ABSTRACT
During his lifetime, Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905), born in a cottage, made the first theatrical knight (in 1895) and buried in Westminster Abbey, became an icon of the new-found respectability of his profession. This did not come about without conscious effort: his most recent biographer rightly emphasises Irving’s ‘promotion of theatrical commemoration and [. . .] publicity management’ as contributions to the acceptance of the commercial theatre – and himself – as significant in cultural life (Richards 2005: 73).
