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Robert Hamilton


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Sections:  Biography    Letters    Bibliography


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(Born: 1808? - Died:????)

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Emigrated to America, where he made his first stage appearance at the Chestnut Theatre in Philadelphia on August 22, 1836, as Martin Heywood in “Rent Day.” Some time in 1837, he married Sarah Johannot Rowbotham, the widow of H. H. Rowbotham. She died on May 28, 1838 in Philadelphia, giving birth to twins. In 1842, he was an editor of Snowden’s Ladies Companion. In 1843, he moved to Boston, where he was manager of the National Theater. In 1845, he edited The May Flower for 1846, an annual that included a reprint of Poe’s tale “The Imp of the Perverse.” On October 16, 1848, the Dramatic Museum opened in Boston, with Robert Hamilton noted as the stage manager. The venture appears not to have been successful, and by January 1849, his name was removed from the enterprise, by then renamed to the Beach Street Museum, which also did not last long. Some time in 1849, he moved back to Edinburgh. He was still alive as of 1852. He may be the Robert Hamilton who emigrated from Scotland to Philadelphia on January 23, 1830, on the ship Arab, although he is listed as a farmer. The age of that Robert Hamilton was 23, meaning that he would have been born about 1808.

 

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Letters:

  • E. A. Poe to R. Hamilton - October 3, 1842  (OS4#145a)   (Ostrom includes an entry for the letter, but does not give the text.)

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Bibliography:

  • Brown, Col. T. Allston, “Dramatic Sketches — New Series — Number. Thirteen,” New York Clipper, July 12, 1862, p. 100
  • Brown, Thomas Allston, History of the American Stage, New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1870, pp. 158-159
  • Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978. (Second printing 1979)
  • Thomas, Dwight and David K. Jackson, The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849, Boston: G. K. Hall & Sons, 1987.
  • Wemyss, Francis Courtney, Chronology of the American Stage, from 1752 to 1852, New York: Wm. Taylor & Co., 1852, p. 74

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[S:0 - JAS] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - People - Robert Hamilton