Robert Benson (actor)

[1] The son of two actors, he made his first London appearance at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 1778 as a child actor playing the Duke of York in Richard III and acted occasionally at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane over the following years.

[2] After an absence of some time, he returned to Drury Lane in November 1786 having now graduated to adult roles.

He became a reliable member of the company known for his character roles as comic eccentrics and smooth young gentleman.

He also acted at Haymarket during the summers and authored an operatic farce Britain's Glory which premiered there in 1795.

[4] In 1796, reportedly delirious from fever he fell or jumped from the window of his lodgings in Bridges Street and died aged thirty one.