William Jermyn Conlin (July 26, 1831 – November 19, 1891) better known by his stage name William J. Florence, was an actor, songwriter, and playwright. Florence was elected to The Lambs in 1877 or 1878, when the Club was chartered. He was the fourth Shepherd of the Lambs, serving from 1882-1884.
His parents were poor Irish immigrants. Florence was reared on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Florence worked at various jobs before becoming a call boy at the Old Bowery Theatre. While working to support his widowed mother and his seven younger siblings, he rehearsed plays at night, and in 1850 he began to do dialect impersonations. In 1853 he married Malvina Pray, and thereafter the two generally appeared together on the stage—he usually as an Irishman and she as a Yankee.
Florence’s first success was in A Row at the Lyceum (1851); following this, he established his reputation as Captain Cuttle in Dombey and Son, Bob Brierly in The Ticket-of-Leave Man, and Sir Lucius O’Trigger in The Rivals. His last appearance was with Lamb Joseph Jefferson, with whom he had maintained a successful partnership.
Florence was one of a select number of Americans to win the ribbon of the French Societe Histoire Dramatique.
He was also co-founder with Walter M. Fleming of the Shriners, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Florence compiled The Handbook of Poker.
William J. Florence died November 19, 1891. He was 60 years old. He is interred in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brookyn.