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Henry James William Finn, expatriate actor, playwright (b at Sydney, NS 17 June 1787; d 13 Jan 1840). Taken to New York as a child, he travelled to London, eventually acting small parts at Haymarket Theatre 1811-12.
Finn, Henry James William
Henry James William Finn, expatriate actor, playwright (b at Sydney, NS 17 June 1787; d 13 Jan 1840). Taken to New York as a child, he travelled to London, eventually acting small parts at Haymarket Theatre 1811-12. He returned to America in 1815 and appeared in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, playing Hamlet, Richard III and Othello. With his triumphant Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (1824), he eschewed tragedy for farce, becoming a comic favourite. He managed Boston's Federal St and Tremont theatres 1825-30 and wrote about 9 plays, Montgomery; or, the Falls of Montmorency (1825) and Removing the Deposits (1835) being best known. He died aboard a burning steamship on the way to his summer home on Rhode Island.
