At the close of 1885 Terriss quitted the Lyceum for the Adelphi, with which theatre henceforth his name was principally associated. He was the first David Kingsley in ‘Harbour Lights’ by Sims and Pettitt, 23 Dec. 1885; Frank Beresford in Pettitt and Grundy's ‘Bells of Haslemere,’ 25 July 1887; Jack Medway in the ‘Union Jack’ by the same writers, 19 July 1888, and Eric Normanhurst in the ‘Silver Falls’ of Sims and Pettitt, 29 Dec. He accompanied in 1889 Miss Millward, his constant associate at the Adelphi, to America, where he appeared in ‘A Man's Shadow’ (Roger la Honte), and played in ‘Othello,’ ‘Frou Frou,’ the ‘Marble Heart,’ the ‘Lady of Lyons,’ and other pieces. On 20 Sept. 1890 he reappeared at the Lyceum as the first Hayston of Bucklaw in ‘Ravenswood,’ adapted from Scott's ‘Bride of Lammermoor’ by Herman Merivale. At the Lyceum he played also the King in ‘Henry VIII,’ Faust, and on 6 Feb. 1893 King Henry in Tennyson's ‘Becket.’ On the afternoon of 5 June 1894, at Daly's Theatre, he was the original Captain Maramour in ‘Journeys end in Lovers meeting,’ a one-act proverb by John Oliver Hobbes and Mr. George Moore. In the ‘Fatal Card’ of Messrs. Haddon Chambers and B. C. Stephenson, at the Adelphi, on 6 Sept., he was the original Gerald Austen. On the first production in England of the American piece, ‘The Girl I left behind me’ of Messrs. Tyler and Belasco, on 13 April 1895, he was Lieutenant Hawkesworth. In the ‘Swordsman's Daughter,’ adapted by Messrs. Brandon Thomas and Clement Scott from ‘Le Maître d'Armes’ of MM. Mary and Grisier, and given at the Adelphi on 31 Aug., he was Vibrac, a fencing master. In ‘One of the Best,’ by Messrs. Seymour Hicks and George Edwardes, on 21 Dec., he was Dudley Keppel; and on 26 Aug. 1896 in ‘Boys Together,’ by Messrs. Haddon Chambers and Comyns Carr, Frank Villars. On the revival of Jerrold's ‘Black-eyed Susan’ on 23 Dec. 1896 he was William. When, in August 1897, Mr. Gillette's play of ‘Secret Service’ was transferred from the American company by which it was first performed at the Adelphi to an English company, Terriss took the author's part of Lewis Dumont. He had previously (5 June) gone to the Haymarket to ‘create’ the part of the Comte de Candale in Mr. Sydney Grundy's adaptation of Dumas's ‘Un Mariage sous Louis XV.’ On 9 Sept. he supported at the Adelphi the double rôle of Colonel Aylmer and Laurence Aylmer (father and son) in ‘In the Days of the Duke,’ by Messrs. Haddon Chambers and Comyns Carr. This was his last original part. On the withdrawal of this piece he resumed the part of Lewis Dumont in ‘Secret Service,’ which he acted for the last time on 15 Dec. 1897. On the evening of the following day, as he was entering the Adelphi Theatre, he was stabbed thrice by a poverty-stricken actor named Richard Archer Prince, and died in a few minutes. His tragic death evoked much sympathy, and his funeral at Brompton cemetery on 21 Dec. had the character of a public demonstration. The murderer Prince was subsequently put on his trial, and, being pronounced insane, was committed to Broadmoor criminal lunatic asylum.
Terriss married, in 1868, Miss Isabel Lewis, an actress known professionally as Miss Amy Fellowes, who survived him. He left issue two sons, one an actor, and a daughter, Ellaline (Mrs. Seymour Hicks), who is on the stage. By his will, dated 11 Nov. 1896, he left personalty amounting to upwards of 18,000l. His last residence was at 2 Bedford Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick.
Terriss had from the first great gallantry of bearing and what was popularly called breeziness of style. In two parts, Squire Thornhill and William in ‘Black-eyed Susan,’ he had in his time no superior, perhaps no equal. He kept till the close of life a young, lithe, and shapely figure.
Portraits of Terriss, in private clothes or in character, chiefly from photographs, abound.
[Arthur J. Smythe's Life of Terriss, 1898 (with numerous portraits); Pascoe's Dramatic List; A Few Memories, by Mary Anderson; Scott and Howard's Blanchard; Archer's Dramatic World, 1893–6; Era Almanack, various years; Era for 18 and 25 Dec. 1897; private information.]
TERROT, CHARLES (1758–1839), general royal artillery, was born at Berwick-upon-Tweed on 1 May 1758. He entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich on 15 March 1771, and received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 1 March 1774. He went to North America in 1776 and joined Sir Guy Carleton in May at Quebec, Canada. He served under Brigadier-general Fraser at the action of the Three Rivers on 7 June, when the American attack was repulsed, and the Americans, having been driven with great loss to their boats on Lake St. François, fell back on Ticonderoga.
In June 1777 Terrot was with the army of General Burgoyne which pushed forward from Canada by Lake Champlain to effect a junction at Albany with Clinton's forces
