Sarah Harlowe was a popular actress of the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 stage around the turn of the 19th century.

Biography

Harlowe was born in London in 1765. Under the name of Mrs. Harlowe she made her first appearance on the stage at Colnbrook

Colnbrook

Colnbrook is a large village in the unitary authority of Slough, in Berkshire, England. It is situated southeast of central Slough, east of Windsor and west of central London....

, near Slough

Slough

Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...

, in 1787, removing in the following year to Windsor

Windsor, Berkshire

Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....

, where she met Francis Godolphin Waldron (1743–1818), and became his wife.

Stage life

Waldron was prompter

Prompter

The prompter in an opera house gives the singers the opening words of each phrase a few seconds early. Prompts are mouthed silently or hurled lyrically in a half-voice, audible only on stage...

 of the Haymarket Theatre

Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...

, London, manager of the Windsor and Richmond theatres, a bookseller, an occasional actor at the Haymarket and Drury Lane

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

, manager of the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund

Drury Lane Theatrical Fund

The Drury Lane Theatrical Fund is a benevolent fund for established in 1766 by members of the Theatre Royal in London, England, "for the relief and support of such performers and other persons belonging to the said theater, as, through age, infirmity, or accident, should be obliged to retire from...

, the writer of several comedies, and a Shakespearean

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 scholar. Through the interest of her husband Mrs. Harlowe obtained an engagement at Sadler's Wells

Sadler's Wells Theatre

Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...

, where, as a singer, actor, and performer in pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

s, she gained some celebrity.

She made her appearance at Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

 on 4 November 1790 in the Fugitive. She was the original singer of Down in the country lived a lass, the song generally introduced into Lady Bell. In 1792 she was at the Haymarket, whence she went to Drury Lane, where she sustained the characters of smart chambermaids, romps, shrews, and old women, and then removed to the English Opera House. At the opening of the Royalty Theatre

Royalty Theatre

The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...

, London, under the direction of William Macready

William Charles Macready

-Life:He was born in London, and educated at Rugby.It was his intention to go up to Oxford, but in 1809 the embarrassed affairs of his father, the lessee of several provincial theatres, called him to share the responsibilities of theatrical management. On 7 June 1810 he made a successful first...

, on 27 November 1797, Mrs. Harlowe played in the musical sketch entitled Amurath the Fourth, or the Turkish Harem, and also in the pantomime, the Festival of Hope, or Harlequin in a Bottle. In 1816 she was playing Lady Sneerwell at Drury Lane. Her husband died in March 1818, in his seventy-fifth year (Gent. Mag. March 1818, p. 283).

She was a low comedy actress, who without any splendid talent had such a complete knowledge of stage requirements that her services were most useful in any theatre. Her figure was neat, and she often assumed male characters. Her best parts were Lucy in the Rivals, the Widow Warren in the Road to Ruin, Miss Mac-Tab in the Poor Gentleman, and the old Lady Lambert in the Hypocrite. She, however, essayed the majority of Mrs. Jordan's characters, and played them with considerable success.

In 1826 she retired from the stage, having on 21 February in that year played Mrs. Foresight in the farce of John Bull at Drury Lane. She was one of the original subscribers to the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund

Drury Lane Theatrical Fund

The Drury Lane Theatrical Fund is a benevolent fund for established in 1766 by members of the Theatre Royal in London, England, "for the relief and support of such performers and other persons belonging to the said theater, as, through age, infirmity, or accident, should be obliged to retire from...

, from which in 1827 she received an annuity of £140 per annum, which in 1837 was reduced to £112.

Death

She died suddenly of heart disease at her lodgings, 5 Albert Place, Gravesend

Gravesend, Kent

Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, on 2 January 1852, aged 86, and her death was registered at Somerset House

Somerset House

Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...

as that of "Sarah Waldron, annuitant".