Joseph Cowell

Joseph Leathley Cowell, born Joseph Leathley Hawkins-Witshed on 7 August 1792 near Torquay in Devon, England, was an actor, author, and painter who died on 13 November 1863. His father had served as a colonel in the army, and his uncle was Admiral James Hawkins-Whitshed. Cowell entered naval service at thirteen, spending three years as a midshipman before undertaking a year-long cruise to the West Indies. His naval career ended after he struck a superior officer, an offense that made him liable to court-martial and potential execution. On the return voyage, his ship encountered a French vessel, and Cowell requested to be placed in action, performing his duties with sufficient bravery that an admiral arranged his antedated discharge through the sick list upon arrival at Plymouth. These circumstances led him to abandon the Hawkins-Witshed surname.

His interest in acting developed during a naval leave, and in 1812 he wrote to George Sandford at the Plymouth Theatre expressing his wish to pursue the profession. He was hired and made his stage debut within two weeks, playing Belcour in Richard Cumberland's The West Indian. Subsequent engagements brought him into performances alongside Dorothea Jordan and Charles Mayne Young. Though he appeared in both tragedy and comedy, Cowell favored the latter, and one of his most recognized comic roles was Crack in The Turnpike Gate. The theatrical manager Stephen Kemble engaged him at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he opened as Samson Rawbold in Colman's The Iron Chest and as Nicholas in the Midnight Hour. When theatres closed following the death of Queen Charlotte in 1818, Cowell composed and performed a three-hour solo entertainment called Cowell Alone; or, a Trip to London, which he toured in the Lincoln area. Returning to London, he joined the Adelphi Theatre for a three-year engagement and later performed at Astley's Theatre as well.

In 1821, the American manager Stephen Price organized a tour that brought Cowell to the Park Theatre in New York, where he appeared in The Foundling of the Forest and reprised his role as Crack in The Turnpike Gate. His American career included a Broadway appearance in 1823 in Tom and Jerry. In 1844, Cowell published his memoir, Thirty Years Passed among the Players in England and America, issued in two parts, which documented his experiences in both countries. He died in 1863 and was buried at Brompton Cemetery near London, where a stone was erected by his son-in-law, H. L. Bateman.

Alongside his stage work, Cowell practiced painting, beginning with portraiture and working at times as a scene painter at Covent Garden and other venues. He was married three times. His first wife was Maria Murray, older sister of the Scottish actor and theatre manager Harriet Murray. Their children included a scene painter named Joseph Cowell who died in early adulthood, actor William Cowell, Sam Cowell, and Maria Cowell, who died at age five. His second wife was Frances Sheppard, with whom he fathered Sidney Frances Bateman, who became a theatrical manager, playwright, and actor. His third wife was Harriet Burke, whom he married in 1848.