August 1892: Appointment to Mr Henry Talbot – Glasgow Athenaeum
An article on page three of The Motherwell Times and General Advertiser (Motherwell Times, in The
British Newspaper Archive), on Saturday the 20th of August, 1892, reads:
“APPOINTMENT TO MR HENRY TALBOT.
Mr Henry Talbot has been officially appointed Master of Elocution and President of the Dramatic Club in
connection with the Glasgow Athenaeum. At the close of the last session the post was rendered vacant by
the retirement of Mr G. W. Baynham, who had been connected with the institution for upwards of seventeen
years. The directors have secured in Mr Talbot a gentleman in everyway qualified to fill the position, the first
of its kind Glasgow. Mr Talbot is the younger son of F. B. Calvert, Master of Rhetoric, and Professor of Belles
Lettres, also an elegant writer. Mr Talbot was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, distinguished himself as a
high class scholar and great Shakesperian [sic] student. For 15 years he followed the profession of an architect,
and many fine buildings in Glasgow and neighbourhood testify to his proficiency. In 1862 he made his debut as
an actor, and as a tragedian and exponent of the drama vied with the greatest, and in the days before touring
companies became the rage no Shakesperian [sic] star in Scotland at least brought more money to the theatrical
exchequer. Mr Talbot appeared in our Town Hall as recently as last September, showing by his acting of the
characters of Shylock, Othello, Macbeth, that he still retained those talents and powers which won for him a name
and world wide fame. A gentleman still in the prime of life, long years of prosperity and success, amidst new duties,
should still await him.”
The British Newspaper Archive.
George Fairfull-Smith, February 2024.