Harlow The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine

Kemble is the name of a family of English actors, who reigned over the English stage for many decades. The most famous were

Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". She was the elder sister of John ...

(1755–1831) and her brother

John Philip Kemble John Philip Kemble (1 February 1757 – 26 February 1823) was a British actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on t ...

(1757–1823), the two eldest of the twelve children of

Roger Kemble Roger Kemble (1 March 1721 – 6 December 1802) was an English theatre manager, strolling player and actor. In 1753, he married Irish actress Sarah "Sally" Ward (1735–1806) at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and they had thirteen children, who f ...

(1721–1802), a strolling player and manager of the Warwickshire Company of Comedians, who in 1753 married an actress, Sarah Ward. Roger Kemble was born in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, and was a grand-nephew of Father John Kemble, a recusant Catholic priest, who was hanged in that city in 1679. Three younger children of Roger,

Stephen Kemble George Stephen Kemble (21 April 1758 – 5 June 1822) was a successful English theatre manager, actor, and writer, and a member of the famous Kemble family. He was described as "the best Sir John Falstaff which the British stage ever saw" thoug ...

(1758–1822),

Charles Kemble Charles Kemble (25 November 1775 – 12 November 1854) was a Welsh-born English actor of a prominent theatre family. Life Charles Kemble was one of 13 siblings and the youngest son of English Roman Catholic theatre manager/actor Roger Kemble ...

(1775–1854), and

Elizabeth Whitlock Elizabeth Whitlock (née Kemble; 2 April 1761, Warrington, Lancashire27 February 1836, Addlestone) was an English actress, a member of the Kemble (family), Kemble family of actors. She made her first appearance on the stage in 1783. In 1785 she m ...

(1761–1836), were also actors, while

Ann Hatton Ann Julia Hatton (née Kemble; other married name Curtis; published as Ann of Swansea) (29 April 1764 – 26 December 1838), was a popular novelist in Britain in the early 19th century and author of ''Tammany'', the first known libretto by a wo ...

was a novelist.

Popular culture

George Henry Harlow George Henry Harlow (10 June 1787 – 4 February 1819) was an English painter known mostly for his portraits. Life Harlow was born in St. James's Street, London, the posthumous son of a China merchant, who after some years' residence in ...

's famous painting '' The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine'' he depicted many of the Kemble family members. The subject of the painting comes from Henry VIII, Act II, Scene iv, and the refutation of Cardinal Wolsey, charged with obtaining Henry's divorce from his Queen, Katherine. The production was mounted by

when he took over the management of

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 si ...

in 1806. Harlow was a personal friend of the Kemble family and this picture is homage to his friends.

clothed in scarlet plays Wolsey; his brother

(in black) has the part of Thomas Cromwell and sits behind the table. Immediately behind and above him is

as Henry. The sister,

, is Katherine.Details of the painting are explained by Desmond Shawe-Taylor in Jane Martineau's ''Shakespeare in Art'' (148).

Extended family

The tradition was continued by two daughters of Charles Kemble and

Maria Theresa Kemble Maria Theresa Kemble (1774–1838), née Marie Thérèse Du Camp, was an Austrian-born English actress, singer, dancer and comic playwright on the stage. She was the wife of actor Charles Kemble. Early life She was the daughter of Jeanne Dufour ...

: actress and Shakespearean reader

Fanny Kemble Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble (27 November 180915 January 1893) was a British actress from a theatre family in the early and mid-19th century. She was a well-known and popular writer and abolitionist, whose published works included plays, poetry ...

(1800–1893) and

Adelaide Kemble Adelaide Kemble (13 February 18154 August 1879) was an English opera singer of the Victorian era, and a member of the Kemble family of actors. She was the younger sister of Fanny Kemble, the famous actress and anti-slavery activist. Her father wa ...

(1815–1879), an opera singer. Both Sarah Siddon's son Henry Kemble and Stephen Kemble's son, also named Henry Kemble, became actors. Among later members of the Kemble family, mention may also be made of Charles Kemble's grandson,

Henry Kemble Henry Kemble (1 June 1848 – 17 November 1907) was a British actor. A member of the famed Kemble family, he was the grandson of Charles Kemble. Life He was born in London, the son of Henry Kemble, a captain of the 37th Foot, and educated at Ma ...

(1848–1907), a sterling and popular London actor. At least two 20th Century members were

Violet Kemble-Cooper Violet Kemble-Cooper (12 December 1886 – 17 August 1961) was an English-American stage and film actress who appeared on stage and in Hollywood film. Early life Born in London, she was a descendant from a well-known theatrical family, the Kem ...

and

Lillian Kemble-Cooper Lillian Kemble-Cooper (March 21, 1892 – May 4, 1977) was an English-American actress who had a successful career on Broadway and in Hollywood film. Biography Early life Lillian Kemble-Cooper was a member of the Kemble family, a family of ...

. The 20th-century Scottish socialite Jane Beadon was also a descendant of the Kemble family.

References

*{{EB1911, wstitle=Kemble English families Acting families Literary families