| William Robert Grossmith | |
| Birth Place: | Reading, England |
| Occupation: | Actor and prosthetic Limb manufacturer |
William Robert Grossmith, also known as Master Grossmith (1818–1899), was a 19th-century child actor, the eldest son of William Grossmith, who then established a second career as a maker of prosthetic limbs.
Grossmith was known as the 'Infant Roscius' or 'Young Roscius' as he began acting at a very young age. In 1825 a pamphlet was published publicising this prodigy child actor with the title The Life of the Celebrated Infant Roscius, Master Grossmith of Reading, Berks, only seven years and a quarter Old.[1] Another, retitled to not yet nine years of age, was published in 1827.[2] [3]
He also made appearances with a younger sibling, Master Benjamin Grossmith.[4] After retiring from the stage William made a second career out of prosthetic limb manufacture.[5] Their new entertainment for 1836, in three parts, was written expressly for them by George Dibdin Pitt, and performed in King's Lynn, Wisbech and other provincial theatres.[6]
In fact, so well-respected were William Grossmith' products that in 1856 he published a book on the subject: Amputations and Artificial Limbs (or Grossmith on Amputations, Artificial Legs, Hands &c.)[7] [8]
A painting of Grossmith as Richard in William Shakespeare's Richard III by G. Hancock is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.[9] A print of Grossmith as a child is in the British Museum collection.[10]
Artificial limbs made by Grossmith in his later career are held in the Science Museum.[11]