Background
Henslowe was born in c. 1550 in Lindfield, England, into a family with roots in Devon. His father, Edmund Henslowe, was appointed Master of the Game for Ashdown Forest, Sussex, from 1539 until his death in 1562.
(The Diary of Philip Henslowe (1961), owner of the Rose Th...)
The Diary of Philip Henslowe (1961), owner of the Rose Theatre in London, remains the most valuable source of information about the workings of the Elizabethan public theaters. The Diary deals with the daily activities of the companies of players who performed at the Rose. This second edition has added a new preface and bibliography; a new introduction; several indexes and photographs.
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Henslowe was born in c. 1550 in Lindfield, England, into a family with roots in Devon. His father, Edmund Henslowe, was appointed Master of the Game for Ashdown Forest, Sussex, from 1539 until his death in 1562.
By the 1570s, Henslowe had moved to London, becoming a member of the Dyers' Company. Henslowe is recorded working as assistant to Henry Woodward, reputed to be the bailiff for Viscount Montague, owner of Cowdray House and Battle Abbey in Sussex. It was at one time assumed that his wife's inheritance gave Henslowe his start in business, but there is no evidence. His success in business appears to have brought him some social prominence. By the early-17th century, he was a vestryman, churchwarden and overseer of the poor in St Saviour’s ward in Southwark. During the reign of Elizabeth I, he was a Groom of the Chamber. Under James I, he served as a Gentleman Sewer of the Chamber. Henslowe also served as a collector of the Lay Subsidy. Henslowe died in 1616 in London, still actively involved in the theatre. Henslowe developed extensive business interests, including dyeing, starch-making, pawn-broking, money lending and trading in goat skins. He owned property in East Grinstead and Buxted, Sussex, where his brother-in-law, Ralf Hogge, lived. Between 1576 and 1586, Henslowe was involved in the trade in timber from Ashdown Forest. However, his main activity was as a landlord in Southwark. In 1584, Henslowe purchased a property known as The Little Rose, in Southwark, which contained rose gardens and, almost certainly, a brothel. In 1587, Henslowe and John Cholmley built The Rose, the third of the large, permanent playhouses in London, and the first in Bankside. From 1591, Henslowe partnered with the Admiral's Men after that company split with The Theatre's James Burbage over the division of receipts. Edward Alleyn, the Admiral's' lead actor, married Henslowe's stepdaughter Joan in 1592, and they worked in partnership. In 1598 Burbage's company erected the new Globe Theatre in Bankside; Henslowe moved the Admiral's Men to the north-western corner of the city, into a venue he had financed, the Fortune Theatre. John Taylor, the "Water Poet", petitioned the King on behalf of the Watermen’s Company, because of the expected loss of business transporting theatre patrons across the Thames. He also had interests in the Newington Butts Theatre and The Swan Theatre in Southwark.
(The Diary of Philip Henslowe (1961), owner of the Rose Th...)
One of Henslowe's authors, Henry Chettle, described him as being unscrupulously harsh with his poor tenants, even though Henslowe made many loans to Chettle and they seem to have been on friendly terms.
Henslowe married Woodward’s widow, Agnes.