Kate Josephine Bateman

Background

Kate Josephine Bateman was born in Baltimore, Maryland on October 7, 1843, the eldest daughter of Sidney Frances Cowell Bateman and Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman.

Career

ith her sister Ellen she made her first appearance at Louisville, December 11, 1846, in Children of the Wood. For several years thereafter the two, known as The Bateman Children, were regarded as prodigies. In 1849, in the New York Broadway Theatre, Kate played Richmond to Ellen's Richard III, Portia to Ellen's Shylock, and Artixaminous to Ellen's Bombasta. Thence they went to the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in an engagement beginning on Jan. 7, 1850. Barnum, quick to sense the value of such youthful work, took the girls to London. In 1851 they appeared under the great showman's management at the St. James's Theatre and at the Surrey Theatre.

Then she made a second début in her mother's play, Evangeline. On January 19, 1863, she appeared at Niblo's Garden, New York, and later on October 1 at the London Adelphi Theatre in Leah the Forsaken, a version of Mosenthal's Deborah, made for Bateman by young Augustin Daly, then at the outset of his career. It was in London during 1865 that she was seen to great advantage as Julia in The Hunchback, Bianca in Fazio, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.

In 1866 she reappeared at Niblo's Garden in such rôles as Pauline and Parthenia. During the year, however, she was married to George Crowe, M. D. , one-time editor of the News (London), and again retiring from the stage set sail for England. But in 1868, she played at the London Haymarket in a revival of Leah, and assumed the new rôle of Pietra in a tragedy by Mosenthal. In June 1869 she was Mary Warner in Tom Taylor's play of that name. Her father became the manager of the London Lyceum Theatre on September 11, 1871. He struggled to make it a success, and it was a young man in his company, Henry Irving, who, by his acting of Mathias in The Bells, helped him gain financial security.

Inasmuch as there was no Ellen Terry at the Lyceum in those days, it was natural that the Bateman daughters should become identified with the early career of Irving. Several years passed, however, before Kate acted with him. She appeared in New York in October 1869 as Leah and Mary Warner, and in 1871 was seen for the first time in the rôle of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. In 1872, at the London Lyceum, she once more essayed her favorite part of Leah, and won acclaim as Medea in Wills's adaptation of Legouvé's tragedy, Medea in Corinth. It was after Bateman's death, and while Mrs. Bateman was in charge of the Lyceum that Kate was seen with Irving in a revival of Macbeth on September 18, 1875.

Thereafter, with Irving, she was seen on April 18, 1876, as Queen Mary in Tennyson's poetic drama of that name, and on January 29, 1877, as Queen Margaret in Richard III. The critics recognized in her work sound judgment, keen intelligence, and power. Irving's prestige was making him ambitious and restless; and he soon announced that he intended leaving the Lyceum. This was the death-knell of Mrs. Bateman. She transferred her energies to Sadler's Wells Theatre, and there she was again aided by her daughters. Kate had been obliged to retire from the stage because of an accident that had marred her personal appearance, but, under her mother's direction, she acted the rôle of Helen Macgregor in Rob Roy in October 1879. From this time on, her appearances on the stage were occasional, and added nothing to her fame.

Achievements

• Kate Josephine started out as a child actor and later developed a career in romantic leading parts. The critics recognized in her work sound judgment, keen intelligence, and power.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Of her acting it was said (London Times, April 10, 1917) that she showed "a certain staginess of gait and gesture, and excessive love of the merely picturesque, and the monotony of utterance so often to be found in players whose voices have been exercised in the theatre at an early age. "

Connections

She was married to George Crowe, M. D. , one-time editor of the News (London).

Father:

Sidney Frances Cowell Bateman

actor

Mother:

Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman

husband:

George Crowe

Sister:

Ellen Bateman

References

• Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1906). By: Bram Stoker (illustrated): Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving is the third book of nonfiction ... about the English actor Henry Irving.
• History of the American Stage: Containing Biographical Sketches of Nearly Every Member of the Profession That has Appeared on the American Stage, From 1733 to 1870
• The History of the Boston Theatre, 1854-1901 Volume; Volume 2