British Coins and Tokens

LONDON, Covent Garden, Theatre Royal, Second Theatre, Retirement of John Kemble, 1817, a silver medal by J. Warwick, bust right, rev. thou last of all the romans, etc, edge impressed retired from the stage 23d june 1817, named (Mr John Field), 41mm, 37.30g (W 559; D & W 139/299; BHM 1210 [recté 1817]). Trifling surface marks and rim nicks, otherwise extremely fine and dark-toned, very rare £150-£200

J. Spencer Collection, DNW Auction M11, 13 July 2011, lot 1021; D. Young Collection

John Philip Kemble (1757-1823), second son of Roger Kemble and brother of the actress Sarah Siddons, first appeared on the stage in 1776. He made his debut at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1783, and by 1788 had become its player-manager, a post he held until 1802 when he resigned after a dispute with the theatre’s then owner, Richard Sheridan. In 1803 he became manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in which he had acquired a sixth share for £23,000, but the infamous fire on 20 September 1808, and the raising of admission prices after the opening of the new theatre in 1809, almost ruined him; he was only saved when the Duke of Northumberland came to his rescue with a generous loan of £10,000, later converted into a gift. Kemble took his final leave of the stage in the part of Coriolanus on 23 June 1817, and died in Lausanne.