George Speaight

Who was George Speaight?

George Victor Speaight was a theatre historian and the leading authority on 19th-century toy theatre.

One of his brothers was the Shakespearean actor Robert Speaight, who paid for some of George's education at Haileybury.

George was fascinated from his boyhood by toy theatres, and in the 1930s professionally took up puppetry. He became known for his puppet show performances at the Bumpus bookstore in Oxford Street.

He undertook wartime service as a conscientious objector, providing wireless services at Gibraltar, then later in uniform participating in the invasion of Normandy.

His book Juvenile Drama: The History of the English Toy Theatre appeared in December 1946. He became manager of Pollock's Toy Theatres, and for some years worked in theatrical endeavours.

His next book History of the English Puppet Theatre appeared in 1955. He then worked as an editor of children’s encyclopaedias and reference books, initially at Odhams Press. He later joined George Rainbird's firm where he edited the Catholic Encyclopaedia, before becoming editorial director of Rainbird Reference.