Philip Burton Manuscripts,

Literary manuscripts, 1974-1993, of Philip Henry Burton, comprising typescript drafts of the unpublished works 'They Called Me Gentleman Johnny', 1974, and 'A Great Reckoning', 1975, and of his Richard and Philip: The Burtons ... (London, 1992), 1986; together with letters and cards, 1990-1993, from Philip Burton to David Arthur Callard.

Philip Henry Burton (1904-1995), theatre director and writer, was a teacher at the Port Talbot secondary school attended by Richard Burton (then Jenkins) during the early 1940s. Burton became Jenkins's legal guardian and the boy adopted his mentor's surname as his own. Burton nurtured Richard's theatrical talent and helped launch the younger man's acting career. Their relationship is recorded in Burton's Richard and Philip: The Burtons. A Book of Memories (London, 1992).

Arranged according to NLW reference numbers: NLW MSS 23542-23545D.

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Mr David A. Callard; Llanishen; Purchase; September 1996; B1996/40.

Philip Henry Burton (1904-1995), theatre director and writer, was a teacher at the Port Talbot secondary school attended by Richard Burton (then Jenkins) during the early 1940s. Burton became Jenkins's legal guardian and the boy adopted his mentor's surname as his own. Burton nurtured Richard's theatrical talent and helped launch the younger man's acting career. Their relationship is recorded in Burton's Richard and Philip: The Burtons. A Book of Memories (London, 1992).

Title based on contents.

The contents are indexed in greater detail in Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, vol. 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003).

May 2009.

Description compiled by Bethan Ifans for the retrospective conversion project of NLW MSS. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IX (Aberystwyth, 2003); Oxford Dictionary of National Biography on-line site, viewed 14 May 2009; The Independent on-line site, viewed 14 May 2009;

Usual copyright laws apply.

Seven photographs included in the purchase are now in NLW Photo Album 1035. An audio cassette of a lecture, 1991, by Philip Burton, entitled 'The Dylan Thomas I Knew', is in the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. Letters and photographs, 1947-1978, from Philip Burton relating to his life and mainly theatrical work in the United States and to his historical novel You, My Brother (1973), are NLW, Rhys Davies Papers R2/3.

D. A. Callard, 'The Other Philip Burton' in Planet, 122 (1997), pp. 91-97.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales