Harriett Litchfield or Miss Sylvester Hay (4 March 1777 – 11 January 1854) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

actress.

Life

Sylvester Hay's birth is considered to be on 4 March 1777. Her paternal grandfather had been the vicar of Malden, but her father, John Sylvester Hay, was a ship's surgeon serving onboard the

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

ship of the line HMS Nassau. He was also the head surgeon at the Royal Hospital in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and he may have managed a theatre. He died in his thirties leaving his daughter who was then nine. Hay appeared first as an actress in Richmond where she was encouraged by

Dorothea Jordan Dorothea Jordan, née Bland (21 November 17615 July 1816), was an Anglo-Irish actress, as well as a courtesan. She was the long-time mistress (lover), mistress of Duke of Clarence, Prince William, Duke of Clarence, later William IV, and the moth ...

. She reputedly received a letter from

Robbie Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

inviting her back to Scotland after she went there in 1793. The following year she became Mrs Litchfield. Her new husband was a civil servant who had written a few prologues and epilogues. After a brief gap she returned to acting in 1796 and she appeared in a benefit performance for

Mary Ann Yates Mary Ann Yates (1728–1787) was an English tragic actress. The daughter of William Graham, a ship's steward and his wife, Mary, she married Richard Yates (c. 1706-1796), a well-known comedian of the time. In 1754, aged 25, she appeared at Drur ...

in 1797 at

The Haymarket Haymarket is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, London. It runs from Piccadilly Circus in the north to Pall Mall at the southern end. Located on the street are the Theatre Royal, Her Majesty's Theatre, New Zealand H ...

. On 22 March 1802 she appeared in a one woman show at

called ''The Captive'' by "Monk" Lewis. This gothic monodrama recounts the story of a wife imprisoned by her husband. The stage directions included shrieks, clanking and screaming. Litchfield was complimented for her delivery "in the most perfect manner" as she plays a woman denied any human contact and kept in a modern dungeon. She is not mad but realizes that she will soon be a maniac. The play is thought to have been suggested by one of

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...

's books. It was said that even the staff of the theatre left in horror. The play was only staged once. Litchfield died in 1854, most likely in London, after a long marriage and six children.K. A. Crouch, ‘Litchfield , Harriett (1777–1854)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 1 Feb 2015
/ref>

Legacy

Her portrait painted by

Samuel De Wilde Samuel De Wilde (1751–19 January 1832), born and died in London, was a portrait painter and etcher of Dutch descent famous for his theatrical paintings. He was the leading painter of actors and actresses between 1770 and 1820. He lived in Cla ...

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...

was in the

Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in the heart of London founded in 1831. It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world and, since its inception, has catered to members such as Charles Kean, Henry Irving, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, A ...

, there was a second portrait by

Samuel Drummond Samuel Drummond (25 December 1766, London – 6 August 1844, London) was a British painter, especially prolific in portrait and marine genre painting. His works are on display in the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and ...

, A.R.A.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litchfield, Harriett 1777 births 1854 deaths 18th-century British actresses 19th-century British actresses 18th-century English actresses 19th-century English actresses British stage actresses