the Maid of Milan,’ 8 May 1823, is noteworthy as revealing a serious aspect of Fawcett's talents. He was also the original Bartholo to the Figaro of Liston in the ‘Barber of Seville,’ 13 Oct. 1818. In September 1829 Fawcett was superseded in the management of Covent Garden. Greatly chagrined he announced his intention of quitting the stage. A benefit was arranged for the actor, and on 30 May 1830, as Captain Copp, his original character, in ‘Charles the Second,’ by Howard Payne, he took, after speaking an address, his farewell of the public of a theatre of which during thirty-nine years he had been a main prop. With a salary of 100l. a year allowed him as treasurer and trustee of the Covent Garden Theatrical Fund he retired to a cottage at Botley, near Southampton. He was mainly instrumental in bringing about the erection of a church in his immediate neighbourhood, of which he was churchwarden. Dying of a mortification caused by a hurt to his foot in walking, he was the first person buried in the church. About 1806 he married his second wife, Miss Gaudry, an actress, who after her marriage retired from the stage and became wardrobe-keeper at Covent Garden. By her he left two sons, one of whom became a clergyman, and one daughter. His name stands to some dramatic pieces, among which are ‘Obi, or Three-fingered Jack,’ a highly successful pantomime, Haymarket, 5 July 1800, in which C. Kemble was Obi and Emery Quashee; ‘Perouse,’ a pantomime-drama derived from Kotzebue's play on the same subject, 28 Feb. 1801; the ‘Brazen Mask,’ written with Dibdin, Covent Garden, 1802; the ‘Fairies' Revel,’ acted by children at the Haymarket, 1802; the ‘Enchanted Island,’ a ballet, founded on the ‘Tempest,’ Haymarket, 20 June 1804; the ‘Secret Mine,’ written in conjunction with T. Dibdin, a spectacular melodrama, Covent Garden, 24 April 1812. In connection with this piece Dibdin reflects on the probity of Fawcett, who, he says, paid him nothing for his share. Generally speaking, however, Fawcett was greatly respected. His share in promoting the Covent Garden Theatrical Fund, suggested by Mallocke and instituted by Hull, was to his credit. From 1808 to his death in 1837 he was treasurer and trustee of the institution. His services on its behalf were constant and received full recognition. His speeches at the festivals are described by Talfourd as among the best specimens of their class ever heard in this country. George IV once apologised to Fawcett for having, through ignorance, gone to Drury Lane on a night appointed at Covent Garden for his benefit. Fawcett was brusque in exterior and address. Talfourd says that in representations of bluff honesty and rude manly feeling he had no equal (New Monthly Mag. May 1830). Leigh Hunt describes him as having ‘singular harshness and rapidity of utterance and a general confidence of manner,’ and knows, with the exception of Munden, no actor ‘who can procure so much applause for characters and speeches intrinsically wretched.’ In ‘attempts at gentlemanly vivacity he becomes awkward and vulgar.’ He declares him an excellent comic singer (Critical Essays on the Performers of the London Theatres, pp. 87–93). Cole, ‘Life and Times of Charles Kean,’ i. 190, speaks of his Lord Ogleby, his Sir Peter Teazle, and his Touchstone as excellent, and laughs at his want of erudition. The gallery now in the Garrick Club has portraits of Fawcett by De Wilde as Caleb Quotem, Whimsiculo in the ‘Cabinet,’ Job Thornberry in ‘John Bull,’ and Servitz in the ‘Exile,’ and a scene from ‘Charles the Second’ by Clint, with Charles Kemble as Charles II and Fawcett as Captain Copp.
[Books cited; ‘The Manager's Note-book,’ contributed to New Monthly Mag.; Genest's Account of the English Stage; Baker, Reed, and Jones's Biog. Dram. 1824; Tate Wilkinson's Wandering Patentee; Gilliland's Dramatic Mirror; Thespian Dict. 1805.]
FAWCETT, JOHN, the younger (1825?–1857), organist, third son of John Fawcett (1789–1867) [q. v.], was born about 1825, studied music under his father, was organist of St. John's Church, Farnworth, Lancashire, from 1825 till 1842, and afterwards (until his death) of Bolton parish church, a post which had previously been held by an elder brother, and which was taken by a sister for a year in the interval of Fawcett's visit to London. Here he entered the Royal Academy of Music, 5 Dec. 1845, to study under Sterndale Bennett, and became organist at Earl Howe's Curzon Street church. On his return to Bolton Fawcett resumed his duties as organist, teacher, and (1849) honorary conductor of the Bolton Harmonic Society. He obtained the degree of Mus. Bac., Oxford, 3 Nov. 1852. His exercise, a sacred cantata, ‘Supplication and Thanksgiving,’ was performed at the Music School, the composer conducting, and was published by subscription in 1856. This well-written cantata is the most important of Fawcett's compositions. He died at Manchester 1 July 1857.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 510; Bolton Chronicle, 4 July 1857; Musical Times, 1857, p. 97; Royal Academy of Music Entry Book, by the kindness of the secretary; Oxford Calendar, 1853, p. 268; Fawcett's musical works in Brit. Mus. Library.]
