John Lawrence Toole
(1830-1906), Actor and theatre managerLater Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 38 portraits
Beginning his acting career at the age of twenty-two, for nearly forty years he sustained a position at or near the summit of his adopted profession. He was considered to be a master of the twin staples of Victorian entertainment, farce and domestic melodrama, and it was this dual ability that helped him remain dominant for so long. In 1879 he became the resident manager of the Folly Theatre. It was relaunched as Toole's Theatre, thus making him the first actor to have a West End theatre named after him. In his day his popularity was such that in 1870 he starred nightly at two theatres in different plays, but his repertory died with him, and in the twentieth century he was all but forgotten.
by Herbert Watkins
albumen print, arched top, late 1850s
NPG P301(137)
John Lawrence Toole as Fanfaronde in 'Belphegor the Mountebank'
by Herbert Watkins
albumen print, late 1850s
NPG P301(160)
John Lawrence Toole as Tom Cranky in 'The Birthplace of Podgers'
by Herbert Watkins
albumen print, late 1850s
NPG P301(161)
by Harry Furniss
pen and ink, 1880s-1900s
NPG 3528
by Sydney Prior Hall
pencil, published in The Graphic 16 February 1889
NPG 2264
by Herbert Watkins
albumen print, late 1850s
NPG Ax36251
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG x26919
by Horatio Nelson King
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG x132418
by Unknown photographer
albumen print, 1860s
NPG x139998
by William Walker & Sons
albumen carte-de-visite, 1865
NPG x26915
by William Walker & Sons
albumen carte-de-visite photomontage, 1865
NPG x26921
John Lawrence Toole; Paul John Bedford; John Lawrence Toole
by William Walker & Sons
albumen carte-de-visite photomontage, 1865
NPG x26922
by Marcus Ward & Co
albumen carte-de-visite, 1865
NPG Ax39869
John Lawrence Toole as Mr Tittums in 'The Steeple Chase; or, In the Pigskin'
by Unknown photographer
albumen print on paper mount, 1865
NPG x26920
John Lawrence Toole as Serjeant Buzfuz in 'Bardell v. Pickwick'
by Ovinius Davis
albumen carte-de-visite, 1871
NPG Ax18165
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen carte-de-visite, 1874 or before
NPG Ax28512
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen carte-de-visite, circa 1874
NPG Ax46239
by Fradelle & Marshall
woodburytype, circa 1874
NPG x26916
by Fradelle & Marshall
woodburytype, circa 1874
NPG Ax7611
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