Margaret Cheer (d. February 15, 1800 in Old Harbour, Jamaica), was an English-born American stage actress known as Miss Cheer. She was engaged in the

Old American Company The Old American Company was an American theatre company. It was the first fully professional theatre company to perform in North America. It also played a vital role in the theatre history of Jamaica. It was founded in 1752 and disbanded in 1805. ...

, the first permanent theater company in America, and as such belonged to the first generation of pioneer actresses in North America.

Life

Margaret Cheer was engaged at the Company in 1764. She made her debut in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, in 1764. She was described as great asset to the Company, as she knew at least 35 contemporary roles. She performed

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

-heroines such as Juliet, Ophelia and Lady Macbeth. She became a leading member of the company and shared and then gradually supplanted

Sarah Hallam Douglass Sarah Hallam Douglass (d. Philadelphia, 1773) was an English-born American stage actress and theatre director. She was married to Lewis Hallam, with whom she travelled to America to perform in his company in 1752. This was the first permanent the ...

in the principal female roles. She was greatly admired for her beauty, voice and dramatic ability. In 1769, she married 19 year old David Carnegie, Lord Rosehill and acquired the name 'Lady Rosehill'. Carnegie, the eldest son of Admiral

George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk Admiral George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk (2 August 1716 – 22 January 1792) was born the son of David Carnegie, 4th Earl of Northesk and Lady Margaret Wemyss on 2 August 1716. A career naval officer, he fought in the War of the Austrian Suc ...

, was already married, making him a

bigamist In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

. He had married Christian Cameron, daughter of Alexander Cameron of Dungallon, in the Scottish Highlands two years earlier. In contrast to what would have been expected by contemporary norms, she did not retire from stage after her marriage. Her career does seem to have become more irregular after her marriage, however, and Nancy Hallam replaced her as leading lady. After her marriage, she became known under the stage name 'Mrs. Long'. She is known to have been irregularly active in the American Company until 1794, except for the periods of 1773-74 and 1781-94. She is thus noted to have been active in the American Company during their second period in Jamaica during the American Revolutionary War (1775–85). In Jamaica, she produced her own play, a farce written by herself and named 'The West India Lady's Arrival in London', performed at the

Kingston Theatre Kingston Theatre, was a theatre in Kingston, Jamaica between 1775 and 1838. It was a major cultural center of the island during its duration and had a good reputation also outside of the island, giving Jamaica a name of cultural sophistication, a ...

in 1781. After 1781, she appears not to have acted until 1793, when she made an unsuccessful attempt to return to the stage in the elder Colman's ''The Jealous Wife'' at the

John Street Theatre John Street Theatre, situated at 15–21 John Street, sometimes called "The Birthplace of American Theatre", was the first permanent theatre in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York.''The Oxford Companion to the Theatre'' (Fourth Editio ...

. As Mrs. Long she operated a lodging house in Spanish Town, Jamaica in 1781, and later operated a tavern in nearby Old Harbour, Jamaica, which she managed until her death on February 15, 1800.Wright, Richardson: ''Revels in Jamaica'', 1937

References

* Robin O. Warren,
Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity
' * Odai Johnson, William J. Burling, James A. Coombs:
The Colonial American Stage, 1665-1774: A Documentary Calendar
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheer, Margaret 18th-century American actresses American stage actresses