Sarah Siddons

Standard Name: Siddons, Sarah

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Cultural formation Ann Hatton
The most noteworthy attribute of AH 's family was their theatrical involvement, which in her generation became theatrical fame. They held an insecure positon in the middle ranks; at the time of Ann's birth they...
Dedications Ann Hatton
The future AH published with her name (Ann Curtis, sister of Mrs. Siddons) Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, with a strong subscription list, dedicated to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire .
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
57 (1784): 314
Dedications L. E. L.
There is again evidence that financial pressures played a part in her family's eagerness to see her in print.
L. E. L.,. “Introduction”. The Fate of Adelaide, edited by Francis Jacques Sypher, Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints, 1990.
17-18
The volume was published under the name Letitia Elizabeth Landon and bore a dedication by...
Family and Intimate relationships Maggie Gee
MG first met her future husband (a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Sarah Siddons ) in spring 1981, just after he had finished his first play. They were friends for eighteen months before dating, and decided to...
Family and Intimate relationships Mary Harcourt
Elizabeth Harcourt's verse comprised of one bound volume of poetry, the majority of which was transcribed by herself. She was also heavily involved in the collection of three volumes of poems by other authors (many...
Family and Intimate relationships Ann Hatton
AH 's eldest sister, Sarah Kemble (later Siddons) , first appeared on stage (in a Worcester public house) in an entertainment to which admission was granted to those purchasing packets of tooth-powder.
qtd. in
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Family and Intimate relationships Adelaide Kemble
Of her paternal aunts, Sarah Siddons was immeasurably the most famous actress of her generation in Britain and Elizabeth Whitelock achieved some theatrical success in the USA, while Ann Hatton , the youngest and the...
Family and Intimate relationships Ann Hatton
Actress Sarah Siddons had her first triumph at Drury Lane , four months after the birth of her fifth and last child.
Highfill, Philip H. et al. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1973–1993.
14: 8
Family and Intimate relationships Fanny Kemble
One of FK 's paternal aunts, Sarah Siddons , became a celebrity as the leading tragic actress of her generation.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Marshall, Dorothy. Fanny Kemble. Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977.
8, 52
Family and Intimate relationships Ann Hatton
The celebrity actress Sarah Siddons learned that her long-standing illness was in fact a sexually transmitted disease which she had caught from her husband .
Highfill, Philip H. et al. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1973–1993.
14: 21
Family and Intimate relationships Ann Hatton
The member of the family who achieved the greatest fame was the tragic actress Sarah Siddons (eldest of the family, and Ann's senior by nine years).
Family and Intimate relationships Elizabeth Inchbald
EI was introduced to John Philip Kemble (who was to become famous as an actor-manager), in Manchester, by his sister Sarah Siddons .
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
16
Inchbald, Elizabeth. “Introduction”. A Simple Story, edited by Jane Spencer and Joyce Marjorie Sanxter Tompkins, Oxford University Press, 1988, p. vii - xxxiii.
xxxi
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Inchbald
EI laid the foundations of her lifelong friendship with Sarah Siddons while the two of them were acting with Joseph Younger 's company in Liverpool in 1776. Later she became a close friend of another...
Friends, Associates Mary Somerville
The Somervilles' circle was not purely a scientific one, and MS became a friend of the actress Lady Becher and with the Baillie family. She accompanied Joanna Baillie to the opening of the latter's play...
Friends, Associates Fanny Kemble
Harriet Siddons was the widow of Sarah Siddons 's youngest son, the actor-manager Henry . While in Edinburgh, FK met Anna Jameson and engaged in frivolous courtships.
Marshall, Dorothy. Fanny Kemble. Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977.
28, 42
Clinton, Catherine. Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars. Simon and Schuster, 2000.
33

Timeline

By August 1775: Sarah Siddons first performed the role of...

Women writers item

By August 1775

Sarah Siddons first performed the role of Hamlet at Worcester: she went on to repeat the part at Manchester, Bristol, and probably Liverpool even before she finally cracked the London stage in 1782.
Woo, Catherine. “Sarah Siddons’s Performances as Hamlet: Breaching the Breeches Part”. European Romantic Review, Vol.
18
, No. 5, Dec. 2007, pp. 573-95.
574 and n10

2 February 1785: Sarah Siddons first played Lady Macbeth (a...

Building item

2 February 1785

Sarah Siddons first played Lady Macbeth (a part with which she was to become popularly identified) at Drury Lane .
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 727, 769

January 1793: Hester Piozzi reported the indignant melancholy...

