Author: Heathcote, Henry Thomas
Biography:
HEATHCOTE, Henry Thomas (fl 1817-29)
His publications contain many clues to his identity, starting with the distinctive name on the title-pages. He was a theatre professional of the peripatetic provincial kind, recycling his poems to reprint in different centres while he was “of the Theatre Royal Cheltenham” or of “Bridgport, Stafford, and Newport,” or “of the Theatre Royal, Brighton.” He wrote and published two historical dramas, The Castle of Oswestry (1819) and Tiverton Castle (1829)—the latter performed on site. His Lyrical Pieces (1817), dedicated to Colonel Berkeley as a patron of the drama and amateur actor, includes a subscription list mainly of Cheltenham names and members of theatre companies but also with a sprinkling of London names. Thomas Moore (q.v.) subscribed. The London theatre scene included a Mr. Heathcot or Heathcote who was a doorkeeper at Covent Garden c. 1790-95 who might have been related, but the genealogical sites include no “Henry Thomas” Heathcote and too many plain Henrys. The newspapers are silent; his books do not appear even to have been announced or reviewed. (ancestry.co 12 Apr. 2022; findmypast.com 12 Apr. 2022; Highfill 7: 230) HJ