Henry Edwards (entomologist)
Encyclopedia
Henry Edwards known as "Harry", was an English-born stage actor, writer and entomologist
who gained fame in Australia, San Francisco and New York City for his theater work.
Edwards was drawn to the theater early in life, and he appeared in amateur productions in London. After sailing to Australia, Edwards appeared professionally in Shakespeare
an plays and light comedies primarily in Melbourne and Sydney. Throughout his childhood in England and his acting career in Australia, he was greatly interested in collecting insects
, and the National Museum of Victoria
used the results of his Australian fieldwork as part of the genesis of their collection.
In San Francisco, Edwards was a founding member of the Bohemian Club
, and a gathering in Edwards' honor was the spark which began the club's traditional summer encampment at the Bohemian Grove
. As well, Edwards cemented his reputation as a preeminent stage actor and theater manager. After writing a series of influential studies on Pacific Coast
butterflies and moths he was elected life member of the California Academy of Sciences
. Relocating to the East Coast
, Edwards spent a brief time in Boston theater. This led to a connection to Wallack's Theatre
and further renown in New York City. There, Edwards edited three volumes of the journal Papilio and published a major work about the life of the butterfly. His large collection of insect specimens served as the foundation of the American Museum of Natural History
's butterfly and moth studies.
Edwards' wide-ranging studies and observations of insects brought him into contact with specimens not yet classified. Upon discovering previously unknown insects he would give them names, which led to a number of butterfly
, moth
and beetle
species bearing "Hy. Edw." (for Henry Edwards) as an attribution. From his theater interests to entomology, Edwards carried forward an appreciation of Shakespeare—in the designation of new insect species he favored female character names from Shakespeare's plays.
, Herefordshire, England, on August 27, 1827, and was christened on September 14. From his older brother William, he picked up an interest in examining insects. He collected butterflies as a hobby, and studied them under the tutelage of Edward Doubleday
. His solicitor father intended a law career for his son, but after a brief period of unsuccessful study, Edwards took a position at a counting house
in London, and began acting in amateur theater. He then journeyed to join his brother William who had settled in Australia, nine miles (14 km) north-west of Melbourne along the bank of Merri Creek
, a location then called Merrivale. Aboard the sailing ship Ganges from March to June 1853, he wrote descriptions of creatures such as the albatross
that he encountered for the first time. After arriving in Melbourne, Edwards began collecting and cataloging the insects he found on his brother's land, and further afield. Within two years, he had gathered 1,676 species of insects, shot and mounted 200 birds, and pressed some 200 botanical specimens. This collection and that of William Kershaw were purchased by Frederick McCoy
to form the nucleus of the new National Museum of Victoria
.
The first Australian stage appearance by Edwards was with George Selth Coppin
's company at the Queen's Theatre in Melbourne. Later, he joined Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
's theatrical group. The part of Petruchio
, the male lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
, was filled by Edwards at the Princess's Theatre in Sydney in November, 1859, playing opposite tragedian
Avonia Jones as Katharine. In December that year Brooke retired from management, yielding the reins of his company to the team of Edwards and George Fawcett Rowe, English actor and playwright. Brooke continued to act under Edwards and Rowe: his starring performance in April 1860 as Louis XI
in Dion Boucicault
's play of the same name was a stirring portrayal that Edwards, playing Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours
, recalled vividly for the rest of his life. Sharing the stage again in August, Brooke and Edwards were well received in their portrayal of twin brothers in a production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors
in Melbourne, the first Australian mounting of that work. As a twist to pique public interest, Edwards and Brooke exchanged roles after two weeks' run. However, not all of Edwards' performances were successful: his turn at Angelo in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure
was called "invertebrate" by drama critic William John Lawrence; in Lawrence's estimation, Edwards and his fellow actors paled against the powerful performance of Avonia Jones as Isabella.
The renowned entomologist and collector William Sharp Macleay
was sought out by Edwards whenever his stage appearances took him to Sydney. Beginning in 1858, Macleay mentored Edwards and encouraged him to search for more insect specimens when his theater obligations allowed. Robust and adventuresome, Edwards occasionally trekked out into the wilds of Australia on the hunt for insects. While in Sydney, Edwards went up two times in a hot air balloon
as a favor to George Coppin, narrowly avoiding severe injury or death in the first ascent. Edwards' further travels included New Zealand, Peru, Panama and Mexico in pursuit of insects and dramatic roles.
. In 1851 at the age of 28, Bray married Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, and the two went to Australia to manage Brooke's then-new theater company. It was there that Edwards met Brooke and his wife, but after several years of the two men working together, Brooke remarried in February 1863, taking Avonia Jones (1836–1867) as his second wife. Brooke died in an accident at sea in January 1866, and Avonia Jones Brooke died in England the next year. Later reports spoke of Edwards marrying Brooke's widow, without naming her.
In 1868–1869 Edwards leased and managed the Metropolitan Theater, and he was a founding member of the acting company of the California Theatre
, which opened in January 1869. The theater was directed and managed by actor John McCullough
, and among the more notable productions was As You Like It
in May 1872, with McCullough playing Orlando and Edwards the banished Duke Senior. Walter M. Leman, who carried the part of Adam, opined in 1886 that "never since time was has Shakespeare's charming idyl been better put upon the stage."
Edwards was one of the founders and the first vice president of the Bohemian Club, and served two terms as president, 1873–1875. He hosted Shakespeare celebrations at the club in April 1873, 1875 and 1877, and a Bohemian Christmas celebration in December 1877: "The Feast of Reason and Flow of Soul". Edwards became a director of the San Francisco Art Association
, and spoke for Lotta Crabtree
at the dedication of Lotta's Fountain
in September, 1875.