Building item

January 1793

Hester Piozzi reported the indignant melancholy of the actress Sarah Siddons , who had been infected with syphilis by her husband.
Stewart, Mary Margaret. “’And Blights with Plagues the Marriage Hearse’: Syphilis and Wives”. The Secret Malady: Venereal Disease in Eighteenth-Century Britain and France, edited by Linda E. Merians, University Press of Kentucky, 1996, pp. 103-13.
105, 110

2 September 1793: Henrietta O'Neill, Irish writer and patron,...

Women writers item

2 September 1793

Henrietta O'Neill , Irish writer and patron, died. She had opened a private theatre at her seat, Shane's Castle in County Antrim, and also supported the theatre in Belfast.
Crossley-Seymour, Aaron, and Charlotte Brooke. “A Memoir of Miss Brooke”. Reliques of Irish Poetry, J. Christie, 1816, p. 1: iii - cxxviii.
lxix note

29 December 1794: The Morning Chronicle (a paper with Opposition...

Writing climate item

29 December 1794

The Morning Chronicle (a paper with Opposition views) printed a sonnet, Mrs Siddons, which was attributed to Coleridge , but was actually written by Charles Lamb .
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Poetical Works [of] Coleridge, including poems and versions of poems herein published for the first time. Editor Coleridge, Ernest Hartley, Oxford University Press, 1969.
85 and n

26 January 1797: Elizabeth (Younge) Pope, who had been acting...

Building item

26 January 1797

Elizabeth (Younge) Pope , who had been acting since 1768 and was felt to be second only to Sarah Siddons , gave her final performance at Drury Lane ; she died nearly six weeks later.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 1886

24 May 1799: Pizarro by Richard Brinsley Sheridan opened...

Writing climate item

24 May 1799

Pizarro by Richard Brinsley Sheridan opened at Drury Lane . An adaptation of Kotzebue 's melodrama about Peru, Pizarro voiced the anti-French feelings (fore-runners of anti-Napoleonic feelings) disturbing the English people at this time.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 2097-8, 2177-89

29 June 1812: Sarah Siddons, the famous actress, now aged...

Building item

29 June 1812

Sarah Siddons , the famous actress, now aged fifty-six, played her last night (as Lady Macbeth) at the Covent Garden Theatre .
Wyndham, Henry Saxe. The Annals of Covent Garden Theatre From 1732 to 1897. Chatto and Windus, 1906, 2 vols.
355-8, 373
Booth, Michael R. et al. Three Tragic Actresses: Siddons, Rachel, Ristori. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
47
Macqueen-Pope, Walter James. Ladies First: The Story of Woman’s Conquest of the British Stage. W. H. Allen, 1952.
328

6 December 1830: Lucia Vestris became the first long-term...

Building item

6 December 1830

Lucia Vestris became the first long-term female theatre manager of the century, when she reopened the Olympic Theatre .
Appleton, William Worthen. Madame Vestris and the London Stage. Columbia University Press, 1974.
51
Booth, Michael R. et al. Three Tragic Actresses: Siddons, Rachel, Ristori. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
44-5

8 June 1831: Sarah Siddons, great tragic actress, died...

Building item

8 June 1831

Sarah Siddons , great tragic actress, died in London.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Manvell, Roger. Sarah Siddons: Portrait of an Actress. Heinemann, 1970.
312, 341

15 June 1831: 5,000 mourners attended the funeral of Sarah...

Building item

15 June 1831

5,000 mourners attended the funeral of Sarah Siddons , England's most famous and admired of tragic actresses.
Booth, Michael R. et al. Three Tragic Actresses: Siddons, Rachel, Ristori. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
10
Macqueen-Pope, Walter James. Ladies First: The Story of Woman’s Conquest of the British Stage. W. H. Allen, 1952.
329

1866: The Royal Society of Arts established a scheme...

National or international item

1866

The Royal Society of Arts established a scheme (believed to be the first in the world) for setting up commemorative plaques on buildings associated with famous people.
Quinn, Ben. “Plaque blues. Cuts hit heritage scheme”. Guardian Weekly, 11 Jan. 2013, p. 16.

1887: Nina Kennard published another biography...

Women writers item

1887

Nina Kennard published another biography of a famous actress, this time Mrs. Siddons, for W. H. Allen 's Eminent Women Series.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

October 1972: A gala performance was held at the Haymarket...

Building item

October 1972

A gala performance was held at the Haymarket Theatre , featuring all the leading lights of the British stage, to celebrate Dame Sybil Thorndike 's ninetieth birthday.
Billington, Michael. Peggy Ashcroft, 1907-1991. Mandarin, 1991.
234

1980: The Women's Playhouse Trust was founded to...

Women writers item

1980

The Women's Playhouse Trust was founded to improve opportunities in the theatre for women writers, directors, designers, administrators, technicians and actresses,
Page, Louise. Beauty and the Beast. Methuen in association with the Women’s Playhouse Trust, 1986.
between 22 and 23
building on feminist fringe activity but within the mainstream.
Carlson, Susan. Women and Comedy: rewriting the British theatrical tradition. University of Michigan Press, 1991.
290

Texts

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