Percival Craig letter to K. Hurst Brown, 1938 August 3

              K Hurst Brown Esq  5, Madeira Place,  Brighton, 1.  Phone: B'ton 6316.  8.3.38  Dear Sir,  There must have been many admirers of Sir Henry Irving who, like myself felt a debt of gratitude to you for allowing the letters addressed to your relative by the famous actor to be published in ""The Times""; for they give some wonderfully interesting sidelights upon his early days and character.  I had the privilege of organising the visit of Sir Henry to Sunderland, in 1904, for his farewell appearance there and (with others) the Civic Reception given him in the Town Hall.  There has been some discussion in the press as to whether Sir Henry did actually make his first appearance on any stage at the Lyceum Theatre Sunderland.  Mr. Alfred Denville, M.P. has stated in a Newspaper The Sunday Sun that the actor appeared in Wells Somerset, Almwick, Morpeth, Spennymoor & Newcastle as a ""Busking"" Actor before he opened at Sunderland. All the evidence in his Biographies seem to prove that Irving