Frederick Vining
(1790-1871)

Born on 4 November 1790, Frederick Vining was the son of Charles Vining, a silversmith of Kirby Street in London's Hatton Garden. He first appeared on the stage at Gravesend in 1807, next appearing with success in Bath and Norwich. His first appearance in London was at Covent Garden in The Poor Gentleman on 17 September 1813. For the rest of his career, he was the leading actor in genteel comedies at Covent Garden and the Haymarket. The Biography of British Stage of 1824 described him as 'decidedly the best personator of fops the stage can boast.’

He died, aged 80, on 2 June 1871. According to his obituary in the Birmingham Daily Gazette (9 June 1871): 'An actor who enjoyed considerable repute in his day has just quitted the stage of life at a ripe old age. Frederick Vining, the representative of youthful lovers in the playgoing days of our grandfathers, has expired at the age of eighty-one [sic]. His mental faculties had decayed before his physical powers, and for some time he had been the inmate of a private asylum, where he received the most kindly treatment. [...] His last appearance was at the Olympic about ten years since, when his skill and gallant bearing gave evidence of the good training which characterised the comedian of the old school. He was the uncle of Mr George Vining, late lessee of the Princess's, and one of a family which was remarkable for the number of its members enrolled in the ranks of the theatrical profession.'