Sarah Hallam Douglass
Sarah Hallam Douglass | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | Sarah Smythies  |
| Died | 1777 Jamaica |
| Spouse(s) | Lewis Hallam, David Douglass |
| Children | Lewis Hallam Jr., Isabella Mattocks |
Sarah Hallam Douglass (b. 1716-d. Philadelphia, 1773)[1] was an English-born American stage actress and theatre director. She was known as Mrs Lewis Hallam and Sarah Hallam.[2]
Life
[edit]She was born Sarah Smythies in 1716 and baptized on Aug 11 1716 in Gainsborough, England.[2]
She was an actor who married actor Lewis Hallam on April 19, 1773, and with whom she traveled to America in May 1752 on board the Charming Sally to perform in his company.[2][3] They left a daughter, Isabella, behind and she became the leading British actress Isabella Mattocks.[4]
They arrived in Yorktown on 2 June and by 16 June they were advertising in Williamsburg.[2] This was the first permanent theater company in North America.[5] Sarah Hallam, along with the other female members of the troupe, was thus among the first professional leading lady in North America. She performed principal female roles until she gradually left them to Margaret Cheer and Nancy Hallam in the mid-1760s.
Her spouse died in Jamaica in 1756, where the company had gone to perform.[1][6] After the death of Lewis Hallam she married David Douglass,[1][6] with whom she formed the American Company in 1758.[7] Her son by Lewis, Lewis Hallam Jr. became an actor in his mother and step father's company.[1][6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ a b c d Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23), "Sarah Hallam in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/64342, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64342, retrieved 2023-04-01
- ^ Davis 2010, p. 12.
- ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23), "Sarah Mattocks in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/18350, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18350, retrieved 2023-04-01
- ^ Davis 2010, p. 11.
- ^ a b c Davis 2010, p. 13.
- ^ "Lewis Hallam (see Columbia Encyclopedia text)". encyclopedia.com (a website run by HighBeam Research). Retrieved 15 January 2010.
Sources
[edit]- Davis, Andrew (2010). America's Longest Run: A History of the Walnut Street Theatre. Penn State Press. ISBN 9780271030531. Retrieved June 6, 2024.