Elizabeth Inchbald

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EI was a diarist from her teens. Before and after her debut on as an actress on the London stage in 1780, she considered writing as a way to make a living. Before she had made any headway getting her first novel accepted, she became a prolific dramatist: she wrote or translated twenty-one plays (about half of them adaptations). Three major theatrical editing projects appeared under her name. In the early twenty-first century her reputation stands high both as novelist and dramatist.
  • BirthName: Elizabeth Simpson
  • Nickname: Mrs Perfection
    In a letter dated 2 August 1796 to William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft referred to EI by this name.

  • Married: Inchbald
  • Pseudonym: Mrs Woodley
Photograph of a painting of Elizabeth Inchbald by Thomas Lawrence, c. 1796. She is shown from the waist up, wearing a white cap atop light brown curls. Her dress is white, with a white collar, and the background is a rich brown. The bottom part of the picture is unfinished, only a few sketched lines on blank board.

Milestones

15 October 1753

Elizabeth Simpson (later EI ) was born in Standingfield (now Stanningfield), near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
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1770

Elizabeth Simpson (later Inchbald) , aged about seventeen, began keeping a diary; she was to continue this practice all her life.
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
5

February 1777

EI began work on the novel which became A Simple Story.
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
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1 August 1821

EI died at Kensington House, a London lay community of Roman Catholics.
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
181

Biography

Birth and Family

15 October 1753

Elizabeth Simpson (later EI ) was born in Standingfield (now Stanningfield), near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
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