John Heminges - actor in Shakespeare's day
Lyra
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(quote)
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John Heminges
John Heminges (sometimes spelled Hemminge or Hemings) (c. 1556 - 1630)
was an English Renaissance actor. Most famous now as one of the
editors of Shakespeare's 1623 First Folio, Heminges served in his time
as an actor and financial manager for the King's Men.
Contents
* 1 Life
* 2 Work
* 3 References
* 4 External links
Life
Heminges was born in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire in 1556. Sent to
London as an apprentice at age twelve, he was presented to the
Grocers' Company, becoming a freeman in 1587. In London, he lived in
the parish of St Mary Aldermanbury, at which church he served as a
sidesman.
He married in 1588; Alexander Chalmers originated the now-accepted
argument that his wife was the widow of William Knel, an actor with
the Queen's Men who had been killed in a fight with a fellow actor.
His association with theatre had certainly begun by 1593; records from
that year show Heminges and Augustine Phillips, another future King's
Man, in the touring company of Lord Strange's Men. By the next year he
and Phillips had joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men/King's Men. He
stayed with this company until his death in 1630.
In 1630, Privy Council records show him receiving one hundred pounds
to relieve the company during a period of plague; Heminges himself
died a short time after this order, at age 74. With Henry Condell, he
connected the era of Shakespeare and Burbage to the era of Philip
Massinger and Joseph Taylor; most significantly, his editorial efforts
were vital to preserving a number of Shakespeare's plays, some of
which might have been lost otherwise.
Heminges remained active in the Grocers' Company alongside his
theatrical activities; indeed, the two sometimes intertwined. He was,
between 1608 and 1621, one of the ten citizen seacoal-meters for the
city of London. Beginning in 1595, he bound ten apprentices with the
Grocers' Company; of these ten, eight appear to have performed for
Heminges' company, in both boys' and adult roles. Alexander Cooke was
one of his apprentices. Heminges was confirmed as a gentleman in 1629,
shortly before his death.
Due to his intimate involvement in the creation of the First Folio,
readers have found it both tempting and easy to idealize Heminges; one
early critic, exercising more admiration than objectivity, wrote that
"He was a fine actor, a trustworthy man, and had a good head for
business. Until his death, he managed the company's financial affairs
with extraordinary success."
A darker picture of Heminges emerged when American researcher Charles
William Wallace discovered the records of the lawsuit Ostler v.
Heminges (1615). When King's Man William Ostler died intestate in
1614, his property should have passed to his widow, Thomasine Heminges
Ostler. But the widow's father, John Heminges, seized control of his
late son-in-law's shares in the Globe and Blackfriars theatres.
Thomasine sued her father to regain her property. The surviving
records do not specify the final outcome of the suit, though it
appears that Heminges managed to retain control of the shares.
Work
The extent and nature of Heminges' acting is not entirely clear. He is
known to have performed in Ben Jonson's Sejanus and Every Man in His
Humour (in both cases, alongside Shakespeare).
A Jacobean inscription in the 1616 Jonson folio lists him playing the
role of Corbaccio in Volpone; since the same list includes Nathan
Field, who did not join the King's Men until 1616, it seems that
Heminges continued to act, at least intermittently, into his fifties.
Edmond Malone reported seeing Heminges' name associated with the role
of Falstaff; there is, however, no other evidence exists of this
connection.
There is little more evidence to substantiate the claim later made by
an actor to Alexander Pope that Heminges was a tragedian. Of his
activities as manager more is known. Court documents relating to the
King's Men generally list Heminges as the recipient of money due the
company; the records of Henry Herbert indicate that Heminges at least
sometimes served as the point of contact between the company and the
Master of the Revels.
He appears to have owned a structure abutting the Globe Theatre, which
may have been used as an alehouse. He served as trustee for
Shakespeare when the latter purchased a house in Blackfriars in 1613.
Shakespeare bequeathed him (along with Condell) two nobles (roughly a
pound) to buy mourning rings.
References
* Collier, J. P.. Lives of the Original Actors in Shakespeare's
Plays. London: Shakespeare Society, 1853.
* Edmond, Mary. "John Heminges." Dictionary of National Biography.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
* Egan, Gabriel. "John Heminges' Tap-house at the Globe." Theatre
Notebook 55 (2001), 72-7.
* Halliday, F. E. A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964. Baltimore,
Penguin, 1964.
* Kathman, David. "Grocers, Goldsmiths, and Drapers: Freemen and
Apprentices in the Elizabethan Theater." Shakespeare Quarterly 55
(2004), 1-49.
* Nunzeger, Edwin. A Dictionary of Actors and of Other Persons
Associated With the Public Presentation of Plays in England Before
1642. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929.
External links
* Works by John Heminges at Project Gutenberg
* John Heminges at the Globe Theatre
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Heminges"
Categories: 1550s births | 1630 deaths | People from Droitwich Spa |
Shakespearean actors | English actors
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Lyra
There are Heminges in Stratford on Avon.
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John Hemmings
Birth:
About 1531 Of Stratford-In-Avon-Warwick, England
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John Hemming
Birth:
1534 Warwick Co, England
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John Hemming
Birth:
1534 Warwick, England
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ANNIS HEMMYNGS
Birth:
Christening:
25 JAN 1576 Stratford On Avon, Warwick, England
Death:
Burial:
Father: JOHN HEMMYNGS
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ALES HEMMYNGS
Birth:
Christening:
28 DEC 1589 Stratford On Avon, Warwick, England
Death:
Burial:
Father: RICHARD HEMMYNGS
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Alis Hemming
Marriages:
John Saundells
Marriage:
10 JUN 1612 Stratford On Avon, Warwick, England
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The following are some Worcester ones.
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JOHIS HEMINGE
Birth:
Christening:
02 MAR 1557 Throckmorton, Worcester, England
Death:
Burial:
Father: ANTONII HEMINGE
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John Heming
Birth:
About 1557 Inkberrow, Worcester, England
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John Hemynge
Birth:
Christening:
21 APR 1558 Rous Lench, Worcester, England
Death:
Burial:
Father: Henry Heminge
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John Hemynge
Birth:
About 1558 Ombersley, Worcester, England
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John Hemynge
Birth:
Christening:
06 MAY 1559 Rous Lench, Worcester, England
Death:
Burial:
Father: Henry Heminge
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Lyra
Lyra wrote:
THOMASYN HEMMING
Birth:
Christening:
15 JAN 1595 Saint Mary The Virgin Aldermanbury, London, London,
England
Death:
Burial:
Father: JHON HEMMING
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Thomasyn Hemming
Birth:
Christening:
15 JAN 1594 Aldermanbury, London, England
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Thomasyn Hemming
Birth:
Christening:
15 JAN 1594 Aldermanbury, London, England
Death:
Burial:
Father: John Hemming
Mother: Rebecca Knell
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Thomasyn Hemming
Birth:
15 JAN 1594 St Clement, London, London, England
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Father: John Hemming
Mother: Rebecca Knell
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John Hemming
Birth:
About 1573 Of St Clement, London, London, England
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Marriages:
Rebecca Knell
Marriage:
05 MAR 1587 St Clement, London, London, England
David Kathman
> ````````````````````````````
>
> (quote)
>
> ````````````````````````````
>
> John Heminges
>
> John Heminges (sometimes spelled Hemminge or Hemings) (c. 1556 - 1630)
> was an English Renaissance actor. Most famous now as one of the
> editors of Shakespeare's 1623 First Folio, Heminges served in his time
> as an actor and financial manager for the King's Men.
>
> Contents
>
> * 1 Life
> * 2 Work
> * 3 References
> * 4 External links
>
> Life
>
> Heminges was born in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire in 1556. Sent to
> London as an apprentice at age twelve, he was presented to the
> Grocers' Company, becoming a freeman in 1587.
Now see, this is annoying. They give his birthdate as 1556, both here
and at the beginning of the article, presumably because that's the
wild-ass guess used in the first Dictionary of National Biography, and
it's been ossified in such sources as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
But we've known for almost 60 years that he was actually baptized in
Droitwich in 1566, as I noted in my SQ article that this article
cites, and that 1566 is the only possible basis for the statement that
he was "sent to London as an apprentice at age twelve". (It was in
1578, but he actually hadn't yet turned twelve when he was
apprenticed.) I once corrected the Wikipedia entry so it had the
correct 1566 birthdate, but somebody changed it back to "c.1556"
because that's the date that's found in various online references, all
of which get it from the Encyclopedia Britannica and ultimately from
the original DNB. That type of thing is one of the annoying aspects
of Wikipedia.
