Jane Poitier (8 June 1736 - after 1786) 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, ...

singer and dancer. She started out as a dancer but became a singer of main parts. She was known for appearing saucily dressed. She was an innocent party in a marriage where the clergy involved were transported for fourteen years.

Life

Poitier was born in St Martin in the Fields in 1736. Her parents were Clermonde and Michael Poitier. Her father was a professional dancer and by the age of five she and her brother were getting reviews for their precocious dancing in Paris.Olive Baldwin, Thelma Wilson, 'Poitier , Jane Henrietta (b. 1736, d. in or after 1788)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201
accessed 19 June 2017
/ref> She came to national attention after she married a fellow singer, Joseph Vernon. They married at the

Savoy Chapel The King's Chapel of St John the Baptist in the Precinct of the Savoy, also known as the King's Chapel of the Savoy, is a church in the City of Westminster, London. Facing it are 111 Strand, the Savoy Hotel, the Institution of Engineering and Te ...

without reading marriage banns. John Wilkinson, the incumbent of the Savoy Chapel, thought that the terms of the

Marriage Act 1753 The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753, also called the Marriage Act 1753, long title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act (citation 26 Geo. II. c. 33), was the first statutor ...

, aimed at clandestine marriages, did not apply to his church as it was a

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. He ignored the act and continued to issue marriage licenses and to conduct marriages. Poitier and Vernon's marriage was the test case taken to court by the authorities. The prosecution case against the clergy of the Chapel was taken seriously. Wilkinson was sentenced in 1756 to 14 years' transportation. He died, the following year, en route to

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

. The curate John Grierson, who had carried out the marriage, received the same sentence: Vernon had testified at the trial, and consequentially hissed off the stage. He was hissed off in the October and when he appeared again in the following January he was hissed off the stage again. The unpopular Vernon moved to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, where he had further success as an actor. She used the name of Vernon, but in 1762 her "husband" returned and Poitier returned to using her former name. She caused scandal that year when she shocked the royal family in their Covent Garden box with a very low cut gown. She balanced this by tying a shoe on stage and the stalls noticed that she not wearing underwear. In 1772 the Theatrical Biography said that the bass singer

Charles Bannister Charles Bannister Comedian Charles Bannister (1738–1804) was an English actor, comedian and singer. Origins and debut Bannister was born in Gloucestershire. When he was seven his father moved to Deptford. He was possessed of 'a manly form, a ...

who was also known as a comedian who worked in the same summer company as her from 1770 to 1774 was her lover. Her death is not known but she was singing at Bermondsey Spa Gardens in 1786.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poitier, Jane 1736 births Dancers from London British female dancers British women singers Year of death unknown Singers from London