Modern English biography

314–15, 1267. LEMON, MARK (eld. son of Martin Lemon, hop merchant, who _m._ 27 Dec. 1808 Alice Collis and _d._ 21 Jany. 1818 aged 32). _b._ Oxford st. London 30 Nov. 1809; ed. at Cheam, Surrey; learnt business of a hop merchant from his uncle Thomas Collis of Boston, Lincoln 1824; manager of Verey’s brewery, Kentish Town, London; retailer of beer at 24 Lambeth Walk, Vauxhall 1837–41; his first play, P.L. or No. 30 Strand, was produced at Strand theatre 25 April 1835; his 5 act drama in blank verse Arnold of Winkelried produced at Surrey theatre, July 1835; The Avenge produced at City of London theatre opening night 27 April 1837; his 5 act play The Turf produced at Covent Garden 1842; Hearts are trumps, at Strand theatre 1849; wrote about 60 plays; lived at 11 Gordon st. Gordon sq. London 1852–9; contributed to Household Works, Once a Week, &c.; edited The London Journal 1858–9, The Family Herald, Once a Week; started The Field 1 Jany. 1853, edited it; secretary to Herbert Ingram founder of Illustrated London News, for which he wrote the first Christmas supplement; a founder of Punch 17 July 1841 and owner with Henry Mayhew of a third share in it, edited it to his death, at a salary originally 30/-a week and latterly £1500 per annum; an amateur actor from 1845; gave a series of lectures called About London, at Gallery of Illustration 6 Jany. 1862 to 1863; arranged and played chief part in a series of scenes from the Merry Wives of Windsor entitled Falstaff, at Gallery of Illustration, Regent st. from 12 Oct. 1868, and in North of England and Scotland 1868–9; author of The enchanted doll 1849 and other fairy tales; also of Wait for the end 3 vols. 1863 and other novels and about 100 songs. (_m._ 28 Sep. 1839 Helen dau. of John Romer of Upper Chelsea, jeweller, she was granted civil list pension of £100, 3 May 1872 and _d._ Nov. 1890). He _d._ Vine cottage, Crawley, Sussex 23 May 1870. _bur._ Ifield 27 May. _Illustrated Rev. 15 Feb. 1872 pp._ 481–88, _portrait_; _J. H. Friswell’s Modern men of letters_ (1870) 49–60; _Appleton’s Journal_, _viii_ 493–5, _portrait_; _E. Walford’s Representative men_ (1868), _portrait_; _J. Hatton’s With a show in the north. Reminiscences of Mark Lemon_ (1871), _portrait_; _The Mask_ (1868) 65–7, _portrait_; _I.L.N. vii_ 348 (1845), _portrait_. NOTE.--Mr. Edward Walford, M.A., states in Notes and Queries 16 June 1888 p. 478 that Mark Lemon told him the place of his birth was a house included in the Crystal Palace bazaar just behind Peter Robinson’s emporium, this was probably the present No. 228 Oxford St. formerly No. 108 down to 1881 when all the houses in Oxford st. west of Tottenham Court road were renumbered. There is a portrait of Lemon by John Leech in his two-page cartoon called “Mr. Punch’s fancy ball” in Punch 9 Jany. 1847 as the conductor of the orchestra. In Alfred Bunn’s A word with Punch 1847 Lemon is spoken of as Thickhead, there is a portrait representing him as a pot boy and it is suggested that he was a tailor and vastly like Moses. He wrote the first article in the first number of Punch entitled The Moral of Punch. The rev. J. Richardson, LL.B. states in his Recollections of the last half century vol. 1 (1856) 80–2 that Lemon kept the Shakespeare’s Head tavern in Wych st. Strand for one year after his marriage. In “Mr. Punch: his origin and career” [1870] there is a facsimile of the original prospectus of Punch in the handwriting of Lemon. LEMON, ROBERT (son of Robert Lemon, archivist 1779–1835). _b._ 1800; employed in state paper office under his father, senior clerk Nov. 1835; compiled indexes to Valor ecclesiasticus temp. Hen. VIII. 1834; suggested publishing the Calendars of state papers and interpreted a cypher which had rendered many of them unintelligible; edited Calendars of state papers Domestic series 1547–90, 2 vols. 1856–65; F.S.A. 3 March 1836, rearranged the society’s library 1846; author of Catalogue of a collection of broadsides 1866. _d._ 10 Ovington sq. Brompton, London 3 Jany.