Still very much interested in insects, Edwards spent his spare time at the California Academy of Sciences
studying butterflies under Hans Hermann Behr
, the academy's curator for Lepidoptera
, the scientific order
of moths and butterflies. Elected a member of the academy in 1867, he concentrated on describing the structure and habits of moths and butterflies on the Pacific coast
from British Columbia
to Baja California
. He went to visit John Muir
in Yosemite Valley
in June 1871, with a letter of introduction from Jeanne Carr, the wife of California's chief geologist Ezra S. Carr. The letter described Edwards as "one of Nature's truest and most devoted disciples", a sojourner who "has the keys to the Kingdom". After the visit, Muir occasionally sent specimens from the Sierras to add to Edwards' collection, carried to San Francisco by men such as geologist and artist Clarence King
who were returning from Yosemite field study. Edwards presented a series of papers to the academy entitled Pacific Coast Lepidoptera, and classified two species as new to science. He named one Gyros muiri for Muir, with "Hy. Edw." as the attribution. In 1872, Muir sent Edwards a letter, writing "You are now in constant remembrance, because every flying flower is branded with your name." In 1873, Edwards became the curator of entomology
at the academy, and began to serve on the Publications Committee which produced the journal Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. Beginning early that year, he accompanied and befriended George Robert Crotch
on the latter's insect-collecting tour of California, Oregon
and British Columbia. In 1874, Edwards began to serve as one of the academy's vice presidents, and for the academy in late 1874 after Crotch's death from tuberculosis
, he published a memorial tribute to the man. Edwards also wrote one of many tributes to academician Louis Agassiz
at his death in late 1873. At the academy on January 2, 1877, Edwards was elected member for life.
Though successful in San Francisco, Edwards decided to head for Boston and New York City to see if his career as an actor could benefit from appearances in the eastern United States. On June 29, 1878, somewhat fewer than 100 of his Bohemian friends gathered in the woods near Taylorville, California
(present-day Samuel P. Taylor State Park
), for a night-time send-off party in Edwards' honor. Bohemian Club historian Porter Garnett later wrote that the men at the "nocturnal picnic" were "provided with blankets to keep them warm and a generous supply of liquor for the same purpose". Japanese lanterns were used for illumination and decoration. This festive gathering was repeated without Edwards by club members the next year, and every year thereafter, eventually evolving and expanding into the club's annual summer encampment at the Bohemian Grove
, famous (or infamous) for the casual commingling of top politicians and powerful captains of industry in attendance.
on Washington Street. After a four-week run, he performed in other productions at the theater through the 1879–1880 season. In June, Edwards answered the 1880 census to report himself an England-born actor living with his English wife "Marian" and his Chinese servant, Gim Hing.
From Boston, Edwards moved to New York to stay for some ten years, performing on stage and participating in insect studies. He was active in the Brooklyn and New York Entomological Societies. In 1881, he co-founded and edited a butterfly enthusiast's periodical entitled Papilio, named for the genus
Papilio in the swallowtail butterfly
family
, Papilionidae
. Edwards served as editor until January 1884 when he gave the reins to his friend Eugene Murray-Aaron of Philadelphia. Papilio was published until 1885 when its subscription base was merged into the more general Entomologia Americana, published by the Brooklyn Entomological Society.
Beginning in December 1880 under Lester Wallack
, the charismatic son of the theater's founder, Edwards was associated with Wallack's Theatre
in New York, called the "finest theatre company in America". Now in his 50s, the entomologist and actor appeared in such representative British dramatic roles as Prince Malleotti in Forget Me Not, Max Harkaway in London Assurance
, Baron Stein in Diplomacy, and Master Walter in The Hunchback, reprising James Sheridan Knowles
's earlier portrayal. Edwards used Wallack's Theatre as his professional mailing address, and helped manage it upon occasion. Wallack, already head "Shepherd" of the Lambs Club, a modest meetinghouse of professional stage actors, invited Edwards to join. Once a Lamb, Edwards threw his energies in with those of Wallack and other club members to aid newspaper editor Harrison Grey Fiske
in the organization of a charitable fund
to support destitute actors or their widows. Wallack was made president of the resulting Actors' Fund
. A year after its first meeting on July 15, 1882 at Wallack's Theatre, Edwards was made secretary, a position he held for one year. His wife joined the Women's Executive Committee of the Fund.
Edwards appeared in early 1882 at Palmer's Theatre on Broadway and West 30th Street in a production of the English comedy The School for Scandal
. Wallack stalwart John Gibbs Gilbert
reached the height of his fame in the production, playing Sir Peter Teazle. As Sir Oliver Surface, Edwards, too, was lauded—Gilbert and Edwards shared the stage with Stella Boniface
, Osmond Tearle, Gerald Eyre, Madame Ponisi and Rose Coghlan
.
Gathering together under one cover his various short subjects, essays, and elegies to fallen friends, Edwards published in 1883 a wryly humorous book entitled A Mingled Yarn, including tales of travels and stories of his time in the Bohemian Club. Dedicated to the Bohemians, "with grateful memories, and feelings of affectionate regard," the book was favorably reviewed in the New York Tribune
. This review was reprinted in the Literary News: "Mr. Edwards—remarkable for attainments in science no less than for versatile proficiency in the art of acting—presents a rare type of the union of talents greatly divergent and seldom found in one and the same person."
In 1886, Edwards was interviewed for The Theatre, a weekly magazine published in New York. Edwards was described as "unusually popular and genial", with a "charming English" wife and a Chinese servant named Charlie who "adores his employers" and had served them for 17 years. The Edwards' home was observed to be comfortable but decorated with an astonishing collection of wonders from around the globe. Displayed amid the biological specimens, rugs, china, furniture, and valuable photographs were paintings executed by other actors, including ones by Edward Askew Sothern
and Joseph Jefferson
. Edwards showed letters he had received from a wide array of notables such as writers William Makepeace Thackeray
, Charles Dickens
, Anthony Trollope
and naturalists Charles Darwin
, Louis Agassiz
and John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
. One floor of the residence was seen to be wholly devoted to the entomologist's collection of specimens, which Edwards said was insured for $17,000, $ in current value. Surrounded by his exotic possessions and "in the most perfect congeniality with his wife", Edwards was reported to be the host of a "cultivated home".
, a poetic telling of the King Arthur
legend, Edwards and George Parsons Lathrop
adapted it to the stage as a drama in four acts. The result was Elaine, a story of young love between Elaine of Astolat
and Lancelot
, fashioned with "flower-like fragility" and "winning touches of tenderness". Its first public presentation was a staged "author's reading" at Madison Square Theatre on April 28, 1887, at which Edwards played the part of Elaine's father, Lord Astolat. Months later it was presented by the company of A. M. Palmer, without Edwards in the cast, opening on December 6, 1887, at the same venue. The production proved both popular and profitable for Lathrop and Edwards. Annie Russell
's Elaine was admired for her "sweet simplicity and pathos which captured nearly every heart". After a successful six-week New York run, Palmer took Elaine on the road.
