Clarence Blakiston

Clarence Blakiston (23 April 1864 – 21 March 1943) was a British film and stage actor, comedian and singer who during his career across five decades played the title role in the Sherlock Holmes parody Sheerluck Jones, or Why D’Gillette Him Off at Terry's Theatre (1901–02) which ran for 138 performances[1][2][3] and who appeared in the original production of The Admirable Crichton at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1902.

In 1880 aged 16 Clarence Blakiston joined the Merchant Navy as an apprentice at Cardiff[4] while in 1884 he was awarded a Certificate of Competency to serve as Second Mate.

His brief biography in The Play Pictorial review of The Blue Moon in 1905 recorded that: Blakiston's first engagement was with a modern, but somewhat shady, repertoire Company whose manager cast him for juvenile lead, only because he possessed a presentable wardrobe.

The thirsty members of the company were most eager to show him how his parts really should be played, but stipulated that the coaching was done in the nearest bar-parlour.

[21] Blakiston's film roles include Richard Gilder in the Australian film Within the Law (1916), M. Duval in The Lady of the Camellias (1922), Sir John Edmonds in Somebody's Darling (1925), Sir George Venning in Rogues of the Turf (1923), Henry Leslie in A Peep Behind the Scenes (1929), Mr Peabody in The Girl in the Crowd (1935),[22] Love Up the Pole (1936), and the Duke of Sussex in Victoria the Great (1937).