Joseph Cowell

Joseph Leathley Cowell, born Joseph Leathley Hawkins-Witshed (7 August 1792 – 13 November 1863), was an English actor, author, and painter.

Cowell was born Joseph Leathley Hawkins-Witshed not far from Torquay in Devon. His father had been a colonel in the army, and his uncle was Admiral James Hawkins-Whitshed.

Cowell entered the navy at the age of 13, served three years as a midshipman, and then embarked on a year-long cruise to the West Indies. In a quarrel, he struck a superior officer, thus rendering himself liable to a court-martial, with the probability of being shot. On the voyage home, his ship encountered a French ship and he begged to be allowed to lose his life honorably in action. He did his duty so bravely that on arriving at Plymouth, the admiral obtained his antedated discharge by way of the sick list. These events prompted Cowell to change his surname.

Cowell became interested in acting during one of his naval leaves. He later recounted how when he first saw Hamlet performed, he interrupted the ghost by shouting "That's the man who nailed up the flags," and he startled Hamlet by suggesting, "If I were you I'd go to sea!"

In 1812, he wrote to George Sandford at the Plymouth Theatre, saying that he wished to become an actor. He was hired and made his first appearance less than two weeks later as Belcour in Richard Cumberland's The West Indian. This was followed by regular engagements acting alongside such performers as Dorothea Jordan and Charles Mayne Young. He performed in both tragedy and comedy but preferred the latter. One of Cowell's best-known comic roles was as Crack in The Turnpike Gate.

The theatrical manager Stephen Kemble offered Cowell an engagement at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he opened as Samson Rawbold in Colman's Iron Chest and Nicholas in the Midnight Hour. On the death of Queen Charlotte in 1818, theatres were closed. To tide himself over, Cowell composed and acted in a three-hour olio entitled Cowell Alone; or, a Trip to London, which he toured in the area of Lincoln. On his return to London, he joined the Adelphi Theatre for a three years' engagement. He later performed at Astley's Theatre.

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