Joseph Munden

Joseph Shepherd Munden (1758 – 6 February 1832) was an English actor.

He had a long provincial experience as actor and manager. His first London appearance was in 1790 at Covent Garden, where he mostly remained until 1811, becoming a leading comedian. In 1813 he was at Drury Lane. He retired in 1824.

Munden was the son of a poulterer in Brook's Market, Leather Lane, Holborn. He was by the age of twelve in an apothecary's shop; subsequently he was apprenticed to Mr. Druce, a law stationer in Chancery Lane. In Liverpool he was engaged for a while in the office of the town clerk, also appearing on the stage as an extra.

After some experience of repertory companies, Munden was engaged to play old men at Leatherhead. He began to make his mark at Canterbury under the manager Hurst, where in 1780 he was the original Faddle in Mrs. Burgess's comedy, The Oaks, or the Beauties of Canterbury. In the company of Joseph Austin and Charles Edward Whitlock in Chester he held a recognised position, and he toured the country. Munden was then able to borrow money purchase the share of Austin in the management of northern theatres. Here he played the leading comic business, rising in reputation and fortune.

A liaison with an actress named Mary Jones, who deserted him after having by him four children, marred his reputation. He married, 20 October 1789, at the parish church of St. Oswald, Chester, Frances Butler, five years his senior, an actress of the Chester company who then retired from the stage.

After the death in 1790 of John Edwin, Munden was engaged for Covent Garden Theatre. Having sold to Stephen Kemble his share in the provincial theatres, he came to London with his wife, living first in Portugal Street, Clare Market, and then in Catherine Street, Strand. On 2 December 1790, as Sir Francis Gripe in the Busy Body (by Susanna Centlivre) and Jemmy Jumps in the Farmer (by John O'Keeffe), the latter being a part created by Edwin two or three years earlier, he made his first appearance in London, and had a warm reception.

At Covent Garden, with occasional summer appearances at the Haymarket Theatre, and excursions into the provinces, Munden remained until 1811, rising gradually to the position of the most celebrated comedian of his day. On 4 February 1791 he was the original Sir Samuel Sheepy in Thomas Holcroft's School for Arrogance, an adaptation of Le glorieux of Philippe Néricault Destouches. On 14 March he was the first Frank in O'Keeffe's Modern Antiques, and 16 April the earliest Ephraim Smooth in O'Keeffe's Wild Oats.

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