John William Counsell (24 April 1905 – 23 February 1987) was an English actor, director and theatre manager, who (with his wife Mary Kerridge) ran the Theatre Royal, Windsor and its in-house repertory company from the 1930s to the 1980s.Birth of John William Counsell in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 - Ancestry.com Obituary for John Counsell - The Times 25 February 1987 - Archive of the National Library of Australia His daughter is the actress Elizabeth Counsell, and he was uncle to the actress and painter Jean Miller.Theatre Archive Project, British Library. Jean Miller – interview transcript Interviewer: Emily Blakey. 14 May 2008 Born in Beckenham, to Claud Counsell and Evelyn Fleming, the bulk of Counsell's career was spent in Windsor repertory theatre and the West End stage.
World War II
He was the author of the German Instrument of Surrender document signed on 7 May 1945 which he wrote when he served as a colonel in the British Army during World War II.
Theatre management
In 1930, Counsell served as an apprentice at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, Berkshire, when it reopened as a theatre after a short time as a cinema. In 1933, he took over managing the theatre; the venture lasted only a few months before it went bankrupt, but the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth attended one of the last performances, coming from nearby Windsor Castle.Rowell, G, et al. The Repertory Movement: A History of Regional Theatre in Britain. Cambridge University Press, 1984 Counsell re-opened the theatre in 1938Douglas Mayo for Britishtheatre.com 22 December 2014 Weekly Rep Returns To Theatre Royal Windsor and was able to establish a viable company that ran without government subsidies. He and his actress wife Mary Kerridge ran the theatre until his retirement in 1986, the year before his death.
John William Counsell was awarded the OBE in the 1975 New Year Honours for services to the Theatre Royal in Windsor.Award of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) to John William Counsell - Supplement to The London Gazette 1 January 1975
References
Further reading Counsell, John. "So Who Needs Subsidy, Anyway?", Scottish Theatre, Inverkeithing, Scottish Theatre, Vol.2 No.3, pp. 6–8 (May 1970)
External links
Theatre website History of the Theatre Royal, Windsor