Sarah "Sallie" Lane (22 September 1822 – 16 August 1899) was an English actress, playwright and theatre manager. She was known as "The Queen of

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. I ...

Biography

The daughter of William Borrow and Sarah Fowles, she was born Sarah Borrow in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

, London on 22 September 1822. She began performing as a singer and dancer at the age of seventeen under the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Sarah Wilton. In 1843, she married Sam Lane, the manager of the

Britannia Theatre The Britannia Theatre (1841–1900) was located at 115/117 High Street, Hoxton, London.''Britanni ...

. From 1873 to 1881, she wrote or translated from French eight melodramas that were presented at the theatre, including ''The Faithless Wife'' and ''Bad Josephine''. Lane presented the works of at least six women playwrights, including

Melinda Young Melinda Jane Young (born 28 August 1971) is a wheelchair basketball player from Australia. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria. She was part of the silver medal-winning Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2004 Summer P ...

. She also took on the role of

principal boy In pantomime, a principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boy's clothes. The earliest example is Miss Ellington who in 1852 appeared in ''The Good Woman in the Wood'' by James Planch ...

in the theatre's productions. Following her husband's death in 1872, Lane managed the theatre until her own death at her home on

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels often freque ...

on 16 August 1899. During the 1880s and 1890s, she regularly appeared in the theatre's

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

s. She was buried at

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Sarah 1820s births 1899 deaths English women dramatists and playwrights English stage actresses English theatre managers and producers English translators 19th-century British translators 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English businesspeople 19th-century English actresses Actresses from London Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery