​PENLEY, WILLIAM SYDNEY (1852– ), English actor, was born at Broadstairs, and educated in London, where his father had a school. He first made his mark as a comedian by his exceedingly amusing performance as the curate in The Private Secretary, a part in which he succeeded Beerbohm Tree; but he is even more associated with the title rôle in Brandon Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt (1892), a farce which had an unprecedentedly long run and was acted all over the world.