Fanny Fitzwilliam
Frances "Fanny" Elizabeth Fitzwilliam was a British actor.
Life
She was the actress daughter of Robert Copeland, manager of the Dover theatrical circuit.As "Miss Copeland" she made her name at the Surrey Theatre with Thomas John Dibdin. After marrying the actor Edward Fitzwilliam she performed as "Mrs. Fitzwilliam", becoming a leading London actress and theatre manager. For many years she was closely associated with John Baldwin Buckstone who, after the death of her husband, she was due to marry in 1854.
On 11 September 1854, she died of cholera at Richmond Lodge, Putney, a month before her planned wedding to Buckstone. She was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, three days after her death.
Fanny had two children from her marriage to Edward – a son, musical composer Edward Francis Fitzwilliam and a daughter, actress and singer Kathleen Fitzwilliam.
Stage appearances
- 1802 As Fanny Copeland on stage at Dover Theatre at age 2 or 3 years in the "Stranger"
- 1813 Plays piano at age 12 in a concert at Margate
- 1816 As Norah in The Poor Soldier becomes leading lady actress at the Dover Theatre
- 1817 First appearance in London at the Haymarket Theatre as Lucy in the "Review", Cicely in the "Beehive" and the page in "Follies of a Day".
- 1818 Olympic Theatre playing the Countess of Lovelace in "Rochester"
- 1819 in Dibdin's "Florence Macarthy" at the Surrey Theatre is said to have displayed "distinguished merit"
- 1819 Invited by T Dibdin to Surrey Theatre to play Madge Wildfire in "Heart of Midlothian"
- 1821 Fanny COPELAND and Edward FITZWILLIAM appear in Rolla and Youth, Love & Folly at the Surrey Theatre. Also Mr. Watkins Burroughs and Mr. Pitt
- 1821 Plays Fanny in Barham Livius's "Maid or Wife" in first appearance at Drury Lane.
- 1822 Now married, Fanny Fitzwilliam is the original Adeline in Howard Payne's "Adeline or the Victim of Seduction"
- 1822 Plays in Dublin, in the country and at the Coburg
- 1825 Appears at the Adelphi in a drama called "Killigrew"
- 1825 Is the original Kate Plowden at the Adelphi in Fitzball's the "Pilot", an adaptation of a novel by Fenimore Cooper.
- 1825 Is the original Louisa Lovetrick at the Adelphi in the "Dead Shot"
- 1826 With Mr Terry, Mr Yates, Miss Boden in THE PILOT and THE ANACONDA and THE THREE GOLDEN LAMPS at the Adelphi
- 1830 With John Reeve, Mr Wilkinson and Mrs Daly – THE HEART OF LONDON and THE ELEPHANT OF SIAM at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi
- 1830 Plays Bella at the Adelphi in Buckstone's "Wreck Ashore". Achieves high popularity in many of Buckstone's dramas at the Adelphi.
- 1830 Manages Prince of Wales Theatre
- 1832 at the Royal Clarence according to a US web site\book
- 1832 Becomes manager of Sadler's Wells
- 1832 Manages Sadler's Wells with W. H. Williams until 1833, when Robert William Honner takes over
- 1832 Undertakes the management of Sadler's Wells, transferring some the Adelphi success with "the Pet of the Petticoats", a ballad burletta.
- 1833 With John Reeve, Mr Yates and Mrs Daly in DON QUIXOTTE and OTHELLO and the pantomime HARLEQUIN AND THE KING OF CLUBS at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi
- 1835 at the Adelphi on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent gave a monologue entitled "The Widow Wiggins".
- 1837 at the Adelphi in Billy Taylor! The Gay Young Fellow EMICH
- 1837 at the Adelphi as Riverbelle in King of the Danube and the Water Lily EMICH
- 1837 at the Adelphi as Norah in Peregrinations of Pickwick EMICH
- 1837 at the Adelphi as Elise in Victorine EMICH
- 1837 at the Adelphi as Louisa Lovetrick in Dead Shot EMICH
- 1837 Plays 12 nights in Boston. Wemyss, ex-manager of the Chestnut Street Theatre, who saw her, predicted that she would make more money in the US than any actress with the exception of Fanny Kemble.
- 1837 Goes to the Haymarket with Benjamin Webster
- 1837 Goes to America and opens in New York as Peggy in the "Country Girl"
- c. 1840 Plays with Buckstone in New Orleans and Havannah
- c. 1840 Fanny Fitzwilliam tours England country towns
- 1842 Nicoll lists the author of The Belle of the Hotel; or, American Sketches as unknown, and says it was the same piece acted at Niblo's Garden, New York "written to display the versatility of Fanny Fitzwilliam who was there on a visit." The bill, however, clearly gives John B. Buckstone as the author.
- 1844 at the Adelphi as The Belle in Belle of the Hotel
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Protea Snook in Belle of the Hotel
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Jerry Phoenix in Belle of the Hotel
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Mrs. Macscribblescrabble in Belle of the Hotel
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Signor Amoroso in Belle of the Hotel
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Shelah Mullins in Belle of the Hotel
- 1844 Returns to Adelphi in the "Belle of the Hotel", a monopolylogue.
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Angelique in Fox and the Goose
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Elise in Victorine
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Bella in Wreck Ashore
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Mrs. Matilda Tims in Snapping Turtles
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Mrs. O'Blarney in Snapping Turtles
- 1844 at the Adelphi as Mr. Fipkins Yaw-Yaw in Snapping Turtles
- 1845 At the Adelphi as Nelly O'Neil in Buckstone's "Green Bushes".
- 1845 at the Adelphi as Nelly O'Neil in Green Bushes
- 1847 at the Adelphi as Nelly O'Neil in Green Bushes EMICH
- 1847 At the Adelphi as Starlight Bess in Buckstone's "Flowers of the Forest". This raises her reputation to its height!
- 1847 at the Adelphi as Starlight Bess in Flowers of the Forest! A Gipsy Story EMICH
- 1847 at the Adelphi as Elise in Victorine EMICH
- 1847 at the Adelphi as Nell in Devil to Pay EMICH
- 1847 at the Adelphi as Mrs. Frederick Youngshusband in Married Life EMICH
- 1847 at the Adelphi as Milly in Maid with the Milking Pail EMICH
- 1847 at the Lyceum as Margery in A Rough Diamond
- 1848 at the Lyceum with Madame Vestris and Buckstone in Scarecrow. Her daughter Kathleen also on the bill in Theseus and Ariadne or the Marriage of Bachus
- 1850 With Buckstone and Charles Kean – Playbill advertising HAMLET and THE ROUGH DIAMOND and BOX AND COX at the Theatre Royal, Hay-Market, 8 March 1850
- c. 1850 Plays Nan in "Good For Nothing" at the Haymarket.
- c. 1850 Plays Margery in "Rough Diamond" at the Haymarket.
- c. 1850 Plays Dorinne in a version of "Tartuffe" at the Haymarket.
- 1851 With Buckstone, Howe and Parselle in PRESENTED AT COURT and GOOD FOR NOTHING and BLACK EYED SUSAN at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, c. 19 February 1851
- 1854 Her last performance, the same month as her death. At the Haymarket.
Miscellany
Excerpt from The Uncommercial Traveller CHAPTER XXXII – A SMALL STAR IN THE EAST
"This woman, like the last, was wofully shabby, and was degenerating to the Bosjesman complexion. But her figure, and the ghost of a certain vivacity about her, and the spectre of a dimple in her cheek, carried my memory strangely back to the old days of the Adelphi Theatre, London, when Mrs. Fitzwilliam was the friend of Victorine. "