YOUNG ROSCIUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1941, Page 6

YOUNG ROSCIUS

ONE WHO HYPNOTISED AUDIENCES.

All London and the provinces flocked to see him, a boy who seemed to hypnotise audiences.

Born in Shrewsbury in 1791, William Henry West Betty was taken when still • a child to see Mrs Siddon’s act. He declared to his father afterwards that he would die if he were not allowed to become an actor, and by the time he was eleven he had learned by heart many parts that were highly popular in those days, and obtained for himself an appearance at a Belfast theatre. His fame rapidly spread through Ireland, and after many successes in Dublin and Cork he played at Glasgow and Edinburgh. At Birmingham he overwhelmed the working people of the neighbourhood, and a quaint note that has come down to us tells of a coalminer who wore, a clean shirt in the middle of the week when attending the theatre to watch this prodigy. Making his bow in London on December 1. 1804, Young Roscius, .as he was called, was the cause of wild crashings and faintings in the theatre. Gentlemen paid box-price .for having the chance of jumping over the fronts of the boxes into the pit. An arrangement was made between

the two Theatres Royal, that this golden talisman should be made available for both, and he played at the two theatres on alternate nights—earning about £lOOO a week altogether. Poetry and prose were written in praise of him. Prints of him were circulated throughout the kingdom. It was even contemplated to open a public fund for the erection of a statue of him.

Fortunately for young Betty his friends took care of his large earnings, for he soon retired from the stage, and when as a grown man he attempted a “come back" he failed utterly. In the public estimation Young Roscius and Mr Betty were two people.