Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives.
KYRLE BELLEW.
 From a Photo. by Mayalt. |
 From a Photograph. |
 From a Photograph. |
R. HAROLD KYRLE BELLEW, son of the late Rev. J. C. M. Bellew, was born whilst his father was chaplain of the cathedral in Calcutta, and first came to England as an infant during the great Indian Mutiny. His childhood was spent in London, when his father was appointed Rector of St. Mark's Church, St. John's Wood. He was educated for the army, but subsequently chose the sea as a profession, and was duly entered on board H.M.S. Conway. His advancement was rapid, but the prospects for the future not seeming sufficiently remunerative, Mr. Bellew left the sea and sought fortune in Australia, where, for four years, he enjoyed varying luck as gold digger, a cattle drover, a journalist, and various other vocations. Mr. Bellew's first appearance in public took place in Melbourne as the reader of a lecture on the Franco-Prussian War. At his father's death he determined to revisit England, and shipped as second officer of a large passenger liner for London, when he was paid off from the ship and joined a provincial company, with which he stayed three months, playing the light comedy and juvenile lead. A performance of his in "Led Astray" induced the author, Dion Boucicault, to telegraph to Mr. Bellew to come to London, which he did, and was at once engaged by Mr. Buckstone for the Haymarket Theatre, since which time his brilliant career is known to every playgoer. Mr. Bellew is one of a family of four children, and is unmarried.
