Ben Iden Payne - Early Life

Early Life

Born September 5, 1881, in Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was raised and educated in Manchester. He was the youngest of four children. His father, a Unitarian minister, died at age 52, when Payne was eleven years old. As a young child, the first Shakespeare play he saw was a touring production of Twelfth Night. Too young to understand much of the play, he described himself as being "enchanted" by the actress who played Viola. During his second year at the Manchester Grammar School he appeared in his first Shakespearean role, as Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice. Soon thereafter, he saw a production of the same play performed in Manchester by the touring company of Henry Irving, one of the great nineteenth-century Shakespearean impresarios. Mr. Irving played Shylock and Ellen Terry performed as Portia.