Sarah Bezra Nicol (died 1834 or after) was a British actress who became known for playing older women character roles in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Life

Sarah's birth name is unknown. At the end of the 18th century, she was first noticed as a servant to Colonel and the Hon. Mrs Milner. They encouraged her after she joined an amateur dramatic society known as the "Shakespearean Society of London" which put on plays in a small theatre in

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...

. The Milners saw her appear in

Venice Preserv'd ''Venice Preserv'd'' is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was first staged in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera. ...

and they supported her in her ambitions and she went on to act outside London. She soon became "Mrs. Nicol" – her husband worked as a printer – and this was the name under which all her subsequent work was done. In 1800 she gave birth to

Emma Nicol Emma Nicol (1800 – 2 November 1877) was a British actress who became known for playing older women in Edinburgh as her mother had before her. Life In 1800 Emma Nicol was born, she was the first of four daughters of Sarah Bezra Nicol and her h ...

who was the first of four daughters who were to become actresses.J. Gilliland, "Nicol, Sarah Bezra (d. in or after 1834)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 8 Feb 2015
/ref> By 1807 she was the character actress of choice for old woman roles at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh, and in the following year she had her first

benefit performance A benefit performance is a type of live entertainment which is undertaken for a cause. In its original usage, benefit performances were opportunities for an actor to supplement his/her income. In its modern usage, benefit performances are given to ...

. Mrs Nicol appeared with

Henry Siddons Henry Siddons (4 October 1774 – 12 April 1815) was an English actor and theatrical manager, now remembered as a writer on gesture. Life Siddons was the eldest child of Sarah Siddons, and was educated at Charterhouse School, being inten ...

at the New Theatre Royal on

Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the east end of the city centre to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the str ...

and she went on play character roles like

Mrs Malaprop A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An examp ...

. She was in the company chosen to perform in an operatic adaptation of the novel '' Rob Roy'' for the first time in the city. It was titled "Rob Roy MacGregor" and it was adapted by the manager of the theatre

William Henry Murray William Henry Wood Murray (1790–1852), a Scottish actor, manager and theatre owner in Edinburgh, was a friend of Walter Scott and particularly associated with dramatisations of Scott's Waverley Novels. Life Born in Bath on 26 August 1790, ...

and first performed on 10 June 1818. Mrs Nicol played the role of ''Jean McAlpine'' in the playPlaybill of 17 Feb 1819
Theatre Royal, National Libraries of Scotland, retrieved 12 February 2015 and when King George IV visited Scotland he saw ''Rob Roy'' and she was still in that role. Two of her daughters appeared with her in ''Rob Roy MacGregor'' with Emma taking the role of ''Mattie''. Emma Nicol left the city to find work in London at some time around 1823. non. ‘Nicol, Emma (1800–1877)’, rev. J. Gilliland, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 8 Feb 2015
/ref> In 1823 Mrs Nicol was engraved as Miss Grizelda Oldbuck by

William Home Lizars William Home Lizars (1788 – 30 March 1859) was a Scottish painter, engraver and publisher. Life The son of Daniel Lizars, and brother of the surgeon John Lizars, he was born at Edinburgh in 1788, and was educated at the high school there. ...

. She had played that part at the Theatre Royal in an adaptation of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's novel ''

The Antiquary ''The Antiquary'' (1816), the third of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott, centres on the character of an antiquary: an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. He is the eponymous character and for all prac ...

''.Mrs. Nicol of the Theatre Royal Edinburgh as Miss Grizelda Oldbuckthe National Drama
/ref> By 1833 she was too elderly to get regular work and she died sometime after her farewell performance at a benefit in 1834. By November 1834 Emma was back in Edinburgh playing the type of roles her mother had played at the Theatre Royal. It was noticed that she had developed her skills considerably since she had left which enabled her to play the roles that her mother had made her own.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicol, Sarah Bezra Nicol 1830s deaths 18th-century British actresses 19th-century British actresses British stage actresses