Actors associated with Wallack's Theatre announced to the public that beginning in February 1888 a final series of old comedies would be revived, after which the company would be disbanded. Edwards served as stage manager for the run, and reprised several of his earlier roles including those of Max Harkaway in London Assurance and Colonel Rockett in Old Heads and Young Hearts. Taking part once again in The School for Scandal, the sixth and final play of the nostalgic series, Edwards received high praise for his depiction of a wealthy Englishman recently returned from India: "there is probably no better Sir Oliver on our stage than Mr. Edwards." "Justly esteemed" in the role, he was called a "sterling player", representative "of a school which is fast disappearing".
A testimonial production of Hamlet
was mounted at the Metropolitan Opera House
on May 21, 1888, to celebrate the life and accomplishments of an aging Lester Wallack, and to raise money to ease the chronic sciatica
that arrested his career. "One of the greatest casts ever assembled" was formed into a company composed of Edwards as the priest, Edwin Booth
as Hamlet, Lawrence Barrett
as the ghost, Frank Mayo
as the king, John Gibbs Gilbert as Polonius, Rose Coghlan as the player queen and Helena Modjeska
as Ophelia. Other stars made cameo appearance
s, and Wallack was assisted up onto the stage to address the standing room crowd at intermission. Notables such as Mayor Hewitt
and General Sherman
were in attendance. More than $10,000 was raised for Wallack's care. In the following months, Edwards teamed with other actors and Wallack's wife to help him write his memoir; Wallack died in September.
The next year, Edwards published a significant treatise entitled Bibliographic Catalogue of the Described Transformation of North American Lepidoptera. In response to an invitation and after arranging a business contract, he traveled back to Australia to accept a position as stage manager of a theatrical company in Melbourne. Frustrated with the experience, Edwards sailed back to New York the next year with the intention of returning to acting, but poor health kept him from full enjoyment of the limelight
. In March, Edwards appeared as Holofernes in Love's Labour's Lost
at Augustin Daly
's Daly Theatre, but was often short of breath and unable to keep pace with the run—his part was given to a young Tyrone Power
who also covered Edwards' old role of Sir Oliver Surface for Daly's road show of The School for Scandal.
To regain his strength, Edwards and his wife took a carriage to a rustic cottage refuge in Arkville in the Catskill Mountains
but isolation, plain food and rest yielded little improvement. A physician was called and he informed Mrs. Edwards that there would be no recovery for her husband from the advanced Bright's disease
with complications from chronic pneumonia
so she brought him back to New York City. Edwards died at home at 185 East 116th Street
in East Harlem
late on June 9, 1891, just hours after returning.
(AMNH) as the cornerstone of their collection. Mrs. Harry Edwards also donated some of his other specimens, including two eggs of the order Rajiformes
, the true rays. Museum trustees purchased the 500 volumes of entomology texts and 1,200 pamphlets owned by Edwards to form the "Harry Edwards Entomological Library", one of the handful of important book acquisitions made by the AMNH to expand their library in its early years. William Schaus
, a student that Edwards guided and encouraged, but never met in person, went on to further define moth and butterfly characteristics in a large body of published work.
The "Hy. Edw." designation appended to some butterfly species names indicates first description by Henry Edwards. This is not to be confused with the "Edw." designation which stands for William Henry Edwards
, an unrelated contemporary and correspondent of Edwards'. At least two specimens were designated "Mrs. Hy. Edwards." because they were collected and identified by his wife. Edwards named many butterflies in the families Theclinae
, Nymphalidae
, Papilionidae and Lycaenidae
, but his largest contribution was in the description of moth species in North America including Mexico: Arctiidae
, Bombycidae
, Hepialidae
, Sesiidae
, Noctuidae
, Sphingidae
, Lasiocampidae
, Dalceridae
, Dysderidae
, Geometridae
, Pyralidae
, Saturniidae
, Thyatiridae
, Urodidae
and Zygaenidae
. In choosing names, Edwards favored female characters from the plays of William Shakespeare
, such as Ophelia from Hamlet
, Hermia
from A Midsummer Night's Dream
, and Desdemona
from Othello
. For example, Edwards collected, classified and named the moth species Catocala ophelia
and Catocala hermia
in 1880, and Catocala desdemona
in 1882.
reported that his family gave his birthday as September 23, 1830, but that some published lists of actors' ages, "not always trustworthy", put his birth year at 1824.
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
who gained fame in Australia, San Francisco and New York City for his theater work.
Edwards was drawn to the theater early in life, and he appeared in amateur productions in London. After sailing to Australia, Edwards appeared professionally in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
an plays and light comedies primarily in Melbourne and Sydney. Throughout his childhood in England and his acting career in Australia, he was greatly interested in collecting insects
Insect collecting
Insect collecting is the collection of insects for hobby, scientific study or profit. Historically insect collecting has been widespread and a very popular educational hobby. Insect collecting has left traces in European cultural history, literature and songs Insect collecting is the collection of...
, and the National Museum of Victoria
Museum Victoria
Museum Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; these are: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facility in Melbourne's City of Moreland.Museum...
used the results of his Australian fieldwork as part of the genesis of their collection.
In San Francisco, Edwards was a founding member of the Bohemian Club
Bohemian Club
The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
, and a gathering in Edwards' honor was the spark which began the club's traditional summer encampment at the Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove is a campground located at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, belonging to a private San Francisco-based men's art club known as the Bohemian Club...
. As well, Edwards cemented his reputation as a preeminent stage actor and theater manager. After writing a series of influential studies on Pacific Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
butterflies and moths he was elected life member of the California Academy of Sciences
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is among the largest museums of natural history in the world. The academy began in 1853 as a learned society and still carries out a large amount of original research, with exhibits and education becoming significant endeavors of the museum during the twentieth...
