Siddons, SARAH

Siddons, SARAH, the greatest tragic actress England has produced, was the daughter of Roger Kemble, a respectable manager of a small travelling theatrical company, whose circuit was in the midland and western parts of England. Sarah, who was the eldest child, was born at Brecon on 5th July 1755. From her earliest childhood she was a member of her father's company, and in a playbill dated 12th February 1767 her name appears as acting the character of the Princess Elizabeth in Havard's tragedy of Charles the First. When only seventeen she formed an attachment to Siddons, who was a member of her father's company, and, after considerable opposition from her parents, she was married to him in Coventry on 26th November 1773. Her husband and herself joined the Cheltenham Company, and while here she was recommended to Garrick by the Earl of Ailesbury. Garrick asked the Rev. Bate Dudley to report on her abilities, and is said to have also sent King, the actor, to see her. The result was an engagement at Drury Lane, where she made her first appearance on 29th December 1775 in the character of Portia. It has been said that the comparative failure which attended her first attempt to become a London actress was the result of pique on the part of Garrick; but there is no evidence whatever of this, and the fact seems to be simply that her powers were not matured sufficiently to enable her to produce an effect in the huge metropolitan theatre. At the end of the season she was not re-engaged, and for six years she played in the provinces, making her greatest successes in York and Bath; but her reputation grew so fast that in 1782 she was invited to return to Drury Lane. She accepted the offer, and made her reappearance on 10th October 1782 as Isabella, in Garrick's adaptation of Southerne's Fatal Marriage. Her success was immediate and permanent, and from this time to her retirement she was the unquestioned queen of the stage. In 1803 she followed the fortunes of her brother, John Philip Kemble, who had purchased a share in Covent Garden Theatre, and here she appeared on 27th September 1803 in her favourite character of Isabella. During the rest of her career she continued at Covent Garden, and at that theatre she took her formal farewell of the stage on 29th June 1812, when she played Lady Macbeth. She appeared occasionally after this time, but only for charitable objects or for special benefits. After her retirement from the stage Mrs Siddons gave occasional public readings from Shakespeare and Milton. She died on 8th June 1831, and was buried in Paddington Churchyard. As an actress Mrs Siddons stands unapproached, so far as can be judged from recorded criticism, in every line of tragedy—her pathos, her rage, her despair, her suffering, her grief, all being perfect in expression and convincing in naturalness. Endowed by nature with a gloriously expressive and beautiful face, a queenly figure, and a voice of richest power and flexibility, she worked assiduously to cultivate her mental and physical gifts until she reached a height of perfection which has probably never been surpassed by any player of any age or country. In comedy she was less successful. See Life by Mrs Kennard ('Eminent Women' series, 1886).