Marriott
Edgar (1880-1951), born George Marriot Edgar
in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a poet, scriptwriter
and comedian best known for writing many of the monologues
performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the 'Albert'
series. In total he wrote 16 Stanley Holloway monologues,
whilst Holloway himself wrote only 5.
His parents were Jennifer nee Taylor, a native of Dundee,
and Richard Horatio Marriott Edgar (1847-1894), only
son of Alice Marriott (1824-1900), proprietress of the
Marriott family theatre troupe. Richard was born in
Manchester, Lancashire, near Christmas 1847 as Richard
Horatio Marriott; both his two sisters, Adeline Marriott
(b.1853) and Grace Marriott (b.1858) were also born
in Lancashire. Later all three children chose to take
the surname of their mother's "husband", Robert
Edgar (there seems to be no record of a Robert Edgar
- Alice Marriott marriage as of yet), and they retained
this surname throughout their lives - Richard married
and died as Richard Horatio Edgar rather than under
his birth surname of Marriott (possibly suggesting Robert
Edgar was the biological father of at least one of Alice's
three children).
Richard and Jenny married in March 1875, with Richard
being unaware that he had fathered an illegitimate namesake
son, Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace, with his "honorary
sister", widowed actress Mrs Mary Jane "Polly"
Richards, after a brief sexual encounter when they were
both extremely drunk at a back-stage party in 1874.
Polly had invented an obligation in London to hide her
pregnancy and give birth in secret on 1st April 1875,
almost a month after Richard and Jenny married. This
son became the famous journalist, novelist, playwright
and screenplay writer Edgar Wallace.
Richard and Jenny Taylor's children were Alice Marriott
Edgar (b.1876, London), twins Richard and Jennifer Marriott
Edgar (b.1878, London), following which they relocated
to Scotland, where George was born, then they returned
to Southern England and London once more, having Joseph
Marriott Edgar in 1884 and Adeline Alice Edgar in 1886,
both in London.
George Marriott Edgar was five years younger than his
famous, elder paternal half-brother. Marriott Edgar
was a talented performer, poet and writer in his own
right, and excelled once he had joined up with Holloway.
They went to Hollywood at the start of the 1930s, Edgar
having dropped his first name for his "professional"
appellation of Marriott Edgar. During the few months
of 1931-1932, the two half-brothers, Marriott Edgar
and Edgar Wallace encountered each other in Los Angeles.
Wallace had learned of his paternal semi-siblings' existence
from his niece, Miss A Grace Donovan, who was the only
child of his only maternal semi-sibling, Polly Richards'
daughter, Mrs Josephine Catherine Richards Donovan (1868-1894).
However, there is only evidence of Wallace definitely
meeting Marriott Edgar, and as far as is known he never
met any of his other half-brothers and sisters by his
father - Wallace and Marriott's mutual father, Richard
H Edgar, died in 1894, the same year as Wallace's half-sister
Josephine C.R. Donovan, and when their mutual grandmother
Alice Marriott "Edgar" died in 1900, Wallace
was in South Africa as a war correspondent for the Daily
Mail.
When Marriott Edgar wrote his most famous The Lion &
Albert monologue, he named the lion Wallace in what
is now generally recognised to be a fraternal in-joke
nod to his brother. Marriott outlived Edgar Wallace
by 19 years.
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