Dion Boucicault

Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the English-speaking theatre. The New York Times hailed him in his obituary as "the most conspicuous English dramatist of the 19th century"; he and his second wife, Agnes Robertson Boucicault, applied for, and received, American citizenship in 1873.

Early life

Boucicault was born Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot in 1820 Dublin, where his family lived on Gardiner Street. His mother was Anne Maria Laura Beresford, sister of the poet and mathematician George Darley. The Darleys were an important Anglo-Irish Dublin family influential in many fields and related to the Guinnesses by marriage. Anne was married to Samuel Smith Boursiquot, of Huguenot ancestry, but the identity of Dion's father is uncertain. He was probably Dionysius Lardner, who was a lodger at Anne Boursiquot's house at a time when she had recently separated from her husband. Lardner later gave Dion Boucicault financial support until about 1840.

In 1828, Lardner was elected as professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at University College London ('London University' at the time), a position he held until he resigned in 1831. Anne Boursiquot followed him to London in 1828, taking all but one of her children with her.

Consequently, Dion Boucicault attended various schools in and around London; there is confusion about the details of his education. Richard Fawkes has addressed this in a biography. For about four years, from 1829, Boucicault seems to have attended a very small private school in Hampstead kept by a Mr Hessey; between 1833 and 1835 he was at University College School, where he began his friendship with Charles Kenney. He later recalled having boarded in Euston Square with a Rev. Henry Stebbing, a historian. There is a gap of two years in the record, when Fawkes believes Boucicault may have attended Rowland Hill's Bruce Castle School, as stated in the Dictionary of National Biography.