Mary Anne Keeley, ''née'' Goward (22 November 1805 – 12 March 1899) was an English actress and

actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...

Life

Mary Ann Goward was born at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

, her father was a

brazier A brazier () is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for cooking, heating or rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl with feet, but in some places it is made of terracotta. Its elevation helps circulate air, feed ...

and tinman. Her sister Sarah Judith Goward was the mother of Lydia Foote. Goward's singing talents were noticed by the Ipswich writer

Elizabeth Cobbold Elizabeth Cobbold or Carolina Petty Pasty born Elizabeth Knipe (1767 – 17 October, 1824) was an English writer and poet. Life Cobbold was born Elizabeth Knipe in Watling Street, London in 1767 to Robert Knipe. Her mother's maiden name was Wal ...

and she encouraged her to take to the stage.J. M. Blatchly, ‘Cobbold , Elizabeth (1765–1824)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201
accessed 15 Jan 2015
/ref> After some experience in the provinces, she first appeared on the stage in London on 2 July 1825 in the opera '' Rosina''. It was not long before she gave up singing parts in favour of drama proper, where her powers of character-acting could have scope. In June 1829 she married Robert Keeley (1793-1869), an admirable comedian, with whom she had often appeared. Between 1832 and 1842 they acted at

Covent 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 ...

, at the Adelphi with

John Buckstone John Baldwin Buckstone (14 September 1802 – 31 October 1879) was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826. He starred as a comic actor during much of his career for various periods ...

, at the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

with

Charles Mathews Charles Mathews (28 June 1776, London – 28 June 1835, Devonport) was an English theatre manager and comic actor, well known during his time for his gift of impersonation and skill at table entertainment. His play ''At Home'', in which he pl ...

, and at

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) an ...

with

William Charles Macready William Charles Macready (3 March 179327 April 1873) was an English stage actor. The son of Irish actor-manager William Macready the Elder he emerged as a leading West End theatre, West End performer during the Regency era. Career Macready wa ...

. In 1836 they visited America. In 1838 she made her first great success as Nydia, the blind girl, in a dramatized version of Bulwer-Lytton's ''

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting '' The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

'', and followed this with an equally striking impersonation of Smike in ''

Nicholas Nickleby ''Nicholas Nickleby'', or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'', is the third novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. The character of Nickleby is a young man who must support his ...

''. In 1839 came her decisive triumph with her picturesque and spirited acting as the hero of a play founded upon

Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...

's ''

Jack Sheppard John Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), nicknamed "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter, but began committing thef ...

''. So dangerous was considered the popularity of the play, with its glorification of the prison-breaking felon, that the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

ultimately forbade the performance of any piece upon the subject. It is perhaps mainly as

that Keeley lived in the memory of playgoers, despite her long subsequent career in plays more worthy of her remarkable gifts. Under Macready's management she played Nerissa in ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...

'', and Audrey in ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...

''. She managed the Lyceum Theatre with her husband from 1844 to 1847; acted with

Benjamin Webster Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor Saxophone, saxophonist. He performed in the United States and Europe and made many recordings with Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, John ...

and

Charles Kean Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868) was an Irish-born English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays. Life Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary ...

at the Haymarket; returned for five years to the Adelphi; and made her last regular public appearance at the Lyceum in 1859. A public reception, organised by the artist Walter Goodman, was held for her at this theatre on her 90th birthday. To mark this birthday, Keeley addressed a message to fellow-actresses by way of a letter to ''

The Gentlewoman ''The Gentlewoman'' was a weekly illustrated paper for women founded in 1890 and published in London. For its first thirty-six years its full title was ''The Gentlewoman: An Illustrated Weekly Journal for Gentlewomen''.Nos. 1 to 1,853 dated bet ...

'', which was reported in the Court Circular column in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'': Keeley died in 1899 and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

, London. Mary Anne and Robert Keeley had two daughters, Mary Lucy (circa 1830-1870) and Louise (1835-1877), both of whom followed their parents on to the stage. Mary Lucy married the writer

Albert Richard Smith Albert Richard Smith (24 May 181623 May 1860) was an English physician, author, entertainer, and mountaineer. Biography Literary career Smith was born at Chertsey, Surrey. The son of a surgeon, he studied medicine in London and in Paris, an ...

, while Louise married the criminal advocate

Montagu Williams Montagu Stephen Williams Q.C. (30 September 1835 – 23 December 1892) was an English teacher, British Army officer, actor, playwright, barrister and magistrate. Williams was educated at Eton College and started his career as a schoolmaster at ...

, later

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keeley, Mary Anne English stage actresses 1805 births 1899 deaths Actresses from Ipswich Burials at Brompton Cemetery British women theatre managers and producers Actor-managers 19th-century English actresses 19th-century English theatre managers

Life

See also

References