Abraham John Hastings Batson (8 November 1841 – 18 April 1921), usually credited as J. Hastings Batson, was an English stage actor of the Victorian and Edwardian era who went on to become a character actor in silent movies.
Batson was born in Clerkenwell, London, in 1841.[1] In October 1881 he played Iago in Othello, at Kilburn Town Hall, and was credited as John Hastings Batson.[2]
In 1908 and 1909 he was a member of the executive committee of the Actors' Union, founded in 1907.[3]
Batson played the leading role in The German Spy Peril (1914), a silent war propaganda film based loosely on the Guy Fawkes plot of 1605, with German spies planning to blow up the Houses of Parliament.[4]
He died in the West Middlesex Hospital, Isleworth, Middlesex, on 18 April 1921, aged 79, leaving effects worth £50. At the time of his death his address was 26, Mountfield Road, Ealing.[5]