MARRIOTT, JAMES HENRY (1799-1886) was trained as an optician and instrument maker, but had also some experience of journalism before coming to New Zealand in the Thomas Sparks (1842). He was a Shakespearean actor and in the early years of the Wellington settlement he was prominent in theatrical undertakings, playing parts himself and providing the scenery and decorations. In 1844 he helped to build the Olympic theatre in Wellington, for which he made the decorations and scenery and later manufactured from whale-oil the gas for lighting purposes. He erected the Britannia saloon and the Aurora tavern (afterwards the Lyceum theatre). Marriott wrote verse on occasion. The Constitutional Budget, a book of doggerel and songs intended to further the struggle of the Constitutional Association for representative government, was published in 1858. He was shortly afterwards appointed sergeant-at-arms of the Provincial Council. Marriott was one of the founders of the Oddfellows' lodge and hall. He later kept a stationer's shop in Wellington, and acted as government inspector of weights and measures. He made many drawings, and some of his engravings of historic events in Wellington were produced in the Illustrated London News and other journals. He died on 25 Aug 1886. His daughter Alice was a celebrated actress, some time lessee of Sadler's Wells theatre, London. She died in 1900.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Margaret Lane, Edgar Wallace (1939); Carter; Ward; N.Z. Times, 27 Aug 1886; Evening Post, 26 Aug 1886; Scholefield, in N.Z. Railways Magazine, Aug 1939; N.Z. Spectator, 24 Nov 1855.

Reference: Volume 2, page 30

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