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According to a Daily Gleaner article of March 23, 1910, Sylvester Leon was born in the 1880s, at Russell Pen in St Catherine, Jamaica. When only two months old he was taken to live in Spanish Town, where he grew up. He was the only son of Mr and Mrs Isaac Leon, and his father died in 1894, while he was still a young boy.
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He first attended St Catherine's School in Spanish Town. As a boy, he had a great admiration for Napoleon, and read everything about him that he could lay hands on. He was especially interested in elocution, for which he won at least one prize at St George’s College, the Roman Catholic boy’s high school that he later attended in Kingston. In his last year there he was ranked as ‘first scholar'.
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[*Weeks & Potter was a Boston proprietary medicine concern, founded in 1852 and operating well into the 20th century. They produced many patent & proprietary medicines including the Sanford's Radical Cure and several Cuticura products including the famous Cuticura System of Curing Constitutional Humors.
George Robert White (1847-1922) was a well known Boston philanthropist who made his fortune with the Weeks and Potter Drug Company. Working up through the company, he eventually became the owner of the Potter Drug and Chemical Corporation which made a best selling product called "Cuticura soap."]
George Robert White (1847-1922) was a well known Boston philanthropist who made his fortune with the Weeks and Potter Drug Company. Working up through the company, he eventually became the owner of the Potter Drug and Chemical Corporation which made a best selling product called "Cuticura soap."]
Sylvester Leon left the United States for England around 1900. In England he found work, for a time in a commercial firm, and then as an assistant junior master at a Grammar School. There he had considerable success at coaching boys for examinations. He was also continuing his studies, with a view to entering a university. Apparently he won a scholarship, which was announced in the Daily Gleaner in early September 1903:
'Friends and old schoolfellows of Mr. P. Sylvester Leon . . . will be glad to hear he has won a Scholarship tenable at the Birmingham University for three to five years. He will commence his studies at the beginning of the next session, October 5th, 1903. We wish him a successful career.' |
He thus attended Birmingham University in the academic year 1903-4, having completed matriculation in September 1903 by passing an examination in Physiography. In June 1904 he passed the Inter B.A. Examinations in Latin, English, French, Logic and History, with 2nd class honours. He left Birmingham after the one year, without being awarded any degree or diploma, and no reason is indicated for this action. |
The Mermaid Vol 1, No 1, October 1904
[The Mermaid Tavern, on Bread Street in Cheapside in London, was the meeting place for a group of writers including Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare; they belonged to what was called the Friday Street Club, or the Mermaid Club.]
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While at Birmingham he was Secretary of the Literary and Dramatic Society, which the 1910 Gleaner article claims he founded. On another page of the issue of The Mermaid indicated on the left, was the cryptic comment - ‘Mr. Patrice Sylvester Leon is believed to have returned to his native wilds.’ |
The Gleaner article claims that he also studied at Oxford, graduating with the degree of B.A., and that he won many prizes at various stages of his educational advance, being Historical Dissertation Prizeman, and that he took Honours in Modern European History and Literature. These claims have not so far been confirmed, and further research will be needed to investigate them.
Having, apparently, completed three years at university, Sylvester Leon decided to remain in the U.K. and become an actor and playwright.
Having, apparently, completed three years at university, Sylvester Leon decided to remain in the U.K. and become an actor and playwright.
After completing his academic studies Leon apparently moved on into the theatrical world, performing with the companies of the well-known actor-managers F. R. Benson, Lewis Waller and Arthur Bourchier. While acting in top English theatres he won critical praise for his performances of Shylock, Hamlet, Mark Antony, David Garrick, and Marat in his own play, “Charlotte Corday". While these claims were made in the Jamaican press, some detailed research in newspapers of the time in the United Kingdom will be necessary to ascertain when and where he performed. |
It is not clear how successful Sylvester Leon's career on the British stage actually was, but some time in the early part of 1908 he linked up with the Jamaica Choir, which was in the final year of its great tour of Britain. Perhaps things had not been going all that well!
Sylvester Leon returned to Jamaica with the Jamaica Choir and performed in their very popular concerts which celebrated the Choir’s return, in Kingston in January 1909. His portrayal of Shylock from The Merchant of Venice was an instant success. He quickly showed that he had not forgotten his roots, being involved in two concerts in February, one for the residents of the Leper Home in Spanish Town, the other for the Kingston Catholic Sodality Union. Later in the year he appeared with the Choir in concerts all over the island, creating an immediate reputation for his dramatic and humorous performances. He also did other performances for specifically Catholic occasions, namely for the Mission in Spanish Town and at Thomas Linton’s Continuation School in Kingston which was sponsored by the church.
After a bout of illness in October Leon began to think of returning to England. He took part in the Jamaica Choir’s Christmas concert at Rockfort Gardens, and then started on a series of performances in Kingston and around the island which as the year progressed were billed as farewell performances. His performances of extracts from Hamlet were particularly successful. He once again performed with the Choir at Rockfort Gardens in its Easter Concert.
Soon after this it was announced that he would be returning to England, probably on May 19th. He started on a round of farewell appearances in Montego Bay, Spanish Town and Morant Bay as well as Kingston; he included the whole range of his repertoire in these performances. The death of the king, Edward VII, on May 6th led to a rearrangement of the schedule and the postponement of his departure. After these very successful final appearances, Sylvester Leon left Jamaica, for the last time it would appear, on the ‘Port Antonio’, on June 2nd 1910.
After his return to England, Sylvester Leon soon embarked on new ventures which he set out in the extract, from a letter, shown below. As a consequence he was in Germany when war broke out in August 1914.
The item below records the marriage of Sylvester Leon on December 27, 1911. The parents of Miss Lowman were Thomas and Emily, tailor and dressmaker respectively, living at 33 Windsor Terrace, Penarth, near Cardiff, at the time of the 1901 Census. We know nothing of how the couple met or whether Emily went to Germany; so far no further reference to the young Mrs Leon has been noted.
Daily Gleaner, January 16, 1912 |
The only information so far found on Sylvester Leon's imprisonment in a prisoner of war camp in Germany in World War I is in the newspaper items below from the Daily Gleaner. There is a mass of information on life in the camp at Ruhleben, and many references to theatrical performances there, in which he must have been involved. Once some one can research these sources, scattered in the UK, USA and Canada, it may be possible to give a better picture of this period of his life.
Note: I've just ordered a book about Ruhleben which mentions Leon and his participation in theatrical and other activities in the camp. Received the book: more on that soon.
RUHLEBEN Ruhleben Gefangenenlager (British Civilian Internment Camp) was established after the outbreak of the First World War at a racetrack in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin, and remained in operation until Armistice Day, 1918. At its peak, the camp held some 4,500 male civilians of military age who had been living or travelling in Germany when war was declared; prisoners were housed in stalls originally intended for racehorses. Most were British, but there were also a few dozen French and Italians, as well as Indians, Jamaicans, West Africans, and Zanzibarees, most of whom had been crew members of British merchant ships docked in German ports. About 300-400 internees were Jewish. The internees established their own camp organization, mail service, social and sports clubs, cultural and educational programs, relief programs, religious services, and hygienic measures. |
Cover of the camp magazine with a drawing of 'Bond Street', one of the streets in the camp
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Daily Gleaner, 1916
June 3 page 3 |
Above is a picture of Mr. P. Sylvester Leon, B.A., of Spanish Town, who is now a civilian prisoner of war in Germany. Mr. Leon, in a letter to his mother, expressed a wish that some assistance should be rendered him, and on the matter being represented to His Excellency the Governor, Sir William Manning has taken steps to secure assistance to Mr. Leon. |
Daily Gleaner 1917
January 17 page 14 |
January 18 page 6 |
The letter follows:-
THE LETTER
"Englanderlager Ruhleben.
November 25th, 1916.
"Absender:
Sylvester Leon,
Barracks 5,
Box East Loft.
An. to Mr. S. Straas,
Post Box 12,
Ort. Scheveningen, Holland.
My dear Mr. Straas,
In answer to your very kind postcards, I hasten to send you herewith the names of my Jamaica comrades who are interned here with me. I have added to them the names of those from the other West Indian Islands, so that you have in this list the names of all those from the West Indies. [The Gleaner, or Mr. Straas, seems to have edited out the names of men from other islands.}
1. William Martin, from Kingston, Jamaica, Barrack 21.
2. Naboth Lother, from Kingston. Ja., Barrack 21.
3. John Martin, from Kingston, Jamaica, Barrack 21.
4. Charles Setton, from Spanish Town. Ja., Barrack 21.
5. John Palmer, from Montego Bay. Ja., Barrack 21.
6. Joseph Jarrett, from Falmouth, Ja.. Barrack 22.
7. James Edwards, from Brown's Town, Ja., Barrack 21.
8. Isaac Blake, from Port Maria, Ja., Barrack 21.
9. John Stevens, from Sav-la-Mar. Ja., Barrack 21.
10. J. Danielson, from Darliston, Ja., Barrack 21.
11. Henry Buchanan, from Pimento Walk, Jamaica, Barrack 21.
12. Robert Chambers, from Crooked River, Ja.. Barrack 21.
13. Jerry Bartley, from St. Thomas. Ja., Barrack 21.
With renewed thanks, and best wishes, I am, my dear Mr. Straas,
Yours very sincerely,
(Sgd.) SYLVESTER LEON."
The war is finally over!
Daily Gleaner 1919
January 31 p 4 col 7
Release of Sylvester Leon.
Our Spanish Town Correspondent:
The many friends of Mr P Sylvester Leon BA of Spanish Town who was a prisoner of war in Germany will be pleased to learn that his relatives have heard from him to the effect that he has been released and is now in England.
Presumably Leon decided to remain in England to pursue his stage career. So far no further references to him have been found in Jamaican newspapers, until the brief mention in 1942 which is dealt with later on.
There are, so far, only two more brief glimpses of Sylvester Leon on stage and radio in the U.K., yet these references in the press have considerable significance in the history of Jamaica's entertainers. Read on . . .
West India Committee Circular, February 24, 1927, p 71
Those interested in the West Indies will be glad to learn that Mr Sylvester Leon, a native Jamaican actor, who has been touring in this country, will broadcast a Jamaican dialect sketch, entitled 'Quashie hears Paderewski play', on February 23. Mr Leon will also give a concert at the Central Hall, Westminster, on February 26, when he will present several
other dialect sketches of native Jamaica. Mr Leon has an extensive repertory, which, besides giving Quashie's opinions and emotions on many subjects, includes Shakespearean and English dramatic recitals, recitals with vocal and instrumental accompaniment, and miscellaneous humorous and descriptive pieces. We wish Mr Leon all success.
These items from the Radio Times in February 1927 confirm the remarkable fact that Sylvester Leon performed all the way back then, on radio, in the U.K., in Jamaican patois! However, a check done by the B.B.C. archives showed that he never appeared again; whether this was because of his inability to adapt to radio, or because the audience did not appreciate Jamaican dialect, we can hardly know, but the mere fact of the single performance is remarkable, in itself. The radio schedules for what was then station 2LO were carried in newspapers all around the country; one paper carried this comment on the item -
As the West India Committee Circular had reported, Sylvester Leon performed at the Central Hall Westminster, doing 'Jamaican Dialect Sketches' on the bill in a Saturday Popular Concert.
News of Sylvester Leon reached back to Jamaica -
Just one more brief reference has so far turned up:
A researcher at the BBC Written Archives Centre has provided this further information about the programme:
In this edition 'At the Barbecue' is described as a magazine programme compiled by Una Marson, compered by Godfrey Kenton and included a poem ('But You Must Love Her' by Wynne Rutty) read by Una Marson; 'An Annancy Story, Brer Nancy an de Woss-Woss' from a collection compiled by Dorothy Clarke and read by Olive Dwyer and also a poem 'The Isle of Spice' by (and read by) Calvin Lambert. The item featuring Sylvester Leon is listed as "Sylvester Leon reading King Henry's final speech in Act 4, Scene 3, of King Henry V." |
From March 1941 to March 1943 Una Marson, the Jamaican writer, was organising the BBC's Caribbean programme, 'Calling the West Indies'. Sylvester Leon's reading was on that programme at 6 p.m. November 12, 1942. Clearly Miss Marson knew, or knew of, Leon in England, but I have found no further references to him, in her biography, or in any other material on that period. So, I must keep on looking!
. . . and for the time being, that's all I have on Sylvester Leon. I still hope to find out more about his career in the theatre in the U.K. in the 1920s and '30s, and also when and where he died. Perhaps someone who looks at this site may know more about him.
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