, where he rented the Queen's Theatre, making his first appearance there on 21 June, when he played Glavis in 'The Lady of Lyons' and Crack in 'The Turnpike Gate.' Subsequently Coppin removed to Adelaide, where he built a theatre in five weeks, and opened- it on 2 Nov. 1846. Here within three or four years he made a fortune, only to lose it in copper mining. After passing through the insolvency court in 1851, he returned to Melbourne and spent a fortnight at the gold diggings without benefit. After a short starring engagement in Melbourne, he in 1852 commenced management at the Great Malop Street theatre, Geelong, where he rapidly made another fortune. Returning to Adelaide he paid his creditors in full, and sailing for England in January 1854 made his first appearance at the Haymarket, in London, on 26 June. Subsequently he fulfilled engagements at Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Dublin. While at Birmingham in August he induced G. V. Brooke to sign articles to star under his management for 200 nights in Australia and New Zealand.
Returning to Melbourne, Coppin reappeared at the Queen's Theatre on 18 Dec.,and next month began a successful engagement at the Victoria Theatre, Sydney. In June 1855 he opened the new Olympic theatre, Melbourne, familiarly known as 'The Iron Pot,' under his own management, on 30 July, playing Colonel Damas in 'The Lady of Lyons' and Mr. Trotter Southdown in 'To Oblige Benson.' Meanwhile Brooke's tour proved highly prosperous. Thereupon Coppin joined Brooke in purchasing the new Theatre Royal, Melbourne, for 23,000l., opening that house on 9 Juno 1856. About the same period they also acquired the freehold of the Cremorne Gardens, upon which they spent much. At the Theatre Royal they organised the first grand opera season in the Australian colonies. The partnership was dissolved in Feb. 1859, Brooke continuing the management. Coppin then built the Pantheon Theatre; but owing to Brooke's difficulties, he resumed control of the Theatre Royal on 20 Dec. 1860. On 15 Sept. 1862 he completed a new theatre, the Haymarket. A second bankruptcy followed, but he brought out Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean to Melbourne in Oct. 1803, and then took them to Sydney, with the result that he paid his creditors in full. After touring with the Keans in America (1864–5), he reappeared at the Haymarket, Melbourne (Jan. 1866), in a variety of characters, including Daniel White in Craven's 'Milky White.'
In 1871 he went into partnership with Messrs. Harwood, Stewart, and Hennings in the management of the Melbourne Theatre Royal, but suffered a considerable loss through the burning of the uninsured building on 19 March 1872. At once taking a ninety-nine years' lease of the site, he rebuilt the theatre, subsequently transferring the property to the Theatre Royal Proprietary Association, Limited, of which he remained managing director till his death. At this house in Nov. and Dec. 1881 he gave farewell performances for twelve nights. His last appearance was on 9 Dec., as Bob Acres and Crack.
Meanwhile Coppin engaged hi politics. In 1858 he was elected to the legislative council of Victoria for the south-western province, but resigned his seat on leaving the colony in 1864 for an American tour. During this period he helped to pass the Transfer of Real Property Act, and to secure the adoption of the English principle of the Post Office Savings Bank. He advocated the federation of the colonies and intercolonial free trade, and opposed the payment of members. Subsequently, from 1874 to 1889 he was member of the legislative assembly for East Melbourne. He was then returned to the Upper House, unopposed, for Melbourne province. He was twice elected chairman of the Richmond municipality, and for two years was chairman of magistrates in that district.
A man of immense energies and extraordinarily diverse interests, Coppin left the impress of his talents upon the colony of Victoria. As early as 1870 he advocated acclimatisation, and was the first to import camels and English thrushes into Australia. About 1861, in association with (Sir) Charles Gavan Duffy [q. v. Suppl. II], he founded the beautiful watering place, Sorrento on the Sea, forty miles S.E. of Melbourne, where Mount Coppin is called after him, and where till his death he had a charming seat. In 1868 he built a magnificent residence, Pine Grove, Richmond Hill, Melbourne (cf. J. B. Howe, A Cosmopolitan Actor, p. 191).
Coppin died at Melbourne on 12 March 1906. He was twice married: (1) in 1855, to Harriet Bray (d. 1859) of Birmingham, a sister of Mrs. G. V. Brooke; and (2) in 1861 to Lucy Hilsden. He left issue, by ​his first wife, two daughters, and by his second wife, two sons and five daughters.
[Burke's Colonial Gentry, 1897; R. M. Sillard, Barry Sullivan; Theatrical Journal (London), vol. xvi. No. 801, 1855; J. B. Howe, A Cosmopolitan Actor; Illustrated Australian News, 10 Sept. 1872; Melbourne Punch, 16 May 1861; Melbourne Age, 2 Nov. 1889; W. J. Lawrence's Life of G. V. Brooke, 1890; Heaton, Australian Dict. of Dates (1879), where Coppin's early career is confused with that of his father; private information.]