Sarah (Kemble) Siddons

British, 1755 - 1831

BiographySarah Kemble was born on July 5, 1755 at the Shoulder of Mutton public house in Brecon, Wales, the eldest of twelve children of the itinerant actors Roger Kemble (1722-1802) and Sarah (Ward) Kemble (1735-1807). She performed on provincial stages from childhood, and on November 26, 1773 married a fellow actor, William Siddons (1745-1808). By August 1775 her stellar reputation as a performer capable of moving audiences to tears had attracted the attention of David Garrick, the premier actor-manager of the day (see cat.no. 104). He invited Siddons to perform at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, for the 1775-76 season, but her weak performances led to an abrupt dismissal and she spent the next years in the provinces, honing her skills. By 1778 she was packing theaters in the resort town of Bath. In 1780 the artist William Hamilton (1751-1801) made her the subject of a monumental portrait, exhibited at the Royal Academy that year. On October 10, 1782 her triumphant return to Drury Lane Theatre (now under the management of Richard Brinsley Sheridan) in the tragedy Isabella created an overnight sensation, and she increased her fame with a string of heartbreaking tragic roles. Siddons's cultivation of a reputation for respectability off the stage enabled her to rise above the low opinion in which performers (and especially actresses) were generally regarded. In her personal reminiscences, she recalled, "I had frequently the honour of Dining with Sir Joshua Reynolds in Leicester Square. At his house were assembled all the good, the wise, the talented, the rank and fashion of the age." Often obliged to perform while heavily pregnant or in poor health, she suffered several miscarriages and bore the last of seven children in 1794, at the age of thirty-nine. Siddons's keen interest in art led her to take up sculpture in 1789, and this became an important source of pleasure and relaxation as she grew increasingly weary of performing and touring. She officially retired from the stage in 1812, but continued to give benefit performances and public readings. Following her death on May 31, 1831, at her house in Upper Baker Street, 5000 mourners attended her funeral.

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