author
Richard Cumberland
1732–1811
Best known for the hit comedy The West Indian, this 18th-century playwright mixed stage success with a long career in public service. He also wrote novels and memoirs, leaving a lively record of literary and political life in Georgian Britain.
3 Audiobooks
John de Lancaster: a novel; vol. I.
by Richard Cumberland
John de Lancaster: a novel; vol. III.
by Richard Cumberland
John de Lancaster: a novel; vol. II.
by Richard Cumberland
About the author
Born in Cambridge on February 19, 1732, Richard Cumberland grew up in a learned and well-connected family and went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. He later built a career in government service, including work connected with the Board of Trade, while steadily pursuing his writing.
Cumberland became one of the most popular dramatists of his day, especially through sentimental comedies that aimed to blend humor with generosity and moral feeling. His best-known play, The West Indian (1771), was a major success, and he went on to write many other plays, along with novels, criticism, and an autobiography.
His life reached beyond the theater. During the American War of Independence, he was used in a diplomatic role in attempts to open negotiations with Spain. He died in London on May 7, 1811, remembered as a prolific man of letters whose work captured the tastes and manners of late 18th-century Britain.