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Sarah Siddons: Actress Of Theatre, Queen of Tragedy

© Debbie Legare

Sarah Kemble, later known as Sarah Siddons, was born on July 5, 1775 at The Shoulder of Mutton Public House in Brecknockshire, Wales. She was the oldest of 12 and the daughter of Roger and Sarah Kemble. Young Sarah was named after her mother. Her parents led a group of traveling actors. The Kemble family became the progenitors of a family of actors. The actress Fanny Kemble was third generation to this family. All of the children eventually became known with the stage at a very young age and Sarah was no exception.

When the family traveled with their group, the boys were always schooled in the town they arrived, but somehow Sarah too became very well educated. She was eventually accepted into Mrs. Harris’ Day School in Worcester, Thornelore Lodge. It is there that she made her first stage appearance at the age of 12 in April 1767. She played the young princess in King Charles I while her parents played General and Lady Fairfax and her brother played James, Duke of York. She found true love on the stage and made acting her decision for her life.

While in her teens, she became infatuated with another actor in the traveling troop named William Siddons. He was considered by her to be handsome and of course her parents highly disapproved. They wanted her to accept the attention of a squire to make her life stable and worthy. She disagreed and so Sarah was sent to work as a lady’s maid in Guys Cliff, Warwickshire in order to keep her away from her true love. While she was there, she recited Shakespeare, Milton and Nicolas Rowe anywhere she could, in the servant’s halls and occasionally in front of an aristocrat company. In her spare time, she developed a love of sculpting and began to exhibit her work. It is said that between 1789 – 1790 she would make busts of herself to sell.

Necessary consent to marry was at last obtained when Sarah was 18. William and Sarah married at Trinity Church, Coventry in November 1773. After her marriage to William, she started a new acting company earning 5lbs a week playing Cheltenham in 1774. It was there that she realized her true power as an actress. While playing Portia Belvidera in Otway’s Venice Preserv’d, she won over the critics of the time called “People of Quality”. This was quite a feat since they often scoffed actors and melodrama. Her future was laid out to her in just moments.

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