Henry Irving was born at Keinton, near Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, on February 6, 1838. His real name was John Henry Brodribb. “The last place God made” has been the description given of this little town—Keinton-Mandeville—which lies near Glastonbury. The house in which the future actor was born is still pointed out—a small two-storied dwelling, of a poorish sort. Henry Irving’s mother was Sarah Behenna, a woman of strong, marked character, who early took the child into Cornwall to her sister Penberthy. Thus was he among the miners and mining captains in a district “stern and wild,” where lessons of dogged toil and perseverance were to be learned. The earliest books he read were his Bibl…
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