Actor, theatrical manager, producer
The son of English journalist, satirist and burlesque writer Robert Barnabas Brough (1828-1860) and actress Elizabeth (née Romer), and also the nephew of William Brough, Lionel Robert Brough made his professional stage début in 1870. He established his reputation as a comedian at Liverpool's Theatre Royal and Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, and later toured with the D'Oyley-Carte company, appeared in musical comedy at the Opéra Comique, London in 1882, followed by three years in burlesque at the London Gaiety Theatre.
While at the Gaiety Theatre Brough and his wife Florence Trevelyn Major came to the attention of J. C. Williamson and were subsequently contracted to tour Australia for Williamson, Garner and Musgrove. The couple made their debut at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, on 9 May 1885 in a production of Iolanthe. In 1886 Brough joined Dion Boucicault Jnr in a theatrical venture, initially known as the Brough and Boucicault Comedy Company. Over the next nine years they toured their company while also leasing and managing the Bijou Theatre, Melbourne, and the Criterion in Sydney.
In 1896 Boucicault retired from the partnership, leaving Brough to managed the company. This he did until retiring in 1902. He and his wife then visited India, England and South Africa before returning to Australia in 1905 to tour a company with Herbert Flemming. Brough collapsed from a heart ailment not long afterwards, but recovered enough to be able to fulfil most of his engagements before his death the following year.
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