The Birth Of Dion Boucicault

Abstract

SINCE THE DEATH IN 1890 OF THE Irish-American playwright Dion Boucicault and especially since his entry in The Dictionary of National Biography, there have existed two versions of his birth date: 26 December 1820 or 20 December 1822. During the last half of his life Boucicault himself claimed that he was eighteen when London Assurance was produced on 4 March 1841, and in an article for The North American Review he stated that he was born on 26 December 1822. An unofficial substantiation of this date as well as of his legitimacy has rested upon The Career of Dion Boucicault, a pamphlet or booklet by Charles Lamb Kenney, Boucicault's schoolfellow and life-long friend. Kenney's affirmation cannot be accepted, however, because he did not write the booklet. Boucicault wrote it and Kenney signed his name, according to Louise Thorndyke, Boudcault's third wife.