Name William Taverner | ||
William Taverner (died 1731) was an English lawyer, known as a dramatist.
Contents
Life
The son of Jeremiah Taverner, a portrait-painter of the early 18th century, he was trained in the civil law, and practised at Doctors' Commons. He became a procurator-general of the court of arches of Canterbury.
Taverner died on 8 January 1731 at his house in Doctors' Commons. He had a reputation for professional honesty.
Works
Taverner is known for the plays he wrote, particularly The Artful Husband, produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields on 11 February 1717: it ran for 15 nights. It was acted again in May 1721, and was later adapted by George Colman the elder as The Female Chevalier (1778) and William Macready the elder as The Bank Note (1795). Taverner himself borrowed from The Lady of Pleasure by James Shirley, and from The Counterfeit Bridegroom (1677), an adaptation of Thomas Middleton's No Wit, No Help, like a Woman's sometimes attributed to Thomas Betterton. It was reported, too, that he was assisted by Joseph Browne. The play as printed ran through three editions; in the preface Taverner complained of the injustice of John Rich, the patentee of the theatre, towards authors.
A companion comedy, The Artful Wife, appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields 3 December 1717. It was printed with the date 1718 on the title-page.
Other works were:
Family
Taverner's widow Alathea took out letters of administration at the prerogative court of Canterbury on 6 February 1731. William Taverner the painter (1703–1772), their son, was articled to his father on 5 April 1720. Like his father, he became a procurator-general of the arches court of Canterbury.