David James (actor, born 1839)

[2] James made his stage debut as a child actor at the Princess's Theatre, London, then managed by Charles Kean.

[3][4] James joined the company at the Royalty Theatre towards the end of 1861, playing a range of minor roles before making his first great success, in September 1863, as Mercury in F. C. Burnand's Ixion, or The Man at the Wheel, in the words of The Stage "appearing to much advantage as a singer and dancer in a small part".

[4] The Stage said of his performance in the last of these that it "revealed new capacities in the successful burlesque actor, showing a pathos and a truth to nature such as lifted the part out of the conventional category into which it had long fallen".

[3] During his time at the Vaudeville, James played with success Bob Trout in Albery's Apple Blossoms, Sir Benjamin Backbite in The School for Scandal (a production that ran for more than 400 performances),[1] Goldfinch, in The Road to Ruin, John Tweedie in Tweedie's Rights, Sir Ball Brace, in Albery's Pride,[1] and – his most celebrated role – Perkyn Middlewick, in H. J. Byron's comedy Our Boys,[5] which ran at the Vaudeville from 16 January 1875 for 1,362 performances.

[3][7] The Daily Telegraph commented: Montague had left the Vaudeville in 1871, and James and Thorne continued for a further ten years before dissolving the partnership.

[1] In 1885 he briefly returned to management at the Opera Comique, where he appeared as Blueskin in Little Jack Sheppard and Aristides Cassegrain in The Excursion Train.