Benjamin Wrench

His father died before he reached his seventh year, and having declined a proffered living and a commission in the army offered by General Tryon, a relative, Wrench adopted the stage as a profession, making his first appearance at Stamford.

[2] The theatrical partnership lasted just two and a half years, in March 1805 James Robertson announced that Mr Alcock had purchased Mrs Wrench's 'theatrical property'.

Wrench and Hannah then joined in York the company of Tate Wilkinson, whose praise he obtained, and proceeded to Edinburgh, where with complete success he played Othello, Gossamer, Job Thornberry, and Jeremy Diddler.

[3] When Robert William Elliston in 1804 quit Bath, he was replaced by Wrench, who made his appearance on 5 January 1805 as Gossamer in Laugh When You Can, and Walter in Children in the Wood.

[6] He left Drury Lane that year, and divided his time between the Lyceum and the country — Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, and other large towns.

At the Lyceum he was on 29 Aug. 1818 the first Wing in Peake's Amateurs and Actors, the first Jenkins in Gretna Green, and the first Sir John Freeman in Free and Easy.

Oxberry, who often played with him, speaks of him as knock-kneed, and says that, adopting Robert William Elliston as model, he copied his nasal twang and drawling doubtful delivery, mistook abruptness for humour, and was less a gentleman on the stage than a "blood" (rake).

A portrait of him, by Sharpe, as Wing in ‘Amateurs and Actors,’ and one by De Wilde as Sir Freeman in ‘Free and Easy,’ are in the Mathews collection in the Garrick.