Notes about Frances Anne Kemble: Fanny Kemble was born in London to a prominent theatrical family. She was the daughter of actor Charles Kemble, and the niece of John Philip Kemble and Sarah Siddons, stars of the eighteenth-century stage. Kemble made her debut in 1829 at Covent Garden, playing Juliet to her father's Mercutio. The two began an American tour as Romeo and Juliet in 1832. Fanny Kemble stayed in this country, married Pierce Butler of Germantown in 1834, and retired from the stage. The couple went to live on his Georgia plantation. Kemble was revolted byy the institution of slavery and wrote a journal which she published during the Civil War. She eventually left her husband, who sued her for divorce in 1848. After the divorce was granted, Kemble gave public readings from Shakespeare which were very popular in America and England. A writer as well as an actress, she wrote poems, a novel, several plays, and further accounts of her life. Fanny Kemble was the grandmother of the Philadelphia novelist Owen Wister.; Notes about Sarah Siddons: Actress who performed Lady Macbeth and other tragic roles; daughter of Roger Kemble.; Note with gloves describes their provenance as follows: "These gloves were bequeathed by Shakespeare to his sister, Joan Hart, whose great grandson Shakespeare Hart eventually inherited them. By him they were given in 1747 to John Ward (grandfather of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons) in gratitude for a benefit performance for the restoration of Shakespeare's monument. From him they passed to David Garrick at the time of the Stratford Jubilee, in 1769. They were bequeathed by Garrick to Mrs. Garrick, by her to Mrs. Siddons, and by Mrs. Siddons to her daughter, Cecilia Combe, who gave them to Miss Frances A. Kemble, her first cousin. Mrs. Kemble gave them to Horace Howard Furness on the completion of the volume on Romeo and Juliet in the New Variorum Edition." The pre-Garrick history of these gloves, however, cannot be definitively verified.
Physical Location:
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania: Furness, A/Sh200.1 A, Box
Collection:
Furness Theatrical Image Collection (University of Pennsylvania)
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