![]() ![]() The scale of his production is also indicated by details of the dyeing process. Each cloth was about a yard (0.9m.) wide, and 17-18 yards long. The many different cloths produced at the time were dominated by broadcloths and kersies, and current evidence shows Winchcombe producing on an industrial scale: over 6,000 kersey cloths each year in the 1540s. ![]() For a time, he was the leading figure in England’s leading industry. “Jack of Newbury” or John Winchcombe II (c.1489-1557) was a leading cloth-producer in the reign of Henry VIII, when woollen cloth was the country’s most important export. ![]() The building to which this plaque is attached functioned as a silent film cinema, the Newbury Picture Palace, from 1910 to 1934. His later Newbury address was 317 Andover Road. In the late 1930’s his address was “Rooks Way”, Hill Green, Peasemore. The transition to talking films in 1929 saw him mainly portrayed in fine gentlemanly roles in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, until his retirement to Newbury in 1950 with the movie “Let’s Have a Murder”. His success continued as a freelance after World War I, with films in Germany as well as in Britain. Unlike many of his contemporaries he didn’t leave Berkshire for Hollywood.” Later in his career he played character roles – judges and generals but always in England. Over thirty film productions featuring Rome survive at the BFI National Archive. My personal favourite is his character in The Ware Case (1928), an adaptation of a successful country house mystery play, where he is called upon to have a nervous breakdown on camera. He made more than 160 films between 19 – specialising in debonair rogues and military types – he also played many leading man roles. His film “Comin’ Thro’ The Rye” (1916) was the first to be given a Royal Command Performance.īryony Dixon, Curator of Silent Film at the BFI National Archive, states: “Stewart Rome was an important star of British film in the silent and early sound eras. His characters included amongst others a tramp, explorer, Harley Street doctor, prize fighter, race horse owner, clergyman, and fisherman. Now he’s a star.’Īccording to his obituary in the Newbury Weekly News (4 th March 1965), he was the first real star of the British cinema. Roughed it in the Bush, was a waiter in Perth and a stock hand at Sydney, came back home, tool up film work, and made good. He travelled with a repertory company in the East, returned to England, had a breakdown, and emigrated to Australia went in for stock farming and came out penniless. I started my stage career in musical comedy, didn’t like it, and was glad to on tour in more dramatic work” After a while, we fought out the question of my profession, my parents and I, and I won. I belonged to a Dramatic Club in Newbury, and I’m afraid that I thought more of my small efforts than of swotting for the exams I should have passed, but didn’t. They tried to make an engineer of me, but I could not tie myself down to anything so prosaic. ‘“I am the only actor of the family, the others are all interested in engineering or farming. The following account of his early life was given in an interview with the Newbury Weekly News on 18 August 1921: He also served in World War I in the Second Oxon and Bucks Regiment. He proved an immediate success, making several films a year, and in 1915 a poll of cinema goers voted him Britain’s most popular film actor. He assumed the professional name “Stewart Rome”. His film debut on his return to England occurred with the Hepworth Film Company and the film “Justice” in 1914. He trained as an engineer, but in 1907 commenced an acting career in Australia. Septimus Jr was brought up by his mother Alma and educated at St Bart’s. He was born Septimus William Ryott, the son of an auctioneer of the same name who died aged 40 and who was the son of Robert Ryott, a Newbury pharmacist who served as Mayor of Newbury in 18. His versatile and prolific career is credited with over 160 films. He was born and brought up in Newbury and eventually retired here. Stewart Rome was a British film actor who achieved national fame during the silent film era and successfully made the transition to talkies. ![]()
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