Category:Martin Slater

Martin Slater (or "Slaughter"), who designated himself "citizen and ironmonger," was a player and entrepreneur; he also acquired playbooks.

Private Life: Slather married Susan Wilkinson on 1 May 1594 in the parish of St. Botolph Aldgate. They had ten children by 1608. From Easter 1595 to Easter 1602, he lived in St. Saviour's parish. He is called "citizen and ironmonger" in a bond in 1603 to pay an orphan's portion (£20) for John, son of Richard Nicholls, a barber surgeon. Also in 1603, he claimed residence in St. Leonard, Shoreditch, when he and his wife gave evidence against a burglar in Newgate. Slater engaged in several loans from Henslowe, and he was occasionally in legal suits as both plaintiff and defendant.

Player: Slater was a member of the Admiral's players from 1594 to 1597. He appears in the Plot of "Frederick and Basilea," in the part of Theodore. In his diary, Philip Henslowe noted Slater's departure from the company on 18 July 1597. He appears to have gone to Scotland, where he had some kind of business with the player, Lawrence Fletcher, who turned up in 1603 on the patent list for the King's men. By 1603, he was with the Earl of Hertford's players, who performed at court on 6 January 1603. Subsequently he joined Queen Anne's men, who played at the Boar's Head and Curtain as well as in the provinces; he was fellows there with Robert Lee and Roger Barfield, among others. His association with Queen Anne's players through 1625 represents his longest tenure with one company.

Entrepreneur: In 1608 Slater was the manager of the Children of the King's Revels at the Whitefriars playhouse, a short-lived enterprise.

Acquisition of Playbooks: On 18 May 1598, about a year after he had left the Admiral's men, Slater sold back to them five of their plays for the sum of £8:"Pythagoras" the two parts of "Hercules," "Phocasse (Focas)," and "Alexander and Lodowick." Apparently the price was not quite right for the latter play, and Slater received another 20s. on 18 July 1598 to turn over the script of "Alexander and Lodowick."