Anne Bracegirdle

Who was Anne Bracegirdle?

Anne Bracegirdle was an English actress.

Little is known of Bracegirdle's early life. Her precise date of birth is a source of dispute due to conflicting records of her life. The daughter of Justinian Bracegirdle, variously described as a coachman or coach-maker, and his wife Martha, she was baptised in Northampton on 15 November 1671, although her tombstone says that she died at the age of 85. She was probably raised by actors Thomas and Mary Betterton from an early age, and it is speculated that she was the "little girl" referred to several times in playbills before 1688 for the Duke's Company, where Thomas Betterton was the big star. Her name first appears in the Lord Chamberlain's accounts in 1688 as a member of the United Company, and a few of her roles in the following years are known through surviving manuscript cast lists. She played Semernia in Aphra Behn's The Widow Ranter in 1689, a breeches role, a type of role she would often return to, and was by 1690 playing parts like Lady Anne in Shakespeare's Richard III and Desdemona in Othello.