> In London, he lived in
> the parish of St Mary Aldermanbury, at which church he served as a
> sidesman.
>
> He married in 1588; Alexander Chalmers originated the now-accepted
> argument that his wife was the widow of William Knel, an actor with
> the Queen's Men who had been killed in a fight with a fellow actor.
> His association with theatre had certainly begun by 1593; records from
> that year show Heminges and Augustine Phillips, another future King's
> Man, in the touring company of Lord Strange's Men. By the next year he
> and Phillips had joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men/King's Men. He
> stayed with this company until his death in 1630.
>
> In 1630, Privy Council records show him receiving one hundred pounds
> to relieve the company during a period of plague; Heminges himself
> died a short time after this order, at age 74.
No, he was actually 64. This another result of the incorrect
birthdate.
> With Henry Condell, he
> connected the era of Shakespeare and Burbage to the era of Philip
> Massinger and Joseph Taylor; most significantly, his editorial efforts
> were vital to preserving a number of Shakespeare's plays, some of
> which might have been lost otherwise.
>
> Heminges remained active in the Grocers' Company alongside his
> theatrical activities; indeed, the two sometimes intertwined. He was,
> between 1608 and 1621, one of the ten citizen seacoal-meters for the
> city of London. Beginning in 1595, he bound ten apprentices with the
> Grocers' Company; of these ten, eight appear to have performed for
> Heminges' company, in both boys' and adult roles. Alexander Cooke was
> one of his apprentices. Heminges was confirmed as a gentleman in 1629,
> shortly before his death.
Now, see, all of this comes from my SQ article, but they refused to
accept the correct birthdate from that article. Sigh.
Dave Kathman
dj...@ix.netcom.com
art
>> (quote)
>
>> John Heminges
>
>> John Heminges (sometimes spelled Hemminge or Hemings) (c. 1556 - 1630)
>> was an English Renaissance actor. Most famous now as one of the
>> editors of Shakespeare's 1623 First Folio, Heminges served in
>> his time as an actor and financial manager for the King's Men.
>
>
>> Heminges was born in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire in 1556.
>> Sent to London as an apprentice at age twelve, he was presented
>> to the Grocers' Company, becoming a freeman in 1587.
David Kathman <d...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> No, he was actually 64. This another result of the incorrect
> birthdate.
>
>> With Henry Condell, he
>> connected the era of Shakespeare and Burbage to the era of Philip
>> Massinger and Joseph Taylor; most significantly, his editorial efforts
>> were vital to preserving a number of Shakespeare's plays, some of
>> which might have been lost otherwise.
>
>> Heminges remained active in the Grocers' Company alongside his
>> theatrical activities; indeed, the two sometimes intertwined. He was,
>> between 1608 and 1621, one of the ten citizen seacoal-meters for the
>> city of London. Beginning in 1595, he bound ten apprentices with the
>> Grocers' Company; of these ten, eight appear to have performed for
>> Heminges' company, in both boys' and adult roles. Alexander Cooke was
>> one of his apprentices. Heminges was confirmed as a gentleman in 1629,
>> shortly before his death.
David Kathman <d...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> Now, see, all of this comes from my SQ article, but they refused to
> accept the correct birthdate from that article. Sigh.
http://www.showgate.com/medea/bulfinch/bull42.html
http://www.readme.it/libri/3/3024013.shtml
.
. BEOWULF
.
<< No queenly way for woman to practise, though peerless she,
. that the weaver-of-peace from warrior dear
. by wrath and lying his life should reave!
. But *HEMMING's kinsman* hindered this. --
. He, of all heroes I heard of ever
. from sea to sea, of the sons of earth,
. most excellent seemed. Hence Offa was praised
. for his fighting and feeing by far-off men,
. the SPEAR-bold warrior; wisely he ruled
. over his empire. Eomer woke to him,
. help of heroes, HEMMING's kinsman,>>
.
. "All on the pyre were plain to see the gory sark,
. the gilded swine-crest, boar of hard iron,"
.
. "Then shone the boars over the cheek-guard;"
.
. "Then he bade them bear him the boar-head standard,"
--------------------------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer