John Coleman

A carte-de-visite portrait of the English actor-manager John Coleman, seen here as he appeared in Henry V at the Queen's Theatre in Long Acre in 1876.

John Coleman died on 21 April 1904. According to his obituary in the Derby Daily Telegraph (22 April 1904): 'Mr John Coleman, the veteran actor and author, died on Thursday evening at Dalefield, Buckhurst Hill, Epping Forest, the residence of a friend, where he had been lying ill for some little time.

'Mr John Coleman's lie was not without the romance which is popularly supposed to attach to the stage. He was a native of Derby, but was in London when quite a lad, and, hearing Macready at Drury Lane, became stage-struck. [...] But although he was a sound and reliable actor he never ranked among the great actors of the Victorian era, and it was as a manager that he shone most. [...] In private life he was extremely popular, and as a keen observer of life, with an alert sense of humour, his company was an unfailing source of delight to those who were privileged to enjoy his friendship.'

Photographed by Lombardi and Co of London.