Richard Stewart

Richard Stewart (24 May 1827 – 24 August 1902) was an English stage actor who settled in Australia. He is best remembered as the father of Nellie Stewart. History Stewart was born in South Shields, England and educated at Christ's Hospital, the Bluecoat school of West Sussex, England, where Coleridge and Lamb had been students. His full name was Richard Stewart Towzey (perhaps originally Towsey or Tousey), and despite using "Stewart" as his surname exclusively, the legal family name remained Towzey. In 1849 he left for the goldfields of California, then in 1852 he was in Australia, at the Sofala diggings. Fortunate or not, he made his name there as an entertainer, and was given an opening as a comedian at Sydney's Royal Victoria Theatre by Gordon Griffiths. It was there he met and in 1857 married the actress Mrs Guerin, a widow with two daughters Docy and Maggie. They had a daughter, Nellie Stewart of international fame, and a son Richard junior, with a long career on both sides of the stage curtain. In 1860 he was engaged by Barry Sullivan's company in Melbourne, where he played "Myles na Coppaleen" in The Colleen Bawn, and "Lord Dundreary" in Our American Cousin, and "Uncle Pete" in The Octoroon. When Sullivan relinquished his lease on the Theatre Royal, Stewart joined with H. R. Harwood, T. S. Bellair, Charles Vincent, John Hennings, and J. C. Lambert, in taking it over. In 1867 George Coppin joined, and Bellair, Lambert and Vincent dropped out. Triumphs during this time included burlesques The Siege of Troy and Knights of the Round Table written by W. M. Akhurst and scene paintings by Hennings, with seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Other successes around this time were Tobin's The Honeymoon as the "mock duke" and Dr Bowman's pantomime High, Low, Jack, and the Game during the Duke of Edinburgh's visit. Nellie Stewart, who was born in Sydney, made her first appearance as a child at the Theatre Royal during this period. Coppin bought his partners out, and was sole manager in 1872, when the theatre burned down. A new theatre was built on the site and opened in November 1872, with Harwood, Stewart, Hennings, and Coppin as proprietors.