William Henry Caster

  • Artist (Photographer)
Amateur photographer and singer in American Christy Minstrels troupe. Visited Sydney in 1865.
Name
William Henry Caster
Death date
11 March 1865
Death place
Sydney, NSW
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Photographer)
Residence
  • February 1865- March 1865 Sydney, NSW
Other Occupation
  • Singer
Active Period
  • c.1865
Languages
  • English
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870

amateur photographer and singer, was a baritone in the touring American Christy Minstrels troupe which visited Sydney in February 1865. Reviewing a performance, the Sydney Morning Herald noted that Caster’s singing of My Lily, Dear drew 'prolonged applause’. The Christy Minstrels’ Sydney season included a 'new sketch’ called The Photographic Studio , a title which proved bitterly apposite. Suffering the delusion that he had been plotted against and accused of stealing a locket, Caster committed suicide on Saturday afternoon, 11 March, by drinking a bottle of prussic acid from his personal laboratory of photographic chemicals. It is not known if he put his photographic expertise to more conventional use while in the colony.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011
associate of
American Christy Minstrels troupe
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
The Photographic Studio
Date
1865
American Christy Minstrels troupe (comedy) 'sketch'.
Citations: