{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}} {{Use British English|date=June 2014}} [[File:Mr & Mrs Howard Paul.jpg|thumb|right|Howard Paul and Mrs Howard Paul in the 1860s]] thumb|right|upright|Mr and Mrs Howard Paul on a sheet music cover from ''Patchwork'' '''George Henry Howard Paul''' (18 November 1830 – 9 December 1905), known on stage as '''Howard Paul''', was an American writer, playwright, comic actor and theatrical manager who made his name and spent most of his career in the United Kingdom. In 1854 he married the British singer and actress Isabella Hill, and the two appeared together in Britain and the United States as Mr and Mrs Howard Paul for more than two decades, in comic pieces written by Paul. The couple separated around 1877, after he began an affair with the actress Letty Lind. After that affair ended, Paul continued to write through the 1880s and acted as a theatre manager in Britain.
==Early life and career== Born in Philadelphia in 1830, the son of Stephen Carmick Paul, a General Manager,<ref name=Banns>[http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1623/31280_198624-00024/3861876?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dLMAmarriages%26h%3d3861876%26ti%3d5538%26indiv%3dtry%26gss%3dpt%26ssrc%3dpt_t7639870_p-1060825493_kpidz0q3d-1060825493z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t7639870_p-1060825493_kpidz0q3d-1060825493z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754–1921 for Henry Howard Paul (1889)], Ancestry.com – pay to view</ref> in 1850 Howard Paul went to London to work as a journalist; while there he wrote the serial ''Dashes of American Humor, or Yankee Stories'' (1853) with pictures by John Leech,<ref name=Encyc>Paul's entry] in ''Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography'' (1887–1889)</ref> who had illustrated several novels by Charles Dickens. He made his debut as a comic writer in London with his play ''Diogenes'' (1852). In 1854 he married Isabella Hill, who from then on acted under the name Mrs Howard Paul. In the same year he made his debut as an actor in Bath, Somerset, England in 1854 in his vaudeville piece ''My Neighbor Opposite'' in which his wife appeared, also acting with her in his comic duologue, ''Locked Out'', which proved to be very popular and toured extensively in the provinces.<ref name=Gen>[http://www.featherstone.org/getperson.php?personID=I5026&tree=Featherstone "Isabella Featherstone"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502004923/http://www.featherstone.org/getperson.php?personID=I5026&tree=Featherstone |date=2 May 2014 }}, Featherstone Genealogy website, accessed 3 May 2014</ref><ref name=NYT>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60915F9385A137B93C2A8178DD85F4D8784F9 "Obituary: Mrs Howard Paul"], ''The New York Times'', 10 June 1879</ref><ref name=Stone1>Stone, David. [http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/P-Q/PaulMrsHoward.htm "Mrs. Howard Paul (1877–78)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416134056/http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/P-Q/PaulMrsHoward.htm |date=16 April 2015 }}, ''Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company'', the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 3 May 2014</ref>
In 1858 the couple also appeared in Paul's ''Patchwork'', described as "a clatter of fun, frolic, song, and impersonation."<ref name=DNB>Knight, John Joseph. "Paul, Isabella Howard", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 44, accessed 3 May 2014</ref> They revived this for some years.<ref>Pascoe, Charles Eyre. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jm0BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA414 "Paul, Mrs. Howard"], ''Our actors and actresses: The dramatic list'', Oxford University (1880), p. 414</ref> Another piece that they toured was called ''Thrice Married''.<ref name=NYT/> He returned to the U.S. in 1866–67 and 1869 to tour there with his wife.
==Letty Lind and later years== A protégée was the actress and dancer Letty Lind who toured with the Pauls from about the age of ten.<ref name=Buchanan>[http://www.robertbuchanan.co.uk/html/lind.html Information from the Buchanan site]</ref> The Pauls billed her as "La Petite Letitia". Howard Paul became Lind's lover and fathered two illegitimate children by her: a girl who died in infancy (1878) and a son (Henry Horace Howard Paul Rudge (1880–1969), a tobacco merchant). Mrs Paul left her husband about 1877, in view of the affair, but continued to perform under the name Mrs Howard Paul; she died in 1879.<ref>Cruickshank, Graeme. "The Life and Loves of Letty Lind" in ''The Gaiety'', Issue 22, Summer 2007 p. 5</ref> In 1881, Lind left Paul's company. It is not clear exactly when their relationship ended, but Paul married Florence Kate Arthur (1867–1941) in London in 1889.<ref>Cruickshank, p. 9</ref> On the required documentation he described himself as "a widower".<ref name=Banns/><ref>[http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/2056/32515_1831109387_0075-00194/97794?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dSurreyMarriage%26h%3d97794%26ti%3d5538%26indiv%3dtry%26gss%3dpt%26ssrc%3dpt_t7639870_p-1060825493_kpidz0q3d-1060825493z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t7639870_p-1060825493_kpidz0q3d-1060825493z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597–1921 for Henry Howard Paul (1889)], Ancestry.com – pay to view</ref>
In his later years Paul rarely appeared in public, acting by now as a theatre manager in Britain and returning to journalism and writing. Besides the works mentioned above, he also wrote the books ''The Young Chemist or Pastimes for Youth'' (London, 1851); ''The Book of American Songs, with Notes, Biographical and Critical'' (1857); ''Patchwork Embroidered with Art, Whim, and Fancy'' (1859); ''Howard Paul's Funny Stories'' (1882); ''Clever Things said by Children'' (1886), and ''Funny Stories that will make You Laugh out Loud'' (1888).<ref name=Encyc/>
He died in Bournemouth in December 1905, leaving £55,905 8s 2d in his will.<ref>[http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1904/31874_222950-00139/5174068?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3frank%3d1%26new%3d1%26MSAV%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gss%3dangs-g%26gsfn%3dHoward%2bHenry%2b%26gsfn_x%3dXO%26gsln%3dPaul%2b%26gsln_x%3dXO%26msbdy%3d1830%26msbpn__ftp%3dPhiladelphia%252c%2bPhiladelphia%252c%2bPennsylvania%252c%2bUSA%26msbpn%3d15153%26msbpn_PInfo%3d8-%257c0%257c1652393%257c0%257c2%257c3244%257c41%257c0%257c2341%257c15153%257c0%257c%26msgdy%3d1854%26msddy%3d1905%26cpxt%3d1%26catBucket%3drstp%26uidh%3drc8%26_83004003-n_xcl%3df%26cp%3d11%26mssng0%3dIsabella%26mssns0%3dHill%26pcat%3dROOT_CATEGORY%26h%3d5174068%26db%3dUKProbateCal%26indiv%3d1%26ml_rpos%3d2&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966 for Henry Howard Paul (1907)], Ancestry.com – pay to view</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140504015238/http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/19465 Paul on the Picture History website] *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp69865/howard-paul Photographs of Paul] on the National Portrait Gallery website *Works to which Paul contributed, at the [https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Paul%2C_Howard IMSLP].
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Henry Howard}} Category:1830 births Category:1905 deaths Category:Male actors from Philadelphia Category:Writers from Philadelphia Category:Writers from Bournemouth Category:Businesspeople from Bournemouth Category:American emigrants to the United Kingdom