Lawrence Fletcher was a Jacobean actor, and man of mystery. He is listed on the royal patent of 19 May 1603 that transformed the Lord Chamberlain's Men into the King's Men — and he is listed first, with William Shakespeare second and Richard Burbage third; significant, in the hierarchy-mad world of the time. Yet Fletcher never appears on the other documents that give later generations our limited knowledge of the King's Men; he doesn't seem to have acted, in the leading acting company of the age. Unlike the eight men whose names follow his on the patent, Fletcher was not, or not primarily, a London actor. He had been "comedian to His Majesty" before 1603, when James I and VI was King of Scotland only. Fletcher was mentioned by an English diplomat in Edinburgh, George Nicholson in March 1595. James VI was evidently fond of Fletcher, and he joked about the actor who might have been "hanged for his cause." Fletcher was in Edinburgh at the end of 1599, protected by James VI from sanction by the Kirk and town council and helped by his servant George Elphinstone who bought timber for the stage, and distributed reward money from the king. They also played in Dundee and Aberdeen, where Fletcher, described as the king's servant, was made a freeman of the burgh. Fletcher's inclusion on the 1603 patent may have been diplomatic and bureaucratic, a way of easing and greasing the company's transition from the old regime to the new; or perhaps Fletcher intended to be an active member of the company, but was prevented by declining health. Fletcher was buried on 12 September 1608, in St. Saviour's Church, Southwark. By then, Augustine Phillips had died, in May 1605; in his will, he left 20 shillings to his "fellow" Fletcher. This is less than the 30 shillings he left to Shakespeare, Henry Condell, and Christopher Beeston, but the same sum he left to fellow King's Men Robert Armin, Alexander Cooke, Richard Cowley, and Nicholas Tooley. This seems to suggest that Fletcher was more than a mere name on a document to Phillips, though what more, precisely, is impossible to say, given the limits of the record.
