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Conrad Knowles Conrad Knowles i(A30229 works by) (a.k.a. C. Knowles; Conrad Theodore Knowles)
Also writes as: Conrad
Born: Established: 1810
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe, ; Died: Ceased: 19 May 1844 Melbourne, Victoria,
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Conrad Knowles worked as a actor, stage manager and theatre manager in Sydney, New South Wales, and Melbourne in the colony of Victoria in the 1830s and 1840s.

Knowles came as a colonist to Western Australia at the age of eighteen; he then moved to Hobart Town, Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), where he worked for a short time as a tutor before arriving in Sydney. Knowles acted for Barnett Levey's Theatre Royal, Sydney, from the theatre's opening in 1832. He was the Theatre Royal's stage manager and acting manager at one time.

In May 1837 Knowles left for London on the Fortune. According to H. L. Oppenheim, Knowles intended to stay in England but ill health forced his return on the Cormandel in October 1838. Back in Sydney he acted for Joseph Wyatt's Royal Victoria Theatre. Oppenheim details the various theatres with which Knowles was associated. From November 1843 until his death, Knowles managed the Royal Victoria Theatre, Melbourne.

According to E. Morris Miller, Knowles played leading roles in plays by Shakespeare, 'of whose works he was considered to be a scholarly exponent' (356). In 1842, 'colonial drama' was introduced to the Royal Victoria Theatre, Sydney and Knowles contributed Salathiel, a dramatisation of E. Lytton Bulwer's 1838 novel Leila, or, the Siege of Granada.

Sources: H. L. Oppenheim, 'Knowles, Conrad Theodore (1810–1844)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/knowles-conrad-theodore-2315/text3005, accessed 23 October 2013; E. Morris Miller, Australian Literature from Its Beginnings to 1935, Vol. 1 (1940): 356.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • See also the full Australian Dictionary of Biography Online entry for Knowles, Conrad Theodore (1810–1844).

  • Conrad Knowles first acted under the name Mr Cooper. He is associated with the Australian colonial actor Mrs [Harriet] Jones (ca. 1804-?). Harriet Jones was the first female professional performer in Australia. Jones, who also acted under the name Mrs Love, arrived in Sydney in November 1825. She returned to England with Knowles in 1837. In October 1838 she returned to Sydney with Knowles and was known as Mrs Knowles.

    Source: H. L. Oppenheim, 'Knowles, Conrad Theodore (1810–1844)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/knowles-conrad-theodore-2315/text3005, accessed 23 October 2013; Parsons, Philip with Chance, Victoria (eds.). Concise Companion to Theatre in Australia (Paddington, New South Wales : Currency Press, 1997)

Last amended 17 Jun 2014 09:46:46
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