Elizabeth O'Neill

Who is Elizabeth O'Neill?

Elizabeth O'Neill, later Lady Becher, was an Irish actress born in Drogheda. According to A Compendium of Irish Biography

"Her father was manager of a small theatrical company. About 1812, says the Athenaeum, "father and daughter were doing very ill in Dublin, half-starving, while they waited for luck, when it came to the latter all of a sudden. Miss Waldstein, the theatrical heroine of the hour, refused to act unless at an advanced salary. The manager was in despair, when he heard of the priceless pearl that was to be had for nothing. Miss O'Neill was forthwith attached to the Dublin Theatre, where she excited such sensations of delight, that the Irish capital was beside itself. Forthwith, Covent Garden obtained her services. In October 1814, Miss O'Neill made her debut as 'Juliet,' and London acknowledged a new charm.

Her grace, sweetness, delicacy, refinement, were things that London playgoers had long been strangers to. In her first season she ran through a line of characters which filled the town with admiration and poor Mrs. Siddons with disgust... She may be said to have united the old stage with the new, She played, as the great Mrs.