Ann Brunton Merry: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 23:24, 9 October 2019
Ann Brunton Merry (b. Covent Garden, England, 30 March 1769[1]; d. Alexandria, Virginia, 28 June 1808) was an actor popular in the UK and later America.
Life
She was the daughter of John Brunton, an actor and manager of the Theatre Royal, Norwich. She was born on 30 May 1769 and she one of fourteen children. In February 1785, Miss Brunton first appeared at the theatre in Bath as Euphrasia in The Grecian Daughter, which was followed by other leading parts, and on 17 October of the same year she made her debut at Covent Garden theatre in London as Horatio in The Roman Father.[2] Here she attained great distinction, and by many was rated second only to Sarah Siddons.
In 1791[3] Brunton married Robert Merry, a poet and playwright known by his pen-name "Della Crusca". He had run through his patrimony, but at that time still figured in fashionable circles. She at once retired from the theatre, and went with her husband to Paris, but when their means were entirely exhausted she wished to return to her former occupation. Family considerations on the part of Mr. Merry prevented her return to the London stage, but an offer that was made through Thomas Wignell, of the New Theatre, Philadelphia, was readily accepted.
The couple arrived in New York City, 19 October 1796. Ann renewed her career at the playhouse in Philadelphia on 5 December of the same year as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. From 1797 until 1808 she performed with undiminished success in the large cities of the United States. Robert Merry died in 1798, and in 1803 his widow married Thomas Wignell, who died three weeks later from an infection on his arm.[2] From 1803 to 1805, she was the co-manager of her late husband's theatre company.[4] In 1806 she became the wife of William Warren.[2] Among her important roles were Calista in The Fair Penitent, Alica in Jane Shore, Isabella in The Fatal Dowry, and Monominia in The Orphan. She was the first actress of eminence that crossed the Atlantic, and easily held her own against all rivalry. His sister, Louisa Brunton, with whom she is sometimes confused, was a distinguished performer on the London stage in later years, and became Countess of Craven.[5]
References
- ^ Born 30 March 1769, baptized at St Martin-In-The-Fields, 23 April 1769, daughter of John and Elizabeth
- ^ a b c "CollectionsOnline | Name". garrick.ssl.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
- ^ Married 26 August 1791, parish register Saint Martin In The Fields,Westminster,London
- ^ Jane Kathleen Curry: Nineteenth-century American Women Theatre Managers
- ^ "Brunton, Louisa [married name Louisa Craven, countess of Craven] (1782x5–1860), actress | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6633
- Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
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