Master Grossmith

William Robert Grossmith, also known as Master Grossmith (1818–1899), was a 19th-century child actor, the eldest son of William Grossmith, who then established a second career as a maker of prosthetic limbs.

Career

Grossmith was known as the 'Infant Roscius' or 'Young Roscius' as he began acting at a very young age. In 1825 a pamphlet was published publicising this prodigy child actor with the title The Life of the Celebrated Infant Roscius, Master Grossmith of Reading, Berks, only seven years and a quarter Old.^[1] Another, retitled to not yet nine years of age, was published in 1827.^[2][3]

He also made appearances with a younger sibling, Master Benjamin Grossmith.^[4] After retiring from the stage William made a second career out of prosthetic limb manufacture.^[5] Their new entertainment for 1836, in three parts, was written expressly for them by George Dibdin Pitt, and performed in King's Lynn, Wisbech and other provincial theatres.^[6]

In fact, so well-respected were William Grossmith' products that in 1856 he published a book on the subject: Amputations and Artificial Limbs (or Grossmith on Amputations, Artificial Legs, Hands &c.)^[7][8]

Legacy

A painting of Grossmith as Richard in William Shakespeare's Richard III by G. Hancock is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.^[9] A print of Grossmith as a child is in the British Museum collection.^[10]

Artificial limbs made by Grossmith in his later career are held in the Science Museum.^[11]

References