Douglas William Jerrold

Douglas William Jerrold , 1803-57, English humorist and playwright. His plays Blackeyed Susan (1829) and Time Works Wonders (1845) were highly successful. Jerrold is best known, however, for his contributions to Punch, collected as Punch's Letters to His Son (1843) and Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures (1846). From 1852 until his death he edited Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. His son, William Blanchard Jerrold, 1826-84, succeeded his father as editor of Lloyd's and was the author of plays, novels, and biographies of his father (1859) and George Cruikshank (1882).

Bibliography: See study of the elder Jerrold by R. M. Kelly (1972).

Jerrold, Douglas William (1803–57), English actor, playwright, and journalist, who from its foundation in 1841 until his death was associated with the humorous journal Punch. As a playwright he had a good deal of contemporary success, though none of his plays has survived. Among them were the melodrama Fifteen Years of a Drunkard's Life (1828), produced at the Coburg (later the Old Vic) Theatre, and the nautical drama Black-Ey'd Susan; or, All in the Downs (1829), which provided an excellent vehicle for T. P. Cooke. Some of his later plays, notably The Rent Day (1832), were first produced at Drury Lane. In 1836 he took over the Strand Theatre, where he put on a number of his own plays, including A Gallantee Showman; or, Mr Peppercorn at Home (1837). His last play, a comedy entitled St Cupid; or, Dorothy's Fortune (1853), was first seen at Windsor Castle and later the same year at the Princess's Theatre. Jerrold's son William Blanchard Jerrold (1826–84) was the author of a farce, Cool as a Cucumber (1851), which provided the younger Mathews with one of his best parts.

Jerrold, Douglas William (1803–57), made his name in the theatre with Black-Ey'd Susan (1829), founded on Gay's ballad. He was a friend of Dickens and was associated with Punch from its beginnings, for which he wrote several serial works, including social political articles signed ‘Q’ and Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures (issued as a book in 1846). From 1845, he ran Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine and from 1846 Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper. He wrote several successful plays, novels, and studies of Men of Character (1838) which were illustrated by Thackeray. His son, William Blanchard Jerrold (1826–84), was also a prolific and miscellaneous writer.