Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 52.djvu/205

 SIDDONS, SARAH (1755–1831), actress, eldest child of Roger Kemble [q. v.] and Sarah Kemble (born Ward), was born on 5 July 1755 at the Shoulder of Mutton public-house, Brecon. Her father, a Roman catholic, married a protestant, and Sarah, with the other girls, was brought up in the religion of her mother, the sons retaining that of the father. Her certificate of baptism, copied from the registry in St. Mary's, Brecon, and dated 14 July 1755, describes her as daughter of George (sic) Kemble, a commedian (sic), and Sarah his wife. Her brothers, John Philip [q. v.], Stephen [q. v.], and Charles [q. v.], all actors, are noticed separately. Sarah's education was received at day-schools in Worcester, Wolverhampton, and other towns in which, as manager of a travelling company, Roger resided. In Worcester she was at a school in Thornloe House, kept by Mrs. Harris. There, as the child of a strolling actor, she was subjected to some rebuffs. While very young she displayed capacity in private theatricals and resource in improvising costume. She was brought on the stage as an infant phenomenon, and stirred an indifferent audience by reciting the fable of ‘The Boy and the Frogs.’ At the great room at the King's Head in High Street, Worcester, she took part, on 12 Feb. 1767, with other members of her family, in an entertainment to which admission was granted to those purchasing packets of tooth-powder [see ]. Her contribution consisted of a performance of Rosetta in ‘Love in a Village,’ her future husband (William Siddons) playing Meadows. She also appeared as the Young Princess in Howard's ‘King Charles I,’ and sang between the acts. On 16 April of the same year at the same place a ‘concert’ enshrined a performance of Dryden and D'Avenant's ‘Tempest, or the Enchanted Island,’ in which she played Ariel, Siddons appearing as Hyppolito. She also acted with some military amateurs, it is reported, in the ‘Grecian Daughter,’ and caused some wrath among her military associates by bursting into laughter in the midst of a tragic situation. Her juvenile beauty brought her much admiration. Her affections were, however, bestowed upon William Siddons, a young actor who had joined the company from Birmingham, was good-looking, and able, it is said, to play anything from Macbeth to Pantaloon, or, by another version, Hamlet to Harlequin. Her preference led to his discharge from the company. At his benefit at Brecon, Siddons recited some doggerel soliciting sympathy for a discarded lover, and had his ears boxed for his pains by Mrs. Kemble. Sarah Kemble was then sent to be lady's maid to Mrs. Greatheed at Guy's Cliff in Warwickshire, where she used to recite Milton, Shakespeare, and Rowe in the servants' hall, and sometimes before aristocratic company, and also made her first essay in sculpture, an art in which she attained some facility. Returning home still constant in affection, she wrung from her parents a reluctant consent to her marriage, which was solemnised on 26 Nov. 1773 at Trinity Church, Coventry.

The young couple are said to have accepted an engagement with Chamberlain and Crump's company in Bath, where their straits were dire, and to have played in various country towns. At Wolverhampton Sarah acted with her father, as Mrs. Siddons, Charlotte Rusport in the ‘West Indian,’ and Leonora in the ‘Padlock,’ and spoke an address, presumably of her own composition, indiscreet in revelation, as many subsequent addresses were, and pitiful as literature. In 1774 she played with her husband at Cheltenham, where her acting as Belvidera conquered an aristocratic party which came to sneer, and induced Miss Boyle, daughter of Lord Dungarvan, to recruit from her own cast-off stores the actress's exiguous wardrobe.

Garrick, who heard of her promise, sent King to see her in the ‘Fair Penitent,’ and engaged her at 5l. a week for Drury Lane. At his suggestion she made her first appearance, on 29 Dec. 1775, as Portia to the Shylock of King, being announced as a ‘young lady, her first appearance.’ The performance was repeated on 2 Jan. 1776. On the 13th, and again on the 15th and 17th, after which the part was given to a man, Lamash, she was Epicœne in the ‘Silent Woman.’ On 1 Feb. she was the first Julia in Bates's ‘Blackamoor washed White,’ a piece that was damned, and on the fourth performance occasioned a riot. On the 15th she was the original Emily in Mrs. Cowley's ‘Runaway.’ This part on the 22nd was given to Mrs. King. Mrs. Siddons was, on 15 April, the original Maria in Vaughan's ‘Love's Metamorphoses.’ She also played, on 23 May, Mrs. Strictland in the ‘Suspicious Husband’ and Lady Anne in ‘Richard III.’ This last performance she repeated on the 5th, after which, Garrick having no further need of her, and no other manager wanting her, she went back to the country. Her failure was unmistakable. Woodfall, the editor of the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ said that she spoke sensibly, but that her powers were not equal to a London theatre. A contemporary critic described her Lady Anne as lamentable. Ridiculous rumours were circulated concerning Garrick's jealousy of her ability. As a