. Relocating to the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
, Edwards spent a brief time in Boston theater. This led to a connection to Wallack's Theatre
Wallack's Theatre
Wallack’s Theatre , located on 254 West 42nd Street in New York, United States, was opened on December 5, 1904 by Oscar Hammerstein I. Wallack’s was Hammerstein’s 8th production theatre and was originally known as the "Lew Fields'", a name that Hammerstein gave it in recognition of his favourite...
and further renown in New York City. There, Edwards edited three volumes of the journal Papilio and published a major work about the life of the butterfly. His large collection of insect specimens served as the foundation of the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
's butterfly and moth studies.
Edwards' wide-ranging studies and observations of insects brought him into contact with specimens not yet classified. Upon discovering previously unknown insects he would give them names, which led to a number of butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
, moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
and beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
species bearing "Hy. Edw." (for Henry Edwards) as an attribution. From his theater interests to entomology, Edwards carried forward an appreciation of Shakespeare—in the designation of new insect species he favored female character names from Shakespeare's plays.
Early career
Henry Edwards was born to Hannah and Thomas Edwards (c. 1794–1857) at Brook House in Ross-on-WyeRoss-on-Wye
Ross-on-Wye is a small market town with a population of 10,089 in southeastern Herefordshire, England, located on the River Wye, and on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean.-History:...
, Herefordshire, England, on August 27, 1827, and was christened on September 14. From his older brother William, he picked up an interest in examining insects. He collected butterflies as a hobby, and studied them under the tutelage of Edward Doubleday
Edward Doubleday
Edward Doubleday was an English entomologist mainly interested in Lepidoptera.He is best known for Doubleday, E. & Westwood, J.O. The Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera: comprising their generic characters, a notice of their habits and transformations, and a catalogue of the species of each genus....
. His solicitor father intended a law career for his son, but after a brief period of unsuccessful study, Edwards took a position at a counting house
Counting house
A counting house, or compting house, literally is the building, room, office or suite in which a business firm carries on operations, particularly accounting. By a synecdoche, it has come to mean the accounting operations of a firm, however housed...
in London, and began acting in amateur theater. He then journeyed to join his brother William who had settled in Australia, nine miles (14 km) north-west of Melbourne along the bank of Merri Creek
Merri Creek
The Merri Creek is a waterway in southern parts of Victoria, Australia which flows through the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It begins in Wallan north of Melbourne and flows south for 70km until it joins the Yarra River at Dights Falls...
, a location then called Merrivale. Aboard the sailing ship Ganges from March to June 1853, he wrote descriptions of creatures such as the albatross
Albatross
Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes . They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific...
that he encountered for the first time. After arriving in Melbourne, Edwards began collecting and cataloging the insects he found on his brother's land, and further afield. Within two years, he had gathered 1,676 species of insects, shot and mounted 200 birds, and pressed some 200 botanical specimens. This collection and that of William Kershaw were purchased by Frederick McCoy
Frederick McCoy
Sir Frederick McCoy, KCMG, FRS was an Irish palaeontologist and museum administrator, active in Australia.-Early life:McCoy was the son of Dr Simon McCoy, M.D. and was born in Dublin; some sources have his year of birth as 1823, but 1817 is the most likely...
to form the nucleus of the new National Museum of Victoria
Museum Victoria
Museum Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; these are: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facility in Melbourne's City of Moreland.Museum...
.
The first Australian stage appearance by Edwards was with George Selth Coppin
George Selth Coppin
George Selth Coppin was a comic actor, entrepreneur and politician, active in Australia.-Early life:Coppin was born at Steyning, Sussex, England, son of George Selth Coppin and Elizabeth Jane, née Jackson. His grandfather had been a well-known clergyman at Norwich...
's company at the Queen's Theatre in Melbourne. Later, he joined Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
Gustavus Vaughan Brooke was an Irish stage actor who enjoyed success in Ireland, England and Australia.-Early life:...
's theatrical group. The part of Petruchio
Petruchio
Petruchio is the male romantic lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew . Petruchio is a fortune seeker who enters into a marriage with a strong-willed young woman named Kate and then proceeds to "tame" her temperamental spirit...
, the male lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
, was filled by Edwards at the Princess's Theatre in Sydney in November, 1859, playing opposite tragedian
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
Avonia Jones as Katharine. In December that year Brooke retired from management, yielding the reins of his company to the team of Edwards and George Fawcett Rowe, English actor and playwright. Brooke continued to act under Edwards and Rowe: his starring performance in April 1860 as Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
in Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
's play of the same name was a stirring portrayal that Edwards, playing Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours
Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours
Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours was the son of Bernard d'Armagnac, count of Pardiac, and Eleanor of Bourbon-La Marche....
, recalled vividly for the rest of his life. Sharing the stage again in August, Brooke and Edwards were well received in their portrayal of twin brothers in a production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
in Melbourne, the first Australian mounting of that work. As a twist to pique public interest, Edwards and Brooke exchanged roles after two weeks' run. However, not all of Edwards' performances were successful: his turn at Angelo in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
was called "invertebrate" by drama critic William John Lawrence; in Lawrence's estimation, Edwards and his fellow actors paled against the powerful performance of Avonia Jones as Isabella.
The renowned entomologist and collector William Sharp Macleay
William Sharp MacLeay
William Sharp Macleay was a British civil servant and entomologist.-Early life:Macleay was born in London, eldest son of Alexander Macleay who named him for his then business partner, fellow wine merchant William Sharp. He attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge graduating with...
was sought out by Edwards whenever his stage appearances took him to Sydney. Beginning in 1858, Macleay mentored Edwards and encouraged him to search for more insect specimens when his theater obligations allowed. Robust and adventuresome, Edwards occasionally trekked out into the wilds of Australia on the hunt for insects. While in Sydney, Edwards went up two times in a hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
as a favor to George Coppin, narrowly avoiding severe injury or death in the first ascent. Edwards' further travels included New Zealand, Peru, Panama and Mexico in pursuit of insects and dramatic roles.
San Francisco
In 1865, Edwards began a 12-year residence in San Francisco, California. At the 1870 United States Census, Edwards reported himself as a non-voting foreign-born resident, a comedian by trade, living in a home worth $1,000. Edwards lived in San Francisco with a white woman listed in the census as "Mariana", born in England, age 40, and a 16-year-old Chinese servant named Heng Gim. The woman Mariana was likely Edwards's wife, the former Marianne Elizabeth Woolcott Bray who was born about 1822–1823 in New Street, BirminghamNew Street, Birmingham
New Street is a street in central Birmingham, England . It is one of the city's principal thoroughfares and shopping streets. Named after it is Birmingham New Street Station, although that does not have an entrance on New Street except through the Pallasades Shopping Centre.-History:New Street is...
