335:’s recent publication has happily cleared the character of this much-injured Lady, in so decided and unequivocal a manner, that the most inveterate malignity no longer can venture a reflection. The slanderous rumour, which so long and cruelty coupled her name with that of Lord Byron, was, in its origin, a misapprehension wholly inexplicable. It now is proved that his Lordship never met Mrs. Mardyn out of the Green-room of Drury-lane Theatre, and even there scarcely ever noticed her beyond the mere compliment of a passing bow. Nevertheless, utterly unfounded as that rumour actually was, at one time, it obtained so general a credit, that both the reputation and the feelings of its innocent victim were outraged by it to the direst extreme.
95:. Being illiterate her parts had to be taught to her. Lacking in experience and confidence she experienced stage fright at first and was not a success. She played walk-on roles and appeared in crowd scenes and did a little dancing. At this time a critic wrote of her that: "Her beauty of face, and symmetry of form were well adapted for it; but alas! when she had to open her mouth, all the illusion was destroyed." While her husband turned more to drink Charlotte Mardyn set about improving her education and her grammar and pronunciation and she separated from her husband. By 1810 she had at least one child.
180:. At this time her estranged husband reappeared on the scene demanding her salary so she refused to go on stage. Eventually she agreed to pay him ÂŁ2 a week to be rid of him and on the condition that he did not come within 100 miles of her. However, her husband's brother later sent her a letter stating that her husband had died and requesting money to cover the funeral costs. Having sent the money a week later she found her supposedly dead husband drunkenly staggering towards her home with the intention of causing trouble. Mardyn went on to appear in
62:
286:
134:
88:
which was "sung by Mr. Mardyn at all the theatres and public places of amusement in London, with general applause." He met the attractive 16 year-old
Charlotte Mardyn; she being ambitious for a better life and wishing to escape the drudgery of the kitchen the two quickly married and she joined the Portsmouth Company. In 1808 at the theatre in Portsmouth she made her first appearance, opposite her husband in the
231:
361:, writing that it was "expressly written not for the theatre" and his wish was respected during his lifetime. It was said at the time that Byron had written the part of Myrrha for Mardyn because of his relationship with her, but as he had not written it to be performed this claim is unlikely and her proposed casting in the role in 1834 was probably a hoax perpetrated by the playwright
19:
258:
carriage with the servants. On Lord Byron then calling for his wife's carriage to be got ready instead his wife told the servants "Go, and tell your master that Mrs Mardyn will never ride in a carriage belonging to me." Byron is then said to have responded that as Mrs. Mardyn was unable to obtain a conveyance to take her home then she should stay for dinner. When
257:
had been visited at his home by Mrs Mardyn who was anxious to prevent a rival actress from gaining a coveted role. A violent storm erupting as Mardyn was about to leave Byron's home he was about to send her home in his own carriage when Lady Byron appeared on the scene and cancelled the order for the
270:
Byron later claimed that the accusation regarding
Charlotte Mardyn was an "unfounded calumny. Being on the committee of Drury-lane Theatre, I have no doubt that several actresses called on me; but as to Mrs. Mardyn, who was a beautiful woman. and might have been a dangerous visitress, I was scarcely
262:
entered the room Byron introduced Mrs Mardyn to her; Lady Byron made some caustic comments about the character of the actress and left her home never to return. Byron, being innocent was stung by his wife's accusation and being too proud to defend himself against untruths was forced to see his wife
328:
This beautiful woman, and popular actress, has recently returned to her native country, after a voluntary seclusion of four years upon the
Continent, during which she has visited various parts of Germany, Italy, &c. &c. devoting herself to the study of their languages, and a cultivation of
87:
where she worked as a housemaid and it was at this time the
Portsmouth Company of actors made their annual visit to her home city. An actor named Mardyn "of low habits" was among its members; he played the "second-rate lover's parts" and also sang. Among his popular numbers was 'Darby Kelly, O!',
246:
had discovered Mardyn at her dining table and had fled the marital home in a carriage, her belief being that Mrs. Mardyn was another of her husband's mistresses and that she had caught the couple in the act. As a result, Mardyn was described as "An actress at Drury-Lane of unsavoury reputation
57:
as
Charlotte Eldred and moved to Chichester when young. One of three daughters, she had little education and was unable to write her name fully until after her marriage and becoming an actress. Her writing was to be poor for the rest of her life, her face being her fortune.
311:
where she failed and retired from the stage. She was reported as having married a distinguished
Frenchman and lived with him in France and Italy. Being devoted to her because of her personal charms and great beauty he purchased a title, and she became Baroness of R__.
