John Brunton

John Brunton (1741–1822) was an English actor who became the manager of a circuit of theatres in and around Norfolk. He assiduously cultivated emerging talent in his company, which also produced actors amongst his children and grandchildren. He also used funds from his theatrical successes to fund philanthropy, including establishing the Norwich Theatrical Fund. Early life Brunton was born in Norwich, the son of a soap maker, and educated at the grammar school under Rev Wilton. He served an apprenticeship to a grocer before moving to work with a relative in Canterbury, where he met and married a daughter of Mr. Friend, a tailor and draper. Later he went to London as a grocer and tea-dealer. Early career A friendship with J. Younger of Covent Garden theatre prompted him to appear on the stage in Cyrus on 11 April 1774 and on 3 May as the title character in Hamlet. He then took up acting in Norwich where, on 2 September 1775 he was again Hamlet with the Norwich company at Colchester theatre. On 6 May 1776 he was Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in Norwich. On 1 December he was Hamlet at Yarmouth theatre. By 1779 he was living on the Lowe Close, Norwich. At Bristol and Bath, in The Tragedy of Jane Shore by Nicholas Rowe in 1780, he appeared with Sarah Siddons and was said "to have a very fine and very powerful voice, he speaks the sense of his author distinctly; his manner is sufficiently marking; and, upon the whole, he promises to be an acquisition to our theatre". Another Covent Garden Theatre appearance was as Evander in The Grecian Daughter on 28 October 1785 with his daughter Ann in the title role.