[4][5][6] The elder Calvert was a man of means, able to purchase a large plot of land at 82 Oldham Street in Manchester and build a house there for his family; they lived in the city during the winter and Derbyshire during the summer.
[10] Similarly, many sources claim that Charles Calvert's brother was Raisley Calvert, a sculptor from Cumberland who was a benefactor of the poet William Wordsworth (and whose father was also a steward for the Duke of Norfolk, at Greystoke Castle), but this appears to be another family claim taken at face value—in reality, Charles was born nearly two decades before his alleged "brother", their parents have different names on their birth certificates, and other than the Duke of Norfolk there is no documentary or geographical connection between the two men.
[11][12][13][4] Letherbrow is clear that the family did sincerely believe both their father's claims of noble descent and of having a brother who was "a bosom friend of Wordsworth"—however, they thought his name was "Randolph" rather than Raisley.
He performed at theatres throughout the United Kingdom, but found particular success in Dublin in 1824, where he became the "leading tragedian" of the Theatre Royal: By nature he was well fitted for this difficult and trying profession, tall and commanding in person, of robust constitution, and great fluency and vigour in speech, all united with great literary talents, extensive erudition, and a most retentive memory, he was no mere mechanical stage-walker, with him the drama was profession and not a trade.
[1] In 1822 he wrote A Defence of the Acted Drama, a treatise responding to a popular sermon by the preacher Thomas Best which argued that "none who frequent [the theatre] can be real Christians;" Calvert's response was also widely read, and it was even delivered as a speech to the annual dinner of the Royal Theatrical Fund by John Fawcett.
[1] Throughout this time he also continued to travel widely, giving lectures at athenaeums and mechanics' institutes on oratory, poetry, and other literary subjects in the large towns and cities of Scotland, England, and the United States.