In a dusty warehouse in Stratford on Avon in England, there lies a portrait of the noted American Shakespearean actor, Edwin Booth. Once upon a time, this picture had an inscription on it reminding everyone that it had been presented by American Rotarians. Indeed, when Paul Harris was touring Britain in 1928, he made a special point of visiting Stratford-on-Avon where, on Friday June 1, he was shown some of the many places of interest in the town by the local Rotary President Fred Ballance and the Secretary, Robert Lunn. In particular he asked to see the full length portrait of the "celebrated tragedian Edwin Booth", the brother of John Wilkes Booth, who shot Abraham Lincoln.

The story of how this came to be in Stratford is complicated. It all started at the 1921 Convention in Edinburgh. There, Past President of Rotary, Arch Klumph, learned that the United States was the only country in which the plays of William Shakespeare were regularly performed, but which had no item on display in the Memorial Theatre Gallery at Stratford on Avon. He happened to mention this to a fellow member of the Cleveland Club, E.F. Albee the well known impresario. On their return to the United States, Albee immediately commissioned J.A. Mohlte, a well respected New York artist, to paint a replica of the famous painting of Edwin Booth by Sargent, the original of which hung in the Players Club in New York. On August 24, 1922, at a meeting of the New York Rotary Club held at the Hotel Astor, Albee presented the Mohlte portrait to Rotary so that it could be donated by them to the Stratford gallery. The meeting at the Astor was attended by a distinguished group of more than 700 members and guests, among them such luminaries as Eugene O'Neil and Robert Mantell. A full record of the key speeches can be found in 'The Rotarian' for October 1922. For a few days the painting was exhibited at the Knoedler Gallery in New York and then on September 1, it was taken by a group of Rotarians, led by Arch Klumph, on board the S.S. Majestic and escorted to England.

Later that month, on September 29, 1922, the little group, complete with the picture, arrived in Stratford on Avon for the presentation. A very distinguished party of Rotarians and celebrities processed through the streets of the town to the theatre, led by the civic mace bearers in full period costume, and by the Mayor of Stratford. Members of the Board of Governors of the Memorial Theatre and of British Rotary joined the procession, and in the auditorium the waiting audience included Count John McCormack the Irish singer, Mary Anderson, Marie Corelli and many senior Diplomats, Rotarians and local dignitaries.

Arch C. Klumph, who had been commissioned to act on behalf of RI, made the presentation to the Governors of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at a ceremony arranged with the help of local Rotarians and of the Birmingham Rotary Club in particular, and of the Rotary International Association for Great Britain and Ireland in general. The portrait not only filled the gap in the Gallery's array, but served as a memorial to Edwin Booth, one of America's greatest Shakespearean actors; it was an inspiration to future actors, and an expression of international appreciation. Both Klumph's speech and those of other speakers were also reported in full in 'The Rotarian' for December 1922. At a celebratory dinner that evening, the Past President of RI was presented with three volumes of Shakespeare's works, signed by all present and it would be interesting to know where these volumes are now.

This was not, however, the end of the story, because the Memorial Theatre was destroyed in a disastrous fire in March 1926. Luckily the Library and the Memorial Gallery escaped more or less intact and the picture was still on show when Paul Harris visited there in 1928. The theatre itself was rebuilt in 1932 and the portrait was for many years on show alongside those of such other celebrated Shakespearean actors as David Garrick, Sarah Siddons and Ellen Terry. According to a small plaque on it, the painting was "Presented by Arch Klumph of Cleveland, on behalf of Rotary International, to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre." With increasing pressure on space in recent years, some of the items in the gallery have had to be put in store in the theatre's Costume and Artifacts warehouse and the Mohlte picture is one of these. Perhaps, if there was enough interest, the picture could be retrieved, restored and either put on show in the nearby RIBI offices in Alcester or even returned to American Rotary.

So what has this to do with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair? For those who may be unaware, the wife of the present British Prime Minister was formerly Cherie Booth. She shares with John Wilkes Booth and Edwin, a common descent from one Richard Booth. John Wilkes Booth, who was born in 1838, was the grandson of Richard Booth, a lawyer, and his wife Jane Elizabeth Game. Another of Richard Booth's sons was Algernon Sidney Booth and it is this Booth who was the great, great, great, grandfather of Cherie. This is just the sort of connection which we in the Genealogy Fellowship like to make!

Basil Lewis

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