W. C. Fields by Himself", it was shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), and financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren. Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield in Darby, Pennsylvania, the oldest child of a working-class family. His father, James Lydon Dukenfield (1840–1913), was from an English family that emigrated from Sheffield, England in 1854. James Dukenfield served in Company M of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War and was wounded in 1863. Fields' mother, Kate Spangler Felton (1854–1925), was a Protestant of British ancestry. The 1876 "Philadelphia City Directory "lists James Dukenfield
Harry Nicholls (comedian) Harry Nicholls (comedian) Henry Thomas "Harry" Nicholls (1 March 1852 – 29 November 1926) was an English actor, comedian, songwriter and playwright, popular during the Victorian era. As an actor, he appeared in music hall, Victorian burlesques and Edwardian musical comedy. He was perhaps best known for starring in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane's annual Christmas pantomimes, alongside Dan Leno and Herbert Campbell and as the author of long-running musicals at the Gaiety Theatre. Nicholls was born in London and was educated at The City of London School. As a youth he worked as a clerk in a railway office