Alfred Wigan
| Alfred Wigan | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Alfred Sydney Wigan 24 March 1814 Blackheath, London, England |
| Died | 29 November 1878 (aged 64) Folkestone, Kent, England |
| Occupation | actor-manager |
| Spouse(s) | Leonora Pincott |
Alfred Sydney Wigan (24 March 1814 – 29 November 1878) was an actor-manager who took part in the first Royal Command Performance before Queen Victoria on 28 December 1848.
Born at Blackheath to James Wigan, a teacher of languages and Secretary of the Dramatic Authors' Society, the actor and playwright Horace Wigan was his younger brother. Little is known of Wigan's early career, but it is believed he toured for a period as a singer. Using his middle name, he acted as Sidney or Sydney Wigan at the Lyceum Theatre in 1834, and in 1835 he appeared with Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett at the Queen's Theatre. He then appeared under the name of Sidney Wigan with John Braham at the newly built St James's Theatre, creating the role of John Johnson in The Strange Gentleman by Charles Dickens. With Lucia Elizabeth Vestris he appeared from 1839 to 1844 at Covent Garden, playing the original Sir Otto of Steinberg in Love by James Sheridan Knowles. On 5 August 1839 he married the actress Leonora Pincott (1805–1884), who afterwards would be billed as Mrs Alfred Wigan.
At the Royal Strand Theatre he impersonated W. C. Macready as Iago in a parody of Othello. Next he acted at the Lyceum Theatre with husband and wife actors Robert and Mary Anne Keeley. In 1847 Wigan joined the company of Benjamin Nottingham Webster at the Haymarket Theatre, for whom he played Sir Benjamin Backbite in Sheridan's The School for Scandal. For Webster he created the roles of Osborne in Westland Marston's The Heart and the World and Hector Mauléon in Webster's own play The Roused Lion.
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