Prologue spoken by the celebrated Mr Barrington on opening the Theatre at Sydney, Botany Bay, ca. 1810

MLMSS 8002

fonds

1810

915199

0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder)

George Barrington, pickpocket, was born near Dublin, possibly at Maynooth.
He was educated at Dublin grammar school in preparation for the university but at 16 he stabbed another schoolboy in a fight, was severely flogged, stole some money and a watch, and ran away. He later joined a company of strolling players led by John Price, a swindler wanted by the police in England. They spent his money and taught him to pick pockets. Barrington circulated among gentry many of them becoming his victims before he was finally caught in 1776 and sent to the hulks for three years. He was given freedom within twelve months. However, his luck changed in September 1790. Tried at the Old Bailey for stealing a gold watch and chain on Enfield racecourse, he was severely reprimanded by the recorder, and sentenced to transportation.

He arrived in Sydney on the Active in September 1791 and was sent to work at Toongabbie. As a result of his good behaviour he received a conditional pardon in November 1792. In 1796 John Hunter made this absolute and appointed Barrington chief constable at Parramatta. He also had his own house at Parramatta, two thirty-acre (12 ha) land grants and fifty acres (20 ha) which he bought on the Hawkesbury and farmed with assigned servants. In 1800 'infirmity' led to his resignation as head constable, but he was allowed half his salary as a pension, the other half going to the officer who did his duties. The infirmity was thought by some critics to have been caused by excessive drinking or malversation of government property, but it soon proved to be lunacy and a commission took over his affairs. He died on 27 December 1804.

Journalists credited him with great wealth and longevity, and countless works were published over his name. He wrote none of them and was not the author of the oft-quoted prologue reputedly spoken by him at the opening of the first Australian theatre in 1796. His persistent fame sprang from little more than 'a low pilfering habit' united with genteel manners and a shrewd fluency, although he showed signs of reform in New South Wales.

Reference
Library Correspondence file
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/ (accessed December 21, 2010)

This transcribed version of the Prologue has no known transcriber though it is written on paper watermarked `C. Wilmott 1810'. This version has the differing phrase `What urg'd our travels was the public weal' more often printed as `our country's weal'.

As is the case with all the publications ascribed to Barrington, there is no doubt that he had no hand in its authorship. Its' historical importantance has been guaranteed by the fact that no history of the development of theatre in the colony fails to mention the lines supposedly spoken or written by Barrington on the occasion of the opening of the first theatre in Sydney in 1796.

The lines are now attributed to one Henry Carter, a minor English poet who died in 1806. It first appeared in print in the Annual Register for 1801, as `Prologue. By a Gentleman of Leicester. On opening of the Threatre, at Sydney, Botany Bay, to be spoken by the celebrated Mr. Barrington'.

Edward A. Petherick also discovered the Prologue in the anthology Original Poems and Translations, chiefly by Susanna Watts (London, 1802), where the verse was introduced as `The Newspapers having announced, that a theatre was to be opened at Sydney Town, Botany Bay, and Plays to be performed by the Convicts, this Prologue is supposed to have been spoken by the celebrated Mr B-rr-ngt-n, on that occasion. 1801. By a Gentleman'.
Further. The Prologue also appeared in Barrington's `The History of New South Wales, first published in 1802. However in this work there is no mention of the Prologue as having been written or performed by him.

Watermark `C. Wilmott, 1810'

Prologue reputedly spoken by George Barrington at the opening of the Theatre in Sydney in 1796. It was uncertain who the writer of the piece was, but researchers revealed it to be "a gentleman of Leicester", Henry Carter

Date of watermarked paper is 1810