Elizabeth Kemble (née Satchell; 1763 – 20 January 1841) was an English actress.

Life

She was born in London, and she was a talented performer when she married

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 ...

, of the

Kemble family 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 (1755–1831) and her brother John Philip Kemble (1757–1823), the two eldest of the twelve children of Ro ...

, in 1783. They acted together for several years both in London and in the provincial circuits. She outlived him by 19 years. Her most famous role was Yarico from the opera

Inkle and Yarico ''Inkle and Yarico'' is a comic opera first staged in London, England, in August 1787, with music by Samuel Arnold and a libretto by George Colman the Younger. Plot Inkle, an English trader, is shipwrecked in the West Indies, and survives ...

for which she was considered "universally" to be the best "ever seen". She died near

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Reputation

Theatre manager

Tate Wilkinson Tate Wilkinson (27 October 173916 November 1803) was an English actor and manager. Life He was the son of a clergyman and was sent to Harrow. His first attempts at acting were badly received, and it was to his wonderful gift of mimicry that h ...

declared that next to

Susannah Maria Cibber Susannah Maria Cibber (née Arne; February 1714 – 30 January 1766) was a celebrated English singer and actress. She was the sister of the composer Thomas Arne. Although she began her career as a soprano, her voice lowered in the early part of ...

, Elizabeth Satchell was the best

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends u ...

he ever saw. The editor of ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'' reported:

"In all the parts she played she was impassioned; and all good judges who remember her will agree with us in thinking that she was an actress, not only of talent but of genius."

James Boaden James Boaden (23 May 1762 – 16 February 1839) was an English biographer, dramatist, and journalist. Biographer He was the son of William Boaden, a merchant in the Russia trade. He was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, on 23 May 1762, and at ...

was enthusiastic in her praise. In 1792, the ''Thespian Magazine'' reported that " atchellsummons the resistless tear of compassion into the eyes of the most rugged and insensible – and while sympathy and feeling shall hold a place in the human heart, her representation of Yarrico icwill be attended with delight, and remembered with the most unbounded admiration.”''Thespian Magazine'', 1792, p. 94. ElizabethSatchell2

References

Links

*'' Dictionary of National Biography'' *''Encyclopædia Britannica'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Satchell, Elizabeth 1763 births 1841 deaths 18th-century English actresses 19th-century English actresses English stage actresses Actresses from London