John Thomas Haines

Born about 1799, from 1823 for two decades he supplied the smaller London theatres with melodramas of the "blood-and-thunder" type, with general success. His sea-plays were vehicles for T. P. Cooke, and My Poll and my Partner Joe, a nautical drama in three acts, produced at the Surrey Theatre on 7 September 1835, was notably profitable.^[1]

Haines occasionally acted in his own pieces. He died at Stockwell on 18 May 1843, aged 44, at the time stage-manager of the English Opera House.^[1]

Among Haines's plays were:^[1]

• The Idiot Witness; or a Tale of Blood, melodrama in two acts (Coburg Theatre, 1823).
• Jacob Faithful; or the Life of a Thames Waterman, domestic local drama in three acts (Surrey Theatre, 14 December 1834).
• Richard Plantagenet, historical drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 1836).
• The Ocean of Life; or Every Inch a Sailor, nautical drama in three acts (Surrey Theatre, 4 April 1836).
• Maidens Beware!, burletta in one act (Victoria Theatre, January 1837).
• Breakers Ahead! or a Seaman's Log, nautical drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 10 April 1837).
• Angeline Le Lis, original drama in one act (St. James's Theatre, 29 September 1837).
• The Charming Polly; or Lucky or Unlucky Days, drama in two acts (Surrey Theatre, 29 June 1838).
• Alice Grey, the Suspected One; or the Moral Brand, domestic drama in three acts (Surrey Theatre, 1 April 1839).
• Nick of the Woods; or the Altar of Revenge, a melodrama (Victoria Theatre, 1839).
• The Wizard of the Wave; or the Ship of the Avenger, a legendary nautical drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 2 September 1840).
• The Yew Tree Ruins; or the Wreck, the Miser, and the Mines, domestic drama in three acts (11 Jan. 1841).
• Ruth; or the Lass that Loves a Sailor, a nautical and domestic drama in three acts (Victoria Theatre, 23 January 1843).
• Austerlitz; or the Soldier's Bride, melodrama in three acts (Queen's Theatre).
• Amilie, or the Love Test, opera in three acts.
• The Wraith of the Lake; or the Brownie's Brig, melodrama in three acts.
• Rattlin the Reefer; or the Tiger of the Sea, nautical drama in three acts.
• The Wizard Skiff, nautical drama

Haines also adapted and arranged from the French of Eugène Scribe and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges the songs, duets, quartettes, recitatives, and choruses in the opera of Queen for a Day. Set to music by Adolphe Adam, it was first performed at the Surrey Theatre on 14 June 1841.^[1]

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Haines, John Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 24. London: Smith, Elder & Co.