Jewishness and the Covent Garden OP War: Satiric Perceptions of John Philip Kemble

Between 6 and 14 October 1809 Jewish boxers were employed by the management of Covent Garden theatre to curtail the Old Price (OP) war. The significance of this phase of rioting far outweighs its brevity, for accusations that actor-manager John Philip Kemble hired the Jewish boxers underpinned his representation for the remainder of the conflict – often at the expense of chronologically accurate narratives of the OP war. This article explores textual and visual commentaries on the conflict to demonstrate how contemporaries placed the OP war into narratives of racial conspiracy taking place beyond the physical boundaries of theatric space.