Charles Wyndham 1837-1919 signed sepia photo postcard Size: 5.5in x 3.5in UK - c.1900 Signed: 'Yours Truly E.E.' Sepia photo postcard ( Rotery Photo), signed by the great British stage actor and theatre manager, Charles Wyndham 1837-1919 . Unused. Wyndham, who had studied medicine in England, served as a surgeon in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was present at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and served with General Banks throughout the Red River Campaign. He resigned from the army in 1864 to join the Grove stock company that was then headed by John Wilkes Booth. After Booth assassinated Lincoln, Wyndham, considering himself a failure as an actor, went back to England. After a brief return to medicine he resumed his acting career and soon became a success. Toured Britain and America with his own stock company starting in 1870 & established a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic as a light comedian becoming a matine idol in London. He also became the Manager of the Criterion Theatre in London and the owner of the Wyndham Theatre and the New Theatre (now the Noel Coward Theatre), both in the West End. Wyndham was knighted in 1902. In 1916 he married Mary Moore (widow of James Albery), who for 30 years had been his leading lady and had also been associated with him as a manager.
