Charlotte Deans

Charlotte Deans (September 1, 1768 - March 14, 1859) was a strolling player who was born in Wigton, Cumbria.^[1]^[2]

Life

Deans was born on September 1, 1768 to Alice Howard and attorney Henry Lowes, one of three children who survived until adulthood.^[1]

In 1787 she eloped with an actor William Morel Johnston and married him in Gretna Green. Deans joined his company, Naylor's Company of Comedians, and the couple had 12 children before Johnston died in 1801.^[1]^[2] Following his death, Deans joined another company, Mr Hobson’s Company of Comedians which at the time was based in Penrith.^[1]

In the year 1803, Charlotte Deans married another travelling actor, Thomas Deans (1781 – 1859).^[1] The Deans had a further five children^[1]

Charlotte Deans’s memoirs of her life as a strolling player were published in 1837.^[1]^[2] Rona Munro’s 1995 play The Maiden Stone is partly based on Deans’s life.^[1]

Death

Deans died on March 14, 1859, in Bothergate, Carlisle.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC 1057237368.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The lady, the actress and the rebel". The Northern Echo. 9 February 2007. Retrieved 2022-04-16.

[:0-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC 1057237368.

[:1-2] "The lady, the actress and the rebel". The Northern Echo. 9 February 2007. Retrieved 2022-04-16.

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