477:
338:
Mrs. Mardyn, upon her retirement from the stage, had realised, out of the profits of her brief but brilliant theatrical career, a genteel independence. She has no intention of accepting any new engagement.
756:
114:
where she became known as the "Venus of Crow Street". In 1811 she was a figure-dancer at the
Tottenham Street Theatre where she became a success and where she also played the Housemaid in
277:
while Byron himself received the same treatment in the streets. Despite the scandal Mardyn remained at Drury Lane through Autumn 1818-1819 at a salary of ÂŁ20 a week.
552:
The
Georgian Era: memoirs of the most eminent persons who have flourished in Great Britain from the accession of George the First to the demise of George the Fourth
760:
303:
In his later years Mardyn's husband earned pennies by singing in the streets of London and in 1820 he really verifiably died. In the same year her contract at the
250:
An alternative and more innocent (but possibly less likely) version of the incident was that, as a leading member of the
Committee of Management of the
746:
786:
796:
791:
271:
acquainted (to speak) with her." Despite Byron's protestations of innocence, Mardyn was after booed off the stage when playing the Widow Brady in
698:
33:(c. 1789 – after 1844) was an English actress of Irish descent of the early 19th-century who was rumoured to have been the mistress of
598:
Anecdotes of Lord Byron: From
Authentic Sources; with Remarks Illustrative of His Connection with the Principal Literary of the Present Day
781:
664:
654:
53:
in 1789 (according to Mardyn in about 1795) as Charlotte Ingram of Irish parents. According to another version she was born in
750:
295:
204:
170:
121:
While regarded as beautiful her acting was described as mediocre but in 1815 she obtained a five-year contract at the
238:
Byron (in the blue jacket) gazes fixedly at Mrs. Mardyn, a handsome woman (in the yellow dress) holding a large muff
45:
Little is known of her early life or origins owing to her telling various conflicting stories about herself, with
350:
304:
251:
151:
122:
23:
354:
308:
373:
218:
71:
776:
176:
133:
637:
61:
540:
103:
345:
209:
107:
99:
285:
596:
125:
on a salary of ÂŁ10 a week, gaining the contract more for her good looks than her acting skills.
49:
recounting that he had heard five different versions. According to one version she was born in
713:
694:
688:
660:
611:
563:
496:
463:
435:
235:
144:
659:. Salzburg: Institut für englische Sprache und Literatur, Universität Salzburg. p. 155.
581:
526:
511:
411:
396:
732:
377:
317:
728:
273:
213:
66:
46:
156:
139:
362:
234:'Lobby Loungers (taken from the Saloon of Drury Lane Theatre)'. In this 1816 print by
770:
577:
332:
290:
267:
165:
554:, London: Vizetelly Branston and Co. Fleet Street, (1832-1834), Vol.4. Volume vol.4
358:
230:
160:
and in which she made a great success. Next she was Albina Mandeville in Reynold's
106:
became her tutor and mentor. Having improved her dramatic skills she moved to the
199:
478:'Darby Kelly, O!' (1820) - Broadside Ballads Online from the Bodleian Libraries
18:
528:
Byron's Romantic Celebrity: Industrial Culture and the Hermeneutic of Intimacy
366:
259:
254:
243:
80:
50:
34:
182:
84:
54:
468:, Volume 51, Henry Colburn, London (1837) - Google Books pgs. 485-490
111:
501:, Volume 2, Smith, Elder and Co., (1844) - Google Books pgs. 198-207
284:
229:
132:
89:
60:
17:
498:
Our Actresses: Or, Glances at Stage Favourites, Past and Present
690:
Reading Historical Fiction: The Revenant and Remembered Past
642:, London, Greater London, England - 6 November 1824, Page 3
586:, Princeton University Press (1966) - Google Books pg. 42
83:
as a dress-maker for a Miss Warren. In 1808 she moved to
401:, Cambridge University Press (2003) - Google Books pg.65
357:
taking the title role. Byron had intended his play as a
729:
Thomas Charles Wageman (1787-1863) Mrs. Mardyn, actress
601:, Knight and Lacey, London (1925) - Google Books pg. 32
440:, Volume 1, G. Virtue (1825) -Google Books pgs. 425-442
616:, Baudry's European Library (1837) - Google Books cvii
565:
The Life, Writings, Opinions, and Times of Lord Byron
437:
Oxberry's Dramatic Biography and Histrionic Anecdