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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: F. A. Scudamore

Author: F. A. Scudamore (1846–1904)

Alternate Name(s): Fortunatus Augustine Davis Scudamore

Biography: Fortunatus Augustine Davis was born in 1846 in Gloucestershire. Originally intending to join the church, he instead abandoned his studies and began acting at the age of seventeen. He was the leading member of numerous provincial stock companies, specializing in "first old man and character business" roles. By 1875, he had changed his name to "Scudamore" which may have been a family name. In the 1890s, Scudamore shifted to playwriting, eventually composing a score of plays, many of which he produced himself. His only work of fiction, the highly sensationalistic The White Blind (1889), may have been also intended for the stage. In 1874, he married Ellen Sheridan Gillet and the couple had two children. Later in life, he took in the young actress Margaret Scudamore (d. 1958) (some records say "adopted"). Despite the same surname, the two were probably not closely related. Margaret discovered Scudamore's body after he had died at home in Barnes in 1904. She would go on to marry Roy Redgrave and give birth to Sir Michael Redgrave the actor.

Author Tags:

References: pers inf (Warren Skidmore); "Players of the Period," The Era (6 May 1899); Sheffield Daily Telegraph (9 November 1904)

Fiction Titles:

  1. The White Blind: A Realistic and Sensational Story.  1 vol.  Bristol: Arrowsmith, 1889.