R. C. Carton

R. C. Carton was born Richard Claude Critchett in London in 1856 and he died, aged 71, on 1 April 1928 according to the National Probate Calendar. He was at first an actor, appearing in several of Sir Henry Irving’s productions at the Lyceum Theatre, London, before turning to playwriting. Allardyce Nicoll lists a number of plays that Carton wrote from ‘The Great Pink Pearl’ (1885) to ‘The Incorrigible’ (1922). According to Carton's obituary in The Stage, 5 April 1928, ‘He spent fifty-three years in the service of the theatre as actor and dramatist, and his witty comedies, most of them with a flavouring of social satire, contained fine parts for Sir George Alexander, Sir Charles Hawtrey, Sir Charles Wyndham, Miss Lottie Venne, Mr. James Welch, Mr. Weedon Grossmith, and, of course, Miss Katherine Compton [his wife], who created in them what were known at one time as “Miss Compton parts” … Mr. Carton was a quiet and retiring sort of man, with much charm and geniality of manner. He had much in him of the spirit of Dickens: his “Liberty Hall” was almost entirely Dickensian’.