Author: Dimond, William
Biography:
DIMOND, William (1781-1837: findmypast.com)
The eldest surviving son of William Wyatt Dimond and Matilda Martha (Baker) Dimond, he was born in Bath, Somerset, on 11 Dec. 1781 and baptised William Fisher Peach Dimond at St. James’s, Bath, on 5 Apr 1782. His father managed the Theatre Royal in Bath as well as the Theatre Royal in Bristol. Dimond was apprenticed to an attorney in 1798 and worked as his clerk for some time, but took over the two theatres upon his father’s death in 1812. According to a contemporary, Alfred Bunn, his egregious behaviour caused his father's death and “broke his mother’s heart," but Bunn was the victim of one of Dimond's hoaxes and may not be a trustworthy witness. In 1812 Dimond was already an established writer, having published Della Cruscan poems and had dramatic pieces performed at Bath and London when he was in his teens. He wrote about thirty works for the stage, typically mixed-media affairs with music and elaborate sets. Some were adaptations, others he called "historical dramas" or "comic dramas" or "melodramas": a few crossed the Atlantic and were performed and published in America as well. He was dismissed from his managerial position in 1823. Again according to Bunn, after leaving Bath he engaged in various criminal activities under aliases such as James Bryant, William Dimer, and M. St. Dizier. He was jailed more than once and fled to Paris, where he died about Oct. 1837. (ODNB 5 Sept. 2018; findmypast.com 1 July 2025; Alfred Bunn, The Stage [1840], 1: 174-5, 3: 10-11; information from AA) HJ
Other Names:
- William Dimond, the Younger