Mathews, Charles (1776–1835), actor, the seventh son of James Mathews, a bookseller and Wesleyan local preacher, and his wife, Elizabeth, was born on 28 June 1776 at 18 Strand, London. His youth was spent in his father's bookshop in Richmond, Surrey, where he acquired an early interest in the literature of the theatre. By the time he was twelve years old, he could usually be found in a large room above the nearby stable which he and a friend had converted into a theatre for the purpose of entertaining their youthful companions. After two years in that stable theatre, in 1790, at the age of...

Mathews, Charles (1776–1835), actor, the seventh son of James Mathews, a bookseller and Wesleyan local preacher, and his wife, Elizabeth, was born on 28 June 1776 at 18 Strand, London. His youth was spent in his father's bookshop in Richmond, Surrey, where he acquired an early interest in the literature of the theatre. By the time he was twelve years old, he could usually be found in a large room above the nearby stable which he and a friend had converted into a theatre for the purpose of entertaining their youthful companions. After two years in that stable theatre, in 1790, at the age of fourteen, ...