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Mary Anne Keeley, ''née'' Goward (22 November 1805 – 12 March 1899) was an English actress and
accessed 15 Jan 2015
/ref> After some experience in the provinces, she first appeared on the stage in London on 2 July 1825 in the opera '' Rosina''. It was not long before she gave up singing parts in favour of drama proper, where her powers of character-acting could have scope. In June 1829 she married Robert Keeley (1793-1869), an admirable comedian, with whom she had often appeared. Between 1832 and 1842 they acted at
Mary Anne Keeley, ''née'' Goward (22 November 1805 – 12 March 1899) was an English actress and actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...
.
Life
Mary Ann Goward was born atIpswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
, her father was a brazier
A brazier () is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for cooking, heating or cultural rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl with feet. Its elevation helps circulate air, feeding oxygen to the fire. Braziers h ...
and tinman. Her sister Sarah Judith Goward was the mother of Lydia Foote
Lydia Foote, born Lydia Alice Legg (1843 – 30 May 1892), was an English actress. She played leading roles from the 1850s to the 1880s, including at the Lyceum Theatre, the Olympic Theatre, the Prince of Wales's Theatre and the Adelphi Theatre ...
.
Goward's singing talents were noticed by the Ipswich writer Elizabeth Cobbold and she encouraged her to take to the stage.J. M. Blatchly, ‘Cobbold , Elizabeth (1765–1824)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201accessed 15 Jan 2015
/ref> After some experience in the provinces, she first appeared on the stage in London on 2 July 1825 in the opera '' Rosina''. It was not long before she gave up singing parts in favour of drama proper, where her powers of character-acting could have scope. In June 1829 she married Robert Keeley (1793-1869), an admirable comedian, with whom she had often appeared. Between 1832 and 1842 they acted at
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 ...
, at the Adelphi with John Buckstone, at the Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
with Charles Mathews
Charles Mathews (28 June 1776, London – 28 June 1835, Devonport) was an English theatre manager and comic actor, well known during his time for his gift of impersonation and skill at table entertainment. His play ''At Home'', in which he pl ...
, and at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...
with William Charles Macready
William Charles Macready (3 March 179327 April 1873) was an English actor.
Life
He was born in London the son of William Macready the elder, and actress Christina Ann Birch. Educated at Rugby School where he became headboy, and where now the t ...
. In 1836 they visited America. In 1838 she made her first great success as Nydia, the blind girl, in a dramatized version of Bulwer-Lytton's ''The Last Days of Pompeii
''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting ''The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...
'', and followed this with an equally striking impersonation of Smike in ''Nicholas Nickleby
''Nicholas Nickleby'' or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (or also ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the ...
''.
In 1839 came her decisive triumph with her picturesque and spirited acting as the hero of a play founded upon Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...
's ''Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
''. So dangerous was considered the popularity of the play, with its glorification of the prison-breaking felon, that the Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...
ultimately forbade the performance of any piece upon the subject. It is perhaps mainly as Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
that Keeley lived in the memory of playgoers, despite her long subsequent career in plays more worthy of her remarkable gifts.
Under Macready's management she played Nerissa in ''The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
'', and Audrey in ''As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...
''. She managed the Lyceum Theatre with her husband from 1844 to 1847; acted with Benjamin Webster
Benjamin Nottingham Webster (3 September 17973 July 1882) was an English actor-manager and dramatist.
Early life
Webster was born in Bath, the son of a dancing master.
Career
First appearing as Harlequin, and then in small parts at D ...
and Charles Kean
Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868), was an English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays.
Life
Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary Kean (''ne ...
at the Haymarket Haymarket may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia
Germany
* Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market)
Russia
* Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...
; returned for five years to the Adelphi; and made her last regular public appearance at the Lyceum in 1859.
A public reception, organised by the artist Walter Goodman, was held for her at this theatre on her 90th birthday. To mark this birthday, Keeley addressed a message to fellow-actresses by way of a letter to ''The Gentlewoman
''The Gentlewoman'' was a weekly illustrated paper for women founded in 1890 and published in London.
For its first thirty-six years its full title was ''The Gentlewoman: An Illustrated Weekly Journal for Gentlewomen''.Nos. 1 to 1,853 dated bet ...
'', which was reported in the Court Circular column in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'':
Keeley died in 1899 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...
, London.
Mary Anne and Robert Keeley had two daughters, Mary Lucy (circa 1830-1870) and Louise (1835-1877), both of whom followed their parents on to the stage. Mary Lucy married the writer Albert Richard Smith
Albert Richard Smith (24 May 181623 May 1860) was an English author, entertainer, and mountaineer.
Biography
Literary career
Smith was born at Chertsey, Surrey. The son of a surgeon, he studied medicine in London and in Paris, and his first ...
, while Louise married the criminal advocate Montagu Williams
Montagu Stephen Williams Q.C. (30 September 1835 – 23 December 1892) was an English teacher, British Army officer, actor, playwright, barrister and magistrate.
Williams was educated at Eton College and started his career as a schoolmaster at ...
, later Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...
.
See also
See Walter Goodman, ''The Keeleys On Stage and At Home'', London: Bentley and Son 1895.References
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keeley, Mary Anne English stage actresses 1805 births 1899 deaths Actors from Ipswich Burials at Brompton Cemetery English theatre managers and producers Women theatre managers and producers Actor-managers 19th-century English actresses 19th-century theatre managers 19th-century English businesspeople