LISTON, JOHN (1776?–1846), actor, the son of John Liston, according to one account a watchmaker, and to another the occupant of a subordinate post in the custom house, was born in or about 1776 in the parish of St. Anne, Soho. His age at death was nevertheless stated to be 72 (Gent. Mag. 1846, i. 661). He was educated under Dr. Barrow at Soho school. Dr. Doran states that he was for a while, under the name of Williams, an usher in the Rev. Dr. Burney's school at Gosport. In 1799 he was master at the grammar school of St. Martin's in Castle Street, Leicester Square. Some amateur efforts at a private theatre in the Strand preceded an appearance in public at Weymouth as Lord Duberley in the ‘Heir-at-Law,’ which was a complete failure. After visiting Dublin, and meeting presumably his future wife, he visited York, where he is said to have acquired a portion of the method of an actor named Kelly, and joined Stephen Kemble on the Newcastle circuit, including Sunderland and Durham. Many comic stories, probably narrated by himself, are told by Mrs. Mathews of his efforts in serious characters, in some of which he supported Mrs. Siddons. He was finally induced by his manager to play old men, and ultimately, as Diggory in ‘She Stoops to Conquer,’ won Kemble's approval. From that time he began to play bumpkins.
In the north Liston acquired a social respect which he never forfeited. Charles Kemble [q. v.] vainly recommended him to the management of Covent Garden. Colman, however, engaged him for the Haymarket, where, as Liston from Newcastle, he appeared on 10 June 1805 in the part of Sheepface in the ‘Village Lawyer.’ His success was not immediate. During the season he played many other parts: Zekiel in the ‘Heir-at-Law,’ Lump in the ‘Review,’ Dan in ‘John Bull,’ Stephen in the ‘Poor Gentleman,’ Robin Roughhead in ‘Fortune's Frolic,’ Jacob in the ‘Chapter of Accidents,’ John Grouse in the ‘School for Prejudice,’ Farmer Ashfield in ‘Speed the Plough,’ Abel in ‘Honest Thieves,’ Sir George Thunder in ‘Wild Oats,’ the Tailor in ‘Katharine and Petruchio,’ Zachariades in the ‘Tailors,’ Fustian in ‘Sylvester Daggerwood,’ Frank in ‘Three and Deuce,’ and Frank Oatland in ‘A Cure for the Heartache,’ besides being the original Antony in Cherry's ‘Village, or the World's Epitome,’ 18 July 1805. Next season, 1806, he was no less busy, playing, among other comic parts, the First Gravedigger in ‘Hamlet.’ His dancing seems to have commended him to the public. On 15 Oct., as Jacob Gawky in the ‘Chapter of Accidents,’ he made his first appearance at Covent Garden, where on the 18th he was the original Memmo in ‘Monk’ Lewis's ‘Rugantino, or the Bravo of Venice,’ and on 28 Jan. 1806 the first Gaby Grim in Colman's ‘We fly by Night, or Long Stories.’ On 16 July 1807 he was the original Vincent in Theodore Hook's ‘Fortress.’ In ‘Music Mad,’ by Hook, Haymarket, 27 Aug. 1807, Liston, who played a comic servant, took a hold of his audience, which was strengthened by his performance of Lord Grizzle, and by his Caper in Allingham's ‘Who Wins? or the Widow's Choice,’ Covent Garden, 25 Feb. 1808. An endless round of comic parts, new and old, was now assigned him. During his stay at Covent Garden, which lasted until 1822, or at the Haymarket, his connection with which as a summer theatre was with few breaks maintained until 1830, he played, among innumerable parts, Polonius, Slender, Pompey in ‘Measure for Measure,’ Bottom, Cloten, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Octavian in the ‘Mountaineers,’ Justice Greedy in ‘A New Way to Pay Old Debts,’ the Humorous Lieutenant in the piece so named, Bob Acres, Sir Benjamin Backbite, and Tony Lumpkin. In adaptations from Scott he was, so far as Covent Garden is concerned, the original Dominie Sampson, Bailie Nicol Jarvie, Jonathan Oldbuck, Wamba, and Captain Dalgetty. One of the earliest original characters in which his special qualities were shown was Apollo Belvi, a dancing-master, in ‘Killing no Murder,’ by Theodore Hook. The success of the piece was attributed to the acting of Mathews and Liston, who were much together, and learned to play into each other's hands. His Bombastes Furioso at the Haymarket on 7 Aug. 1810 was a highly popular ‘creation,’ as was his Log in ‘Love, Law, and Physic,’ Covent Garden, on 20 Nov. 1812. For his benefits Liston ventured on singular experiments. He played Romeo on 16 June 1812, Ophelia in Poole's ‘Hamlet Travestie’ on 17 June 1813, and, after the fashion of Joe Haines and subsequent comedians, delivered an epilogue from the back of an ass. On 31 May 1822 Liston took his last benefit at Covent Garden. On 28 Jan. 1823, as Tony Lumpkin, he made his first appearance at Drury Lane. The same class of parts was assigned him, and the number of original characters he took in plays by Pocock, Dibdin, Kenney, and other writers of the day was very numerous. He seems to have been better suited to the Haymarket than to larger houses, and his chief triumphs belong to that stage. Greatest and most enduring among these is his ‘Paul Pry,’ 13 Sept. 1825. Genest speaks of this as a perfect piece of acting. Memories of it survive, and the costume and method
