Isabella Burchell became known as Isabella Vincent and Mrs Mills (1734 – 9 June 1802) 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, ...

milkmaid and later singer at

Vauxhall Gardens Vauxhall Gardens is a public park in Kennington in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, on the south bank of the River Thames. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, it is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660, being ...

for ten years.

Life

She was said to have been a milkmaid who was trained as a singer at the expense of

Jonathan Tyers Jonathan Tyers (10 April 1702 – 1767) became the proprietor of New Spring Gardens, later known as Vauxhall Gardens, a popular pleasure garden in Kennington, London. Opened in 1661, it was situated on the south bank of the River Thames on ...

and brought to London from near his estate in Surrey in 1751. Tyers owned the

Denbies Denbies is a large estate to the northwest of Dorking in Surrey, England. A farmhouse and surrounding land originally owned by John Denby was purchased in 1734 by Jonathan Tyers, the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens in London, and converted into ...

estate in Surrey and he had heard her near there. Tyers had a long lease on the

and she was employed there for ten seasons. In 1759 she appeared to great success in

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

. The following year she appeared again at Vauxhall alongside

Charlotte Brent Charlotte Brent (17 December 1734 – 10 April 1802) was a child prodigy and celebrated soprano singer of the 18th century. Life She was the daughter of Catherine and Charles Brent (1693–1770). He was a Handelian counter-tenor, and fencing-ma ...

which invited comparisons between them in the press. When she travelled by coach with the philosopher

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...

that year. Bentham boasted of meeting the "famous" Mrs Vincent who had entertained him with songs within the stage coach. Vincent had her first role of the stage when

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

put on the Beggar's Opera at Drury Lane and cast Vincent in the leading role of Polly. Vincent continued to appear in the theatre although she was not noted for her acting, although her singing was well received and she was cast in two operas. Every year she would take the lead in the Beggars's Opera until her final season in 1767 when she sang the part once as a widow as her husband had died in 1766. She remarried in 1767 to John Mills who was a sea captain for the East India Company. They had met at

Marylebone Gardens Marylebone Gardens or Marybone Gardens was a London pleasure garden sited in the grounds of the old manor house of Marylebone and frequented from the mid-17th century, when Marylebone was a village separated from London by fields and market ga ...

where she had been singing, each summer, since 1864. She would appear as "Mrs Mills". Vincent went to India with her daughter and her last husband but died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1802.

Private life

On 25 August 1755 she married Richard Vincent who lead the orchestra at Vauxhall. They had three daughters but Elizabeth who was born in 1757 was the only survivor. Richard died in 1766. She and her second husband, John Mills, had another son John Wedderburn Samuel Thomas Mills who was baptized and died in Calcutta in 1769.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Isabella British women singers People from London 1734 births 1802 deaths