# West Digges

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{{Short description|English actor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
[[File:West Diggs (Digges) as Sir John Brute in "The Provoked Wife" - DPLA - b4e45a62f2851e09941febdd55fc9a33.jpg|thumb|West Digges playing Sir John Brute in ''[The Provoked Wife](/source/The_Provoked_Wife)'']]
'''West Digges''' (1720–1786) was an English actor who made his first stage appearance in Dublin in 1749 as Jaffier in ''[Venice Preserv'd](/source/Venice_Preserv'd)''; and both there and in Edinburgh until 1764 he acted in many [tragic](/source/Tragedy) roles with success. He was the original "young Norval" in [John Home](/source/John_Home)'s ''Douglas'' (1756). His first London appearance was as [Cato](/source/Joseph_Addison) at the [Haymarket Theatre](/source/Haymarket_Theatre) in 1777, and he afterwards played [King Lear](/source/King_Lear), [Macbeth](/source/Macbeth), [Shylock](/source/Shylock) and [Wolsey](/source/Thomas_Wolsey).

He was a friend and associate of [James Boswell](/source/James_Boswell) who much admired him.

He created the title role in the opera ''[The Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern](/source/The_Baron_Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern)''.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=West Dudley Digges|pages=401–411, at 409|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800|first1=Philip H.|last1=Highfill, Jr.|first2=Kalman A.|last2=Burnim|first3=Edward A.|last3=Langhans|volume=4|location=Carbondale|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|year=1975|ISBN=080930693X|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015032132766|access-date=August 16, 2025}}</ref> In 1781 he returned to Dublin and retired in 1784.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Digges, West|volume=28|page=268}}</ref>

The actress [Fanny Fleming](/source/Fanny_Fleming) was said to be a granddaughter.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=9692|title=Fleming, Fanny|first=J.|last=Gilliland}}</ref>

==Notes==
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Category:1720 births
Category:1786 deaths
Category:18th-century English male actors

{{England-stage-actor-stub}}

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