Category:Gabriel Spencer

Gabriel Spencer, player, was a Londoner born; his christening is recorded in the parish register of Christ Church, Newgate, on 8 April 1576, as the child of Gabriel Spencer, pewterer. His first known association with the professional theater was as a member of Pembroke's men in 1597. He was one of the players who was imprisoned as a result of the investigation into "The Isle of Dogs" at the Swan playhouse; subsequently, he moved to the Admiral's men and joined litigation against Francis Langley over the break-up of the company. He is usually taken to have been in Pembroke's men much earlier due to the naming of a "Gabriel" in the stage directions of the folio version of 3 Henry VI (itself often attributed to Pembroke's men, 1592-3). As an Admiral's man, Spencer had sufficient authority to witness company transactions. On 22 September 1598, Spencer was killed by Ben Jonson in a duel. The records of Middlesex Sessions reveal that Spencer had engaged in an earlier duel with James Feake, on 3 December 1596; Feake died three days later. Spencer was buried in St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, on 24 September 1598.