abstract:Charles Bannister (1738–1804), English actor and singer, was born in Gloucestershire, and after some amateur and provincial experience made his first London appearance in 1762 as Will in The Orators at the Haymarket Theatre. Gifted with a fine bass voice, Bannister acquired a reputation as a singer at Ranelagh Gardens and elsewhere, as well as an actor, and was received with such favour that David Garrick engaged him for Drury Lane.