Henslowe, Philip ___ 1550c-1616 ___ British ___ entrepreneur

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Henslowe was born in Lindfield, Sussex, the son of a forest game manager. He moved to London, was apprenticed to a dyer, and then, when his master died, married his rich widow. The couple bought much property in the Southwark area of London, and Henslowe became involved in building theatres, the most famous of which was the Rose Theatre, on the south bank of the Thames. He was also a churchwarden and held minor court offices, becoming a groom of the chamber. North of the river, Henslowe, with his step-son, the famous actor John Alleyn, built the sumptuous Fortune Theatre. In 1613, he built the Hope Theatre, designed for plays as well as bear baiting. Henslowe's theatres and company (The Admiral's Men) gave the first productions of many important Elizabethan dramas. His diary, although little more than a business record book, is an important source of information on the history of English theatre (but, interestingly, there is no mention of Shakespeare).
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Elizabethan drama diary

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1591-1597 ___ theatre commerce

WEB TEXT LINKS
googlebooks
a few pages
etext

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Dulwich College

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diary of Philip Henslowe
Henslowe's Diary
 

May 2005, July 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.