{{short description|British theatre managers and producers (1803 - 1872)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Benjamin Conquest''' (3 December 1803 - 5 July 1872), born '''Benjamin Oliver''', was the manager of the Garrick and Grecian Theatres.
== Early life and family == Conquest was born Benjamin Oliver 3 December 1803 and baptised on 8 January 1804 <ref name=observer/> He married Clarissa Ann Roxbey née Bennett on the 4th March 1863 <ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/33512606?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a22376f5841746473516e723470714941754650454c30626736374578463668714e75484e576a78666b6e2f733d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d Entry for Benjamin Oliver and Clarissa Ann Roseby] ''East Sussex, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936'', Brighton, 1863, no. 180. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 9 March 2025. {{subscription required}}</ref> and their son was the playwright and manager George Augustus Conquest (1837-1901). George had three sons who were also active in the theatre, George Conquest (1858-1926), Fred Conquest (1871-1941) and Arthur Conquest (1875-1945).<ref name="Law2013">"Conquest family" in {{cite book|editor=Jonathan Law |title=The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tb-OAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA124|year=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=978-1-4081-3148-0|page=124}}</ref>
== Career == thumbnail|The Eagle Tavern in 1841. Conquest was the manager of the Garrick Theatre in Leman Street, London. Following the retirement of Thomas Rouse in 1851, he became the proprietor of the Grecian Theatre and Eagle Tavern in the City Road, Hackney, London.<ref name=observer/><ref>[http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Library/Library-and-Archive-Collections/London-History/London-Collection-Manuscripts/Eagle-Tavern--Grecian-Theatre-City-Road Eagle Tavern/Grecian Theatre, City Road: Playbills and illustrations.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627131245/http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Library/Library-and-Archive-Collections/London-History/London-Collection-Manuscripts/Eagle-Tavern--Grecian-Theatre-City-Road |date=2015-06-27 }} Bishopsgate Institute. Retrieved 12 September 2015.</ref> The theatre had previously produced light opera and was originally a music hall, but Conquest switched to Shakespeare which was unsuccessful.
He then tried melodrama which was more popular and he produced over 100 such shows written by his son George, often adapted from French productions. George was also an acrobat and pantomimist and produced nearly 50 pantomimes in collaboration with Henry Spry.
The theatre was rebuilt in 1858.<ref name="Law2013" />
==Death== Conquest died at his home in the New North Road, London, on 5 July 1872, aged 68.<ref name=observer>[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000442/18720713/026/0005?browse=true "DEATH OF MR. BENJAMIN CONQUEST"], ''East London Observer'', 13 July 1872, p. 5. British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 10 September 2015. {{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=probate>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/33509883?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a22586e586e4b513878306a58765136596356705766587a4c59486c48507a2b622b44657a772b74764b6e77773d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d "Benjamin Oliver"], ''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966'', 1872, p. 17. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 9 March 2025. {{subscription required}}</ref> He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.<ref>''Paths of Glory'', The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, London, 1997.</ref> George Augustus Conquest inherited the Grecian Theatre.<ref name="Law2013"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conquest, Benjamin}} Category:1800s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1872 deaths Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Category:British theatre managers and producers Category:19th-century British businesspeople
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