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Kemble is the name of a family of English actors, who reigned over the English stage for many decades. The most famous were
''The Genealogists' Magazine''
volume 7, The Society (1935), p. 13 Two 20th century members were Violet Kemble-Cooper and Lillian Kemble-Cooper. The Scottish socialite Jane Beadon was also a descendant 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
Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known Tragedy, tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified".
She was the elder siste ...
(1755–1831) and her brother John Philip Kemble (1757–1823), the two eldest of the twelve children of Roger Kemble (1721–1802), a strolling player and manager of the Warwickshire Company of Comedians, who in 1753 married an actress, Sarah Ward. Roger Kemble was born in Hereford
Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
, and was a grand-nephew of Father John Kemble, a recusant Catholic priest, who was hanged in that city in 1679. Three younger children of Roger, Stephen Kemble (1758–1822), Charles Kemble (1775–1854), and Elizabeth Whitlock (1761–1836), were also actors, while Ann Hatton
Ann Julia Hatton (Birth name, née Kemble, published as Ann of Swansea; 29 April 1764 – 26 December 1838), was a popular novelist in Britain in the early 19th century and author of ''Tammany'', the first known libretto by a woman.
Biography
...
was a novelist.
Popular culture
In George Henry Harlow's famous painting '' The Court for the Trial of Queen Katharine'' he depicted many of the Kemble family members. The subject of the painting comes from Henry VIII, Act II, Scene iv, and the refutation of Cardinal Wolsey, charged with obtaining Henry's divorce from his Queen, Katherine. The production was mounted by John Philip Kemble when he took over the management ofCovent 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 sit ...
in 1806. Harlow was a personal friend of the Kemble family and this picture is homage to his friends. John Philip Kemble clothed in scarlet plays Wolsey; his brother Charles Kemble (in black) has the part of Thomas Cromwell and sits behind the table. Immediately behind and above him is Stephen Kemble as Henry. The sister, Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known Tragedy, tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified".
She was the elder siste ...
, is Katherine.
Extended family
The tradition was continued by two daughters of Charles Kemble and Maria Theresa Kemble: actress and Shakespearean readerFanny Kemble
Frances Anne Kemble (later Butler; 27 November 180915 January 1893) was a British actress from a Kemble family, theatre family in the early and mid-nineteenth century. She was a well-known and popular writer and abolitionist whose published wor ...
(1809–1893) and Adelaide Kemble (1815–1879), an opera singer. Both Sarah Siddons's son Henry Kemble and Stephen Kemble's son, also named Henry Kemble, became actors.
Among later members of the Kemble family, mention may also be made of Charles Kemble's grandson, Henry Kemble (1848–1907), a sterling and popular London actor, and of Alice Barnett
Alice Barnett (17 May 1846 – 14 April 1901) was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in contralto roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Barnett began her career by 1873 in ...
, a great-granddaughter of Stephen Kemble, who performed leading roles as a comic actress and singer in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...
.volume 7, The Society (1935), p. 13 Two 20th century members were Violet Kemble-Cooper and Lillian Kemble-Cooper. The Scottish socialite Jane Beadon was also a descendant of the Kemble family.
See also
* '' Portrait of John Philip Kemble'', a 1799 painting by William BeecheyReferences
{{Reflist English families Acting families Literary families