Hannah Cowley

14 March 1743 - 11 March 1809

HC , who is said to have become a dramatist by accident and who probably persevered out of necessity, achieved in time great stage success during the late eighteenth century. She was well acquainted with the plays of her female predecessors, and often made use of them. She also wrote poetry, and may possibly have written a novel.

BirthName: Hannah Parkhouse
Married: Cowley
This is pronounced cow-ly.
Pseudonyms: Anna Matilda; A School Boy

Milestones

14 March 1743

Hannah Parkhouse (later HC ) was born at Tiverton in Devon.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

15 February 1776

HC 's first play, the comedy The Runaway, opened at Drury Lane , as the only new mainpiece of David Garrick 's final season; it had the successful run of seventeen nights.

The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.

4: 1952

Link, Frederick M., and Hannah Cowley. “Introduction”. The Plays of Hannah Cowley, Vol.

, Garland, 1979, p. v - xlxx.

vii, x

22 February 1780

HC had her first great hit when her comedy The Belle's Stratagem opened at Covent Garden .

The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.

5: 319

11 March 1809

HC died at Tiverton in Devon, of a liver complaint: she had been planting flowers the day before she died.

Cowley, Hannah. The Works of Mrs. Cowley: Dramas and Poems. Wilkie and Robinson, 1813, 3 vols.

1: xx

Biography

Birth and Family

14 March 1743

Hannah Parkhouse (later HC ) was born at Tiverton in Devon.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.