Introduction
When I first spotted a small announcement of the death of a ‘Comedian’ the immediate vision that conjured up was a clichéd one of someone treading the boards of Victorian Old Time Music Hall. It couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Within days news of his death had spread across the whole country from Teignmouth to London, across middle England, through the agricultural acres of the east as far north as Greenock where he was remembered as “One of the best known and highly appreciated actors who yearly made a visit to Greenock ….. Some years ago playgoers in Greenock used to crowd the theatre on a night when ‘School for Scandal’ or ‘Twelfth Night’ was announced ….. No artist ever got more genuine welcomes on the Greenock stage than did this fine old actor.”[1]
The news continued back down through the industrial heartlands of the north-west, through Wales and crossing the Irish sea to Dublin where “He will be well remembered by patrons of the Gaiety theatre ….. He was a finished exponent of old men’s parts and he earned an outstanding reputation for his presentation of Shakespearean characters. With his death a well-graced actor leaves the stage”.[2]
It was here in Teignmouth that he was laid to rest on Saturday 18th February 1905 “in the peaceful shades of the little cemetery at Teignmouth where the Channel waters lap the Devon shore”[3]
He wasn’t a headliner; but he was an accomplished supporting actor who had mastered the art of ‘low comedy’, equally comfortable on stage in a farce or a Shakespearean production. On hearing of his death Sir Henry Irving telegraphed his family “May I beg you in your sorrow to accept my respectful and deep sympathy? Your father was loved and honoured by all who knew him.”[4]
Click HERE for the full story of Lewis Ball, low comedian,
[1] Greenock Telegraph Wednesday 15 February 1905
[2] Dublin Evening Mail Wednesday 15 February 1905
[3] Birmingham Daily Gazette Wednesday 22 February 1905
[4] Manchester Courier Friday 17 February 1905
Teignmouth Old Cemetery 
Hi Neil
Good to see you and Marti yesterday!
Thanks for reminding me I had not yet caught up with the article below- I am part way through it but notice a little slip which I am sure you will wish to rectify – if I dont tell you now I will forget!
In the early part you refer to when he was a boy being kissed…it says 1926 but that would be a century later?
Thanks
Viv
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