1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Albery, James

2466931911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 1 — Albery, James

ALBERY, JAMES (1838–1889), English dramatist, was born in London on the 4th of May 1838. On leaving school he entered an architect’s office, and started to write plays. After many failures he at last succeeded in getting an adaptation—Dr Davy —produced at the Lyceum (1866). His most successful piece, Two Roses, a comedy, was produced at the Vaudeville in 1870, in which Sir Henry Irving made one of his earliest London successes as Digby Grant. He was the author of a large number of other plays and adaptations, including Jingle (a version of Pickwick), produced at the Lyceum in 1878, and Pink Dominoes, the latter being one of a series of adaptations from the French which he made for the Criterion theatre. At that house his wife, the well-known actress, Miss Mary Moore, played the leading parts. He died on the 15th of August 1889.