. In 1851 at the age of 28, Bray married Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, and the two went to Australia to manage Brooke's then-new theater company. It was there that Edwards met Brooke and his wife, but after several years of the two men working together, Brooke remarried in February 1863, taking Avonia Jones (1836–1867) as his second wife. Brooke died in an accident at sea in January 1866, and Avonia Jones Brooke died in England the next year. Later reports spoke of Edwards marrying Brooke's widow, without naming her.
In 1868–1869 Edwards leased and managed the Metropolitan Theater, and he was a founding member of the acting company of the California Theatre
California Theatre (San Francisco)
The California Theatre , was located at 414 Bush Street, San Francisco. It was built in 1869 by William Ralston, at that time the treasurer of the Bank of California. S. C. Bugbee & Son were the architects and the theatre cost $250, 000 to build.Anpther source puts the figure at $150,000...
, which opened in January 1869. The theater was directed and managed by actor John McCullough
John Edward McCullough
John Edward McCullough was an American actor.He was born in Coleraine, Ireland. He went to America at the age of sixteen, and made his first appearance on the stage at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1857...
, and among the more notable productions was As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
in May 1872, with McCullough playing Orlando and Edwards the banished Duke Senior. Walter M. Leman, who carried the part of Adam, opined in 1886 that "never since time was has Shakespeare's charming idyl been better put upon the stage."
Edwards was one of the founders and the first vice president of the Bohemian Club, and served two terms as president, 1873–1875. He hosted Shakespeare celebrations at the club in April 1873, 1875 and 1877, and a Bohemian Christmas celebration in December 1877: "The Feast of Reason and Flow of Soul". Edwards became a director of the San Francisco Art Association
San Francisco Art Association
The San Francisco Art Association was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established an art school. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated...
, and spoke for Lotta Crabtree
Lotta Crabtree
Lotta Mignon Crabtree was an American actress, entertainer and comedian. She was also a significant philanthropist....
at the dedication of Lotta's Fountain
Lotta's Fountain
Lotta's fountain was dedicated in 1875 at the intersection of Market Street where Geary and Kearny Streets connect in downtown San Francisco, California....
in September, 1875.
Still very much interested in insects, Edwards spent his spare time at the California Academy of Sciences
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is among the largest museums of natural history in the world. The academy began in 1853 as a learned society and still carries out a large amount of original research, with exhibits and education becoming significant endeavors of the museum during the twentieth...
studying butterflies under Hans Hermann Behr
Hans Hermann Behr
Hans Hermann Behr was a German-American doctor, an entomologist and a botanist....
, the academy's curator for Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, the scientific order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
of moths and butterflies. Elected a member of the academy in 1867, he concentrated on describing the structure and habits of moths and butterflies on the Pacific coast
Pacific Coast
A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...
from British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
to Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
. He went to visit John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
in Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
in June 1871, with a letter of introduction from Jeanne Carr, the wife of California's chief geologist Ezra S. Carr. The letter described Edwards as "one of Nature's truest and most devoted disciples", a sojourner who "has the keys to the Kingdom". After the visit, Muir occasionally sent specimens from the Sierras to add to Edwards' collection, carried to San Francisco by men such as geologist and artist Clarence King
Clarence King
Clarence R. King was an American geologist, mountaineer, and art critic. First director of the United States Geological Survey, from 1879 to 1881, King was noted for his exploration of the Sierra Nevada. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island.-Career:...
who were returning from Yosemite field study. Edwards presented a series of papers to the academy entitled Pacific Coast Lepidoptera, and classified two species as new to science. He named one Gyros muiri for Muir, with "Hy. Edw." as the attribution. In 1872, Muir sent Edwards a letter, writing "You are now in constant remembrance, because every flying flower is branded with your name." In 1873, Edwards became the curator of entomology
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
at the academy, and began to serve on the Publications Committee which produced the journal Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. Beginning early that year, he accompanied and befriended George Robert Crotch
George Robert Crotch
George Robert Crotch was a British entomologist.Born in Cambridge, England 1842 Crotch became interested in insects, especially Coleoptera, while an undergraduate at Cambridge University. He worked at the University Library, Cambridge...
on the latter's insect-collecting tour of California, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and British Columbia. In 1874, Edwards began to serve as one of the academy's vice presidents, and for the academy in late 1874 after Crotch's death from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, he published a memorial tribute to the man. Edwards also wrote one of many tributes to academician Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
at his death in late 1873. At the academy on January 2, 1877, Edwards was elected member for life.
Though successful in San Francisco, Edwards decided to head for Boston and New York City to see if his career as an actor could benefit from appearances in the eastern United States. On June 29, 1878, somewhat fewer than 100 of his Bohemian friends gathered in the woods near Taylorville, California
Taylorville, California
Taylorville is a former settlement in Marin County, California. It was located on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad west-southwest of downtown Novato, at an elevation of 141 feet . Taylorville still appeared on maps as of 1914....
(present-day Samuel P. Taylor State Park
Samuel P. Taylor State Park
Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a state park located in Marin County, California. It contains approximately of redwood and grassland. The park contains about of old-growth forest, some of which can be seen along the Pioneer Tree Trail.-History:...
), for a night-time send-off party in Edwards' honor. Bohemian Club historian Porter Garnett later wrote that the men at the "nocturnal picnic" were "provided with blankets to keep them warm and a generous supply of liquor for the same purpose". Japanese lanterns were used for illumination and decoration. This festive gathering was repeated without Edwards by club members the next year, and every year thereafter, eventually evolving and expanding into the club's annual summer encampment at the Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove is a campground located at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, belonging to a private San Francisco-based men's art club known as the Bohemian Club...
, famous (or infamous) for the casual commingling of top politicians and powerful captains of industry in attendance.
