1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bancroft, Sir Squire

BANCROFT, SIR SQUIRE (1841-), English actor and manager (see 3.309), made his last regular appearance on the stage as Count Orloff in a revival of Diplomacy at the Garrick theatre in 1893. The company were summoned to play before Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle in Oct. of that year. He subsequently only appeared occasionally at special performances, the latest and most notable of which was at His Majesty's theatre, London, in Dec. 1918 when he played Triplet in Masks and Faces.

His wife, Lady Bancroft (1839-1921), died at Folkestone, May 22 1921. She had first appeared on the stage under her maiden name of Marie Effie Wilton at Manchester as Fleance in Macbeth and as Prince Arthur in King John as early as 1847. She made her debut in London in 1856 with Charles Dillon at the Lyceum theatre as Henri in Belphegor. Her brilliant career as an actress, from the time when in 1865 she went into management at the Prince of Wales's theatre, and married Mr. (afterwards Sir Squire) Bancroft in 1868, came to a close in 1885, when she and her husband retired from the stage; but Lady Bancroft reappeared with him in the Diplomacy revival of 1893, and twice subsequently made a single appearance at a special matinee, the last occasion being the benefit performance for Miss Nellie Farren in March 1898.