Sarah Thurmond or Sarah Lewis ( – 1762) was a British actress.

Life

Sarah Lewis was born in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

although the date is unknown. Her first appearances were at Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields at the end of 1711 in Greenwich where she met John Thurmond, son of the actor John Thurmond the Elder. They were married and Sarah went to Dublin where her in-laws John and Winifred Thurmond were acting and she appeared at the

Smock Alley Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...

. In 1718 they were at the Drury Lane Theatre where she took leading roles and her husband was the dancing master. In 1723 her husband's play '' Harlequin Doctor Faustus'' which has been noted as England's first

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

, was performed at Drury Lane. In 1732, they both moved to the

Goodman's Fields Theatre Two 18th century theatres bearing the name Goodman's Fields Theatre were located on Alie Street, Whitechapel, London. The first opened on 31 October 1727 in a small shop by Thomas Odell, deputy Licenser of Plays. The first play performed was ...

. Two years later she returned to Drury Lane making her final performance in 1737.Jane Girdham, ‘Thurmond , Sarah (d. 1762)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201
accessed 9 May 2015
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurmond, Sarah 1762 deaths Actresses from Epsom 18th-century British actresses British stage actresses Year of birth missing