Death of Sir Henry Irving - Bradford, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 47.725 W 001° 45.120
30U E 582204 N 5961481
This plaque records the fact that the famous Victorian actor, Sir Henry Irving died in the Midland Hotel in 1905.
Waymark Code: WMJETT
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/09/2013
Views: 3
According to
Wikipedia
"Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility (supervision of sets, lighting, direction, casting, as well as playing the leading roles) for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. He was the first actor to be awarded a knighthood. Irving is thought to have been the inspiration for the title character in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula."
In his later years Irving suffered from ill health and in 1905 undertook a farewell tour. He was scheduled to play 6 nights at the Theatre Royal theatre in Bradford. He collapsed and subsequently died in the Midland Hotel after his fifth performance on the Friday evening.
His last performance was as the character of Chancellor and Archbishop in Tennyson’s play Becket. The final scene of the play is when he is about to be murdered by King Henry VIII's men. It closed with the the character of Beckett uttering the words “Into Thy hands, O Lord! Into Thy Hands.”
According to the Wikipedia article Irving collapsed in the theatre and was taken to the Midland Hotel and died there. However this Bradford Daily Telegraph
newspaper article
of the time indicates that he left the theatre after taking a number of curtain calls and did not collapse until he arrived back at the hotel.
The plaque next to the entrance of the hotel was erected by Bradford City Heritage. Interestingly although most of their plaques in Bradford are blue this one is grey. The text on the plaque is as follows.
Sir Henry Irving
famous actor and impressario
died here in the Midland Hotel
13th October 1905
Bradford City Heritage