author
G. J. (George John) Bennett
1800–1879
Best known as a Shakespearean actor on the London stage, he also wrote fiction and drama, bringing a performer’s sense of scene and character to his work. His surviving novel, The Empress (1835), links him to the busy world of early Victorian theatre and publishing.
2 Audiobooks
The Tourist's Guide through North Wales
by G. J. (George John) Bennett
The Pedestrian's Guide through North Wales A tour performed in 1837
by G. J. (George John) Bennett
About the author
Born in Ripon, Yorkshire, on March 9, 1800, George John Bennett came from a theatrical family and built a long career on the stage. He served briefly in the navy as a boy, then turned to acting, first appearing in provincial theatre before reaching London in the 1820s.
For nearly forty years he was known especially as a Shakespearean actor, with important appearances at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. Contemporary reference works remember him above all for tragic and classical parts, and that strong stage background shaped the literary work published under the name G. J. Bennett.
He is also associated with The Empress: A Novel (1835), a historical novel that remains the main book by which readers encounter him today. Bennett died on September 21, 1879, leaving behind the record of a writer closely tied to nineteenth-century performance culture.