R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

134 Sir Arthur Pinero1829. He came of a hardworking, struggling theatricalfamily who followed their calling for the most part in thelesser provincial towns, and his education was of that sortwhich is vaguely, and often evasively, described as havingbeen gained at 'private schools'. In Robertson's casethere is indeed a specific account, in a brief Memoirwritten by his son, of his attending, in 1836, the ' SpaldingAcademy', and subsequently, in 1841, a school atWhittlesea; but when he was barely fifteen his schoolingcame to an end, and he was set to do his share of work—acting, prompting, helping to paint the scenery, and soforth—at the group of theatres which his father was thenmanaging, on what was called the Lincoln circuit. Hispractical experience of the stage had begun even earlierthan this, for at the theatre at Wisbech on the eveningof Friday, June 12th, 1834—that is, when he wasfive years old—he appeared in the play of Rob Roy inthe character of Hamish, Rob Roy's son, for the benefitof two members of the company, a Mr Shield and aMrs Danby. Why the fortunes of Mr Shield and MrsDanby were thus linked I cannot explain. One's imaginationis stirred by the circumstance. But the reasonmay have been prosaic enough; it may have been thecustom in those days of 'benefits' to reward a minorperformer with only half a benefit, and to polish off twoon the same night. Anyhow it has nothing to do withthe business in hand, and I mention this performancemerely to show that Robertson's own statement that hewas ' nursed on rose-pink and cradled in properties' wasnot without foundation.On the Lincoln circuit Robertson remained for fouryears, playing everything, according to his son's Memoir,from Hamlet to the low-comedy part in the farce ofDid you ever send your Wife to Camberwell?; and then,the popularity of the circuit having dwindled, and the