Compton, Edward

Compton, Edward (1854–1918), English actor-manager, son of Charles Mackenzie who took his grandmother's maiden name when he went on the stage, and as Henry Compton became a well-known actor-manager. Edward was the founder of the Compton Comedy Company, which from 1881 to 1918 toured the English provinces in a repertory of plays by Shakespeare, Sheridan, Goldsmith, and other classic dramatists. An excellent actor, perhaps insufficiently appreciated in his own day, he appeared several times in London, playing opposite his wife Virginia, youngest daughter of H. L. Bateman. They were the parents of the novelist Compton Mackenzie and of four other children, all on the stage, of which the best known was Fay (see below).

Edward's sister, the actress Katherine Mackenzie Compton (1853–1928), made her first appearance in London in 1877 as Julia in Sheridan's The Rivals. Adept at portraying society women of shrewd wit and few scruples, she married the dramatist Richard Carton [Critchett] (1856–1928) and acted almost exclusively in his plays from 1885 onwards. Carton's first plays were much influenced by Dickens, but after the success of Lord and Lady Algy (1898) he continued to write comedies, bordering on farce, which poked discreet fun at the aristocracy.