Boston to New York
In late 1878, Edwards joined a theater company in Boston, replacing another actor as "Schelm, Chief of Police" at a revival of the spectacle The Exiles at the Boston TheatreBoston Theatre
The Boston Theatre was a theatre in Boston, Massachusetts.-Further reading:* Eugene Tompkins. History of the Boston Theatre 1854-1901. Houghton Mifflin, 1908. -External links:...
on Washington Street. After a four-week run, he performed in other productions at the theater through the 1879–1880 season. In June, Edwards answered the 1880 census to report himself an England-born actor living with his English wife "Marian" and his Chinese servant, Gim Hing.
From Boston, Edwards moved to New York to stay for some ten years, performing on stage and participating in insect studies. He was active in the Brooklyn and New York Entomological Societies. In 1881, he co-founded and edited a butterfly enthusiast's periodical entitled Papilio, named for the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Papilio in the swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies that form the family Papilionidae. There are over 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
, Papilionidae
Swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies that form the family Papilionidae. There are over 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica...
. Edwards served as editor until January 1884 when he gave the reins to his friend Eugene Murray-Aaron of Philadelphia. Papilio was published until 1885 when its subscription base was merged into the more general Entomologia Americana, published by the Brooklyn Entomological Society.
Beginning in December 1880 under Lester Wallack
John Lester Wallack
John Lester Wallack , was an American actor and son of James William Wallack....
, the charismatic son of the theater's founder, Edwards was associated with Wallack's Theatre
Wallack's Theatre
Wallack’s Theatre , located on 254 West 42nd Street in New York, United States, was opened on December 5, 1904 by Oscar Hammerstein I. Wallack’s was Hammerstein’s 8th production theatre and was originally known as the "Lew Fields'", a name that Hammerstein gave it in recognition of his favourite...
in New York, called the "finest theatre company in America". Now in his 50s, the entomologist and actor appeared in such representative British dramatic roles as Prince Malleotti in Forget Me Not, Max Harkaway in London Assurance
London Assurance
London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
, Baron Stein in Diplomacy, and Master Walter in The Hunchback, reprising James Sheridan Knowles
James Sheridan Knowles
James Sheridan Knowles , Irish dramatist and actor, was born in Cork.-Biography:His father was the lexicographer James Knowles , cousin of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The family removed to London in 1793, and at the age of fourteen Knowles published a ballad entitled The Welsh Harper, which, set to...
's earlier portrayal. Edwards used Wallack's Theatre as his professional mailing address, and helped manage it upon occasion. Wallack, already head "Shepherd" of the Lambs Club, a modest meetinghouse of professional stage actors, invited Edwards to join. Once a Lamb, Edwards threw his energies in with those of Wallack and other club members to aid newspaper editor Harrison Grey Fiske
Harrison Grey Fiske
Harrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
in the organization of a charitable fund
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
to support destitute actors or their widows. Wallack was made president of the resulting Actors' Fund
Actors' Fund
The Actors Fund of America is a nonprofit umbrella charitable organization that assists American entertainment and performing arts professionals through a broad spectrum of programs, including comprehensive social services, health services, supportive and affordable housing, employment and training...
. A year after its first meeting on July 15, 1882 at Wallack's Theatre, Edwards was made secretary, a position he held for one year. His wife joined the Women's Executive Committee of the Fund.
Edwards appeared in early 1882 at Palmer's Theatre on Broadway and West 30th Street in a production of the English comedy The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
. Wallack stalwart John Gibbs Gilbert
John Gibbs Gilbert
John Gibbs Gilbert was an American stage actor whose real name was Gibbs.Born in Boston, he made his first appearance there at the Tremont Theatre, in 1828, as Jaffier in Otway's "Venice Preserved." His original aim was to be a tragedian, but while on a tour through the South and West, the...
reached the height of his fame in the production, playing Sir Peter Teazle. As Sir Oliver Surface, Edwards, too, was lauded—Gilbert and Edwards shared the stage with Stella Boniface
Stella Weaver
Stella Boniface Weaver was a stage actress from Richmond, Virginia. In the late 1870s and 1880s she was an importantmember of the company of Lester Wallack, at 13th Street and Broadway...
, Osmond Tearle, Gerald Eyre, Madame Ponisi and Rose Coghlan
Rose Coghlan
Rose Coghlan , English actress was the sister of Charles Francis Coghlan.She went to America in 1871 as part of Lydia Thompson's troupe touring the U.S.. She made her Broadway debut in 1872 in a musical. Coghlan was again in England from 1873 to 1877, playing with Barry Sullivan, and then returned...
.
Gathering together under one cover his various short subjects, essays, and elegies to fallen friends, Edwards published in 1883 a wryly humorous book entitled A Mingled Yarn, including tales of travels and stories of his time in the Bohemian Club. Dedicated to the Bohemians, "with grateful memories, and feelings of affectionate regard," the book was favorably reviewed in the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
. This review was reprinted in the Literary News: "Mr. Edwards—remarkable for attainments in science no less than for versatile proficiency in the art of acting—presents a rare type of the union of talents greatly divergent and seldom found in one and the same person."
In 1886, Edwards was interviewed for The Theatre, a weekly magazine published in New York. Edwards was described as "unusually popular and genial", with a "charming English" wife and a Chinese servant named Charlie who "adores his employers" and had served them for 17 years. The Edwards' home was observed to be comfortable but decorated with an astonishing collection of wonders from around the globe. Displayed amid the biological specimens, rugs, china, furniture, and valuable photographs were paintings executed by other actors, including ones by Edward Askew Sothern
Edward Askew Sothern
Edward Askew Sothern was an English actor known for his comic roles in Britain and America, particularly Lord Dundreary in Our American Cousin.- Early years :...
and Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson, commonly known as Joe Jefferson , was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all American comedians....
. Edwards showed letters he had received from a wide array of notables such as writers William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
and naturalists Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
and John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC , FRS , known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a polymath and Liberal Member of Parliament....
. One floor of the residence was seen to be wholly devoted to the entomologist's collection of specimens, which Edwards said was insured for $17,000, $ in current value. Surrounded by his exotic possessions and "in the most perfect congeniality with his wife", Edwards was reported to be the host of a "cultivated home".
Last years
Two years after Alfred, Lord Tennyson, completed his Idylls of the KingIdylls of the King
Idylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom...
, a poetic telling of the King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
legend, Edwards and George Parsons Lathrop
George Parsons Lathrop
George Parsons Lathrop was an American poet and novelist.-Life:George Parsons Lathrop was born August 25, 1851 in Honolulu, Hawaii....
adapted it to the stage as a drama in four acts. The result was Elaine, a story of young love between Elaine of Astolat
Elaine of Astolat
Elaine of Astolat or Ascolat is a figure in Arthurian legend who dies of her unrequited love for Lancelot. Also referred to as Elaine the White and Elaine the Fair, she is the daughter of Bernard of Astolat. Versions of her story appear in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and Alfred Tennyson's...
and Lancelot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
, fashioned with "flower-like fragility" and "winning touches of tenderness". Its first public presentation was a staged "author's reading" at Madison Square Theatre on April 28, 1887, at which Edwards played the part of Elaine's father, Lord Astolat. Months later it was presented by the company of A. M. Palmer, without Edwards in the cast, opening on December 6, 1887, at the same venue. The production proved both popular and profitable for Lathrop and Edwards. Annie Russell
Annie Russell
Annie Ellen Russell was an English born American stage actress.-Early life:Russell was born on in Liverpool, England, of Irish parents, Joseph Russell and Jane Mount. She moved to Canada when she was a child. She made her first appearance on the stage at eight years old at the Montreal Academy of...
's Elaine was admired for her "sweet simplicity and pathos which captured nearly every heart". After a successful six-week New York run, Palmer took Elaine on the road.
Actors associated with Wallack's Theatre announced to the public that beginning in February 1888 a final series of old comedies would be revived, after which the company would be disbanded. Edwards served as stage manager for the run, and reprised several of his earlier roles including those of Max Harkaway in London Assurance and Colonel Rockett in Old Heads and Young Hearts. Taking part once again in The School for Scandal, the sixth and final play of the nostalgic series, Edwards received high praise for his depiction of a wealthy Englishman recently returned from India: "there is probably no better Sir Oliver on our stage than Mr. Edwards." "Justly esteemed" in the role, he was called a "sterling player", representative "of a school which is fast disappearing".
A testimonial production of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
was mounted at the Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)
The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company.-History:...
on May 21, 1888, to celebrate the life and accomplishments of an aging Lester Wallack, and to raise money to ease the chronic sciatica
Sciatica
Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, or...
that arrested his career. "One of the greatest casts ever assembled" was formed into a company composed of Edwards as the priest, Edwin Booth
Edwin Booth
Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous 19th century American actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, a spectacular theatre that was quite modern for its time...
as Hamlet, Lawrence Barrett
Lawrence Barrett
Lawrence Barrett was an American stage actor.-Biography:He was born Lawrence Brannigan to Irish emigrant parents in Paterson, New Jersey. He made his first stage appearance at Detroit as Murad in The French Spy in 1853...
as the ghost, Frank Mayo
Frank Mayo
Frank Mayo was an American actor and comedian, born in Boston, Massachusetts.He moved to San Francisco where at seventeen years of age he began his career and within a few years was appearing with the young Edwin Booth...
as the king, John Gibbs Gilbert as Polonius, Rose Coghlan as the player queen and Helena Modjeska
Helena Modjeska
Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska (October 12, 1840 – April 8, 1909, whose actual Polish surname was Modrzejewska , was a renowned actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles.Modjeska was the mother of Polish-American bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski....
as Ophelia. Other stars made cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s, and Wallack was assisted up onto the stage to address the standing room crowd at intermission. Notables such as Mayor Hewitt
Abram Stevens Hewitt
Abram Stevens Hewitt was a teacher, lawyer, an iron manufacturer, chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1876 to 1877, U.S. Congressman, and a mayor of New York. He was the son-in-law of Peter Cooper , an industrialist, inventor and philanthropist...
and General Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...
were in attendance. More than $10,000 was raised for Wallack's care. In the following months, Edwards teamed with other actors and Wallack's wife to help him write his memoir; Wallack died in September.
The next year, Edwards published a significant treatise entitled Bibliographic Catalogue of the Described Transformation of North American Lepidoptera. In response to an invitation and after arranging a business contract, he traveled back to Australia to accept a position as stage manager of a theatrical company in Melbourne. Frustrated with the experience, Edwards sailed back to New York the next year with the intention of returning to acting, but poor health kept him from full enjoyment of the limelight
Limelight
Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when an oxyhydrogen flame is directed at a cylinder of quicklime , which can be heated to 2572 °C before melting. The light is produced by a combination of incandescence and...
. In March, Edwards appeared as Holofernes in Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
at Augustin Daly
Augustin Daly
John Augustin Daly was an American theatrical manager and playwright active in both the US and UK.-Biography:Daly was born in Plymouth, North Carolina and educated at Norfolk, Va...
's Daly Theatre, but was often short of breath and unable to keep pace with the run—his part was given to a young Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power, Sr.
Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power was an English-born American stage and screen actor, who acted under the name Tyrone Power.-Early life:Power was born in London in 1869, the son of Harold Littledale Power and Ethel Lavenu...
who also covered Edwards' old role of Sir Oliver Surface for Daly's road show of The School for Scandal.
To regain his strength, Edwards and his wife took a carriage to a rustic cottage refuge in Arkville in the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
but isolation, plain food and rest yielded little improvement. A physician was called and he informed Mrs. Edwards that there would be no recovery for her husband from the advanced Bright's disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
with complications from chronic pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
so she brought him back to New York City. Edwards died at home at 185 East 116th Street
116th Street (Manhattan)
116th Street runs from Riverside Drive, overlooking the Hudson River, to the East River, through the New York City borough of Manhattan. It traverses the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Harlem, and Spanish Harlem; the street is interrupted between Morningside Heights and Harlem by Morningside...
in East Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
late on June 9, 1891, just hours after returning.
Legacy
After his death, Edwards' collection of 300,000 insect specimens, one of the largest in the United States, was bought by his friends for $15,000 for the financial benefit of his widow, and donated to the American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
(AMNH) as the cornerstone of their collection. Mrs. Harry Edwards also donated some of his other specimens, including two eggs of the order Rajiformes
Rajiformes
Rajiformes is one of the four orders of batoids, flattened cartilaginous fishes related to sharks.Rajiforms are distinguished by the presence of greatly enlarged pectoral fins, which reach as far forward as the sides of the head, with a generally flattened body. The undulatory pectoral fin motion...
, the true rays. Museum trustees purchased the 500 volumes of entomology texts and 1,200 pamphlets owned by Edwards to form the "Harry Edwards Entomological Library", one of the handful of important book acquisitions made by the AMNH to expand their library in its early years. William Schaus
William Schaus
William Schaus was an American entomologist.-Life:William was son of William Schaus, Sr., a German-immigrant art collector and dealer, proprietor of the Schaus Galleries, and of Margaret Connover....
, a student that Edwards guided and encouraged, but never met in person, went on to further define moth and butterfly characteristics in a large body of published work.
The "Hy. Edw." designation appended to some butterfly species names indicates first description by Henry Edwards. This is not to be confused with the "Edw." designation which stands for William Henry Edwards
William Henry Edwards
William Henry Edwards was an important entomologist in the United States.Edwards was born in Hunter, Greene County, New York. He is remembered for his trip to the Amazon in 1846, that he recorded in his book A Voyage Up the River Amazon, with a residency at Pará , that inspired Wallace and Bates...
, an unrelated contemporary and correspondent of Edwards'. At least two specimens were designated "Mrs. Hy. Edwards." because they were collected and identified by his wife. Edwards named many butterflies in the families Theclinae
Theclinae
Subfamily Theclinae is a group of butterflies, including the hairstreaks, elfins and allies, in the family Lycaenidae. There are many tropical species as well as a number found in the Americas. Tropical hairstreaks often have iridescent blue coloration above, caused by reflected light from the...
, Nymphalidae
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae is a family of about 5,000 species of butterflies which are distributed throughout most of the world. These are usually medium sized to large butterflies. Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called...
, Papilionidae and Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae
The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
, but his largest contribution was in the description of moth species in North America including Mexico: Arctiidae
Arctiidae
Arctiidae is a large and diverse family of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species. This family includes the groups commonly known as tiger moths , which usually have bright colours, footmen , lichen moths and wasp moths...
, Bombycidae
Bombycidae
Bombycidae is a family of moths. The best-known species is Bombyx mori or silkworm, native to northern China and domesticated for millennia...
, Hepialidae
Hepialidae
The Hepialidae is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths.-Taxonomy and systematics:...
, Sesiidae
Sesiidae
The Sesiidae or clearwing moths are family of the Lepidoptera in which the wings partially have hardly any of the normal lepidopteran scales, leaving them transparent. The bodies are generally striped with yellow, red or white, sometimes very brightly, and they have simple antennae...
, Noctuidae
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....
, Sphingidae
Sphingidae
Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...
, Lasiocampidae
Lasiocampidae
The Lasiocampidae family of moths are also known as eggars, snout moths or lappet moths. There are over 2000 species worldwide, and probably not all have been named or studied....
, Dalceridae
Dalceridae
Dalceridae is a small family of moths with 84 known species. They are mostly found in the Neotropical region with a few reaching the far south of the Nearctic region.These are generally small or medium-sized moths with very hairy bodies...
, Dysderidae
Dysderidae
The family Dysderidae are araneomorph spiders found primarily in Eurasia, although extending into North Africa, with very few species occurring in South America, and one introduced into many regions of the world.Dysderids have six eyes, and are haplogyne, i.e...
, Geometridae
Geometer moth
The geometer moths or Geometridae are a family of the order Lepidoptera...
, Pyralidae
Pyralidae
The Pyralidae or snout moths are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many classifications, the grass moths are included in the Pyralidae as a subfamily, making the combined group one of the largest families in the Lepidoptera...
, Saturniidae
Saturniidae
The Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, are among the largest and most spectacular of the moths. They form a family of Lepidoptera, with an estimated 1,300 to 1,500 described species worldwide...
, Thyatiridae
Thyatirinae
The Thyatirinae are a subfamily of moth family Drepanidae with about 200 species described. Until recently, most classifications treated this group as a separate family called Thyatiridae.Nine species are resident in the British Isles:...
, Urodidae
Urodidae
Urodidae or "false burnet moths" is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order, representing its own superfamily, Urodoidea, with three genera, one of which, Wockia, occurs in Europe.-Taxonomy and systematics:...
and Zygaenidae
Zygaenidae
The Zygaenidae moths are a family of Lepidoptera. The majority of zygaenids are tropical, but they are nevertheless quite well represented in temperate regions. There are about 1000 species. Various species are commonly known as Burnet or Forester moths, often qualified by the number of spots,...
. In choosing names, Edwards favored female characters from the plays of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, such as Ophelia from Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Hermia
Hermia
Hermia is a science park near Tampere University of Technology . Hermia is located in Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere, Finland. Hermia is also acting as a technology centre for its region....
from A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, and Desdemona
Desdemona (Othello)
Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello . Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a man several years her senior. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the...
from Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
. For example, Edwards collected, classified and named the moth species Catocala ophelia
Catocala ophelia
Catocala ophelia is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found in the dry forests of Arizona, California and south-western Oregon.The wingspan is about 52 mm. Adults are on wing from July to October depending on the location. There is probably one generation per year.The larvae feed on Quercus...
and Catocala hermia
Catocala hermia
The Hermia Underwing is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found throughout the Great Plains, from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta south and west to Texas, Arizona and California.The wingspan is 58-68 mm...
in 1880, and Catocala desdemona
Catocala desdemona
The Desdemona Underwing is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Catocala delilah....
in 1882.
Birth dates
The birth date that Edwards gave as his own varied depending on the time and place he was asked. Parish records show he was christened in England on September 14, 1827, and corroborating this date he gave his age as 25 in June 1853 when he first arrived in Australia. However, when questioned in San Francisco for the 1870 United States Census, he gave his birth year as 1830. Ten years later in Boston, he reported his age as 45, implying a birth year of 1835, but he returned to supplying the year 1830 along with the date August 27 for the brief biographical sketches used by theater and entomological publications. Two years before he died, he told a reporter from the Lorgnette that he was born in 1832. A prominent obituary in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that his family gave his birthday as September 23, 1830, but that some published lists of actors' ages, "not always trustworthy", put his birth year at 1824.