Ira Frederick Aldridge

Ira Frederick Aldridge

(July 24, 1807 – August 7, 1867)

He was an American-born British actor, playwright, and theatre manager, known for his portrayal of Shakespearean characters. James Hewlett and Aldridge are regarded as the first Black American tragedians.

He was an American-born British actor, playwright, and theatre manager, known for his portrayal of Shakespearean characters. James Hewlett and Aldridge are regarded as the first Black American tragedians.Born in New York City, Aldridge’s first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the African Grove Theatre troupe. Facing discrimination in America, he left in 1824 for England and made his debut at London’s Royal Coburg Theatre. As his career grew, his performances of Shakespeare’s classics eventually met with critical acclaim and he subsequently became the manager of Coventry’s Coventry Theatre Royal.

on 27 November 1825, Aldridge married Margaret Gill, an Englishwoman, at St George’s, Bloomsbury.^[33] He recorded in his Memoir that she was “the natural daughter of a member of Parliament, and a man of high standing in the county of Berks”, but her father was in reality a stocking-weaver from Northallerton, Yorkshire. Lindfors suggests that Aldridge “may have invented this fiction to give her an air of respectability in polite society”, raising her social status to protect her from criticism for marrying a black man. Their marriage angered the pro-slavery lobby, which attempted to end Aldridge’s career. The couple was married for 40 years until her death in 1864.

Aldridge spent most of his final years with his family in Russia and continental Europe, interspersed with occasional visits to England. He planned to return to the post-Civil-War United States. After completing a 70-city tour of France in 1867 and his French tour of Belgium (Ghent and Brussels), Aldridge died of a prolonged lung condition on 7 August 1867 while visiting Łódź, in Poland. He was buried in the city’s Old Evangelical Cemetery; 23 years passed before a proper tombstone was erected. His grave is tended by the Society of Polish Artists of Film and Theatre. A commemorative plaque was unveiled in 2014 at 175 Piotrkowska Street, where Aldridge was said to have died. The plaque was created by sculptor Marian Konieczny.
Aldridge’s tomb in Łódź, Poland.

A half-length portrait of 1826 by James Northcote shows Aldridge dressed for the role of Othello, but in a relatively undramatic portrait pose, is on display at the Manchester Art Gallery (in the Manchester section). Aldridge performed in the city many times. A blue plaque unveiled in 2007 commemorates Aldridge at 5 Hamlet Road in Upper Norwood, London.The plaque describes him as the “African Roscius”.

From 1852, Aldridge regularly toured much of Continental Europe and received top honours from several heads of state. He died suddenly while on tour in Poland and is buried in Łódź.Aldridge is the only actor of African-American descent honoured with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Two of Aldridge’s daughters, Amanda and Luranah, became professional opera singers. photo University of Warwick.

Aldridge received awards for his art from European heads of state and governments: the Prussian Gold Medal for Arts and Sciences from King Frederick William III, the Golden Cross of Leopold from the Czar of Russia, and the Maltese Cross from Bern, Switzerland.
During his successful tours, Aldridge had the distinguished honor of appearing before: Leopold I, King of Belgium; Frederick William IV, King of Prussia; the Prince and Princess of Prussia; Prince Frederick Wilhelm and Court; Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria; Sophia Archduchess of Austria; Ferdinand, Ex-Emperor of Austria; Archduke Albrecht, Viceroy of Hungary; Frederick Augustus and Maria of Saxony; the King and Queen of Holland; the Queen of Sweden; The Prince Regent of Baden; the Duke and Duchess of Saxe Cobourg; the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin; the Reigning Duke of Brunswick; the Margrave and Margravine of Baden; and General Jellachich, Ban of Croatia, amongst others.
Aldridge is the only African American to have a bronze plaque among the 33 actors honored at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.
A bust of Ira Aldridge by Pietro Calvi sits in the Grand Saloon of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London.
Aldridge’s legacy inspired the dramatic writing of African-American playwright Henry Francis Downing, who in the early 20th century became “probably the first person of African descent to have a play of his or her own written and published in Britain.”
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Ira Aldridge in his 100 Greatest African Americans.
His life was the subject of a play, Red Velvet, by Lolita Chakrabarti and starring Adrian Lester, produced at the Tricycle Theatre in London in 2012.
Howard University Department of Theatre Arts, a historically black university in Washington, DC, has a theatre named after Ira Aldridge.
Aldridge’s Othello has been highly influential in starting a series of respected performances by African Americans in Othello in the 1800s and early 1900s, which includes: John A. Arneaux, John Hewlett, and Paul Robeson.
A blue plaque in Aldridge’s honor was erected at Coventry, England.Professor Tony Howard, who teaches in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick,was campaigning for the commemoration of Aldridge’s time in Coventry, with the Belgrade Theatre. He had also said that, in Coventry, where there was formerly little interest in the abolition of slavery, Aldridge had “changed the climate of thinking”. On 3 August 2017, a blue plaque was unveiled to honour Aldridge for his time in Coventry, and to commemorate the location of the theatre. The plaque was unveiled in the Upper Precinct in Coventry city centre, by Lord Mayor Councillor Tony Skipper and was helped by actor Earl Cameron, whose voice coach was Aldridge’s daughter, Amanda Ira Aldridge.
A blue plaque was erected in 2007 by English Heritage at 5 Hamlet Road, Upper Norwood, London SE19 2AP, London Borough of Bromley.