Junius Brutus Booth

Junius Brutus Booth
Booth in c. 1850
Born	Junius Brutus Booth May 1, 1796 St. Pancras, London, Great Britain (now St. Pancras, United Kingdom)
Died	November 30, 1852 (aged 56) vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Resting place	Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Nationality	British
Occupation	Stage actor
Years active	1814–1852
Known for	Father of John Wilkes Booth
Spouse(s)	Marie Christine Adelaide Delannoy (m. 1815–51), Mary Ann Holmes (m. 1851–52; his death)
Children	Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., Edwin Booth, Asia Booth Clarke, John Wilkes Booth, two others

Junius Brutus Booth (May 1, 1796 – November 30, 1852) was an English stage actor. He was the father of actor John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. His other children included Edwin Booth, the foremost tragedian of the mid-to-late 19th century, Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., an actor and theatre manager, and Asia Booth Clarke, a poet and writer.

Booth was named after Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the lead assassins in William Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar.

Booth was born in St. Pancras, London, Great Britain, the son of Richard Booth, a lawyer and avid supporter of the American cause, and Jane Elizabeth Game. His paternal grandfather was John Booth, a silversmith, and his paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Wilkes, was a relative of the English radical and politician John Wilkes. While he was growing up, Booth's father tried to settle his son in a lengthy succession of professions. Booth recalls of his childhood, "I was destined by my Controllers first for the Printing office, then to be an architect, then to be a sculptor and modeler, then a lawyer, then a sailor, of all of these I preferred those of sculptor and modeler."

In August 1814, Junius met Marie Christine Adelaide Delannoy while boarding at her mother's home in Brussels. She followed him to London where they eventually married on 17 May 1815, soon after his 19th birthday. Their first child, Amelia, was born 5 October of the same year, but died in infancy. The only child to survive infancy, Richard Junius Booth, was born 21 January 1819.

Booth’s interests in theatre came after he attended a production of Othello at the Covent Garden Theatre. The prospects of fame, fortune and freedom were very appealing to young Booth. He displayed a talent for acting from an early age, deciding on a career in the theatre by the age of 17. He performed roles in several small theatres throughout England, and joined a tour of the Low Countries in 1814, returning the following year to make his London debut.

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