William Thomas Thomas, born in London to a
Strand tradesman named Thomas, assumed the name Moncrieff for theatrical purposes. His first success was at
Astley's with
The Dandy Family (1818), an
equestrian drama. His 1819 play,
Wanted a Wife; or, a Checque on My Banker, was a comedy that gently ridiculed
"lonely heart" ads. The following year, his play
The Lear of Private Life, starring
Junius Brutus Booth as the lead, enjoyed a long run. Moncrieff's most popular production was
Tom and Jerry, or Life in London (1821), a dramatisation of
Life in London by
Pierce Egan.
Tom and Jerry was an outstanding success, becoming the first play to achieve a run of 100 performances. He also wrote the romantic melodrama
The Cataract of the Ganges; or, The Rajah’s Daughter (1823) for
Drury Lane, which featured real horses and a waterfall on stage. This work became popular, with performances at provincial theatres throughout England. In 1830, he conceived the operatic drama
''Van Dieman's Land'', concerning the notorious
bushranger Michael Howe. Besides plays, Moncrieff wrote non-fiction works like ''The Visitors' New Guide to the Spa of Leamington Priors and Its Vicinity
(1818), Excursion to Warwick
, and Excursion to Stratford upon Avon'' (both 1824). He managed
Vauxhall Gardens in 1827 and leased the City Theatre,
Milton Street in 1833. His play
Samuel Weller, or, The Pickwickians was performed in London in 1837, starring
W. J. Hammond as
Sam Weller, while
Dickens was still writing
The Pickwick Papers. In the same year, he had a very public feud with Dickens, over Moncrieff's unauthorised stage adaptation of Dickens'
Nicholas Nickleby. Shortly afterward, Moncrieff's sight failed, and he became totally blind in 1843. The following year, he entered the
Charterhouse in London. In 1850, he edited
Selections from the Dramatic Works of W. T. M., containing 24 of his own plays. Moncrieff's theatrical reminiscences were published in
The Sunday Times in 1851. He died in the Charterhouse in 1857. ==References==