Frederick Burr Opper

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Robson, Frederick [ Thomas Robson Brownhill] (1821–64), English actor who first made his name as a singer of comic songs, appearing in 1844 at the Grecian Theatre; he may have been seen there in his later famous character of Jem Baggs in a revival of Mayhew's The Wandering Minstrel, which had been produced originally at the Fitzroy Theatre (later the Scala) in 1834. After enjoying great local popularity, Robson visited Dublin in 1850 and on his return joined the company at the Olympic Theatre, famous for its burlesques. It was there that he probably first sang in The Wandering Minstrel the popular ballad ‘Villikins and his Dinah’ by E. L. Blanchard. Short and ugly, and a heavy drinker, he was nevertheless a powerful actor of great charm, affectionately known as ‘the great little Robson’. A number of burlesques were written specially for him, of which Planché's The Yellow Dwarf (1854), exploited to the full his genius for blending the comic with the macabre. He also appeared with much success in the title-role of Palgrave Simpson's Daddy Hardacre (1857) and as Sampson Burr in Oxenford's drama The Porter's Knot (1858).