Dibdin Charles

Dibdin, Charles, actor, musician, dramatist, and song-writer, was born at Southampton in 1745. He became musical leader at Covent Garden, and manager of the Sans Souci theatre; he wrote also numerous light pieces, and a Complete History of the English Stage (1795); but his fame lives almost entirely by his numerous nautical songs. Among the most celebrated of these are Tom Bowling, The Jolly Young Waterman, Poor Jack, etc. Dibdin, who in 1803 wrote an interesting account of his professional life, and whose biography was later written by his son, died on July 25, 1814. It has been said, with some truth, that during the long French wars the naval songs of Dibdin conduced more than anything else to the satisfactory manning of the fleet.