Description
A Staffordshire portrait figure of the British actor Thomas Potter Cooke (1786-1864) playing the part of Ben Backstay who was a boatswain, or Bosun, the ship’s officer responsible for maintenance of the ship and it’s equipment.
T P Cooke is portrayed standing with his left hand raised to his head, holding a money bag and his right hand is resting on his hip with his boater and wearing typical Bosons naval uniform.
This model was taken from a lithograph published in 1823 entitled ‘Mr T P Cooke as Ben Backstay’ but probably not made in the potteries Staffordshire England until the mid nineteenth century.
By the age of ten in 1797, Cooke was an under age sailor on board HMS Raven and present at the battle of Cape St Vincent, he was lucky to survive after escaping drowning off Cuxhaven where the Raven was lost,
By the age of 18 he had left the Royal Navy and made his stage debut in 1804 at the Royalty Theatre Well close Square, Tower Hamlets, a Borough of London. Cooke was known as “the last and best of stage sailors ” for his success in his starring roles of popular nautical melodramas in the early nineteenth century,
Circa: 1850-55.
Condition; Left arm, nose and shoe on right foot all professionally restored by Ceramic Restoration Studios Ltd
Height: 24cm ‘9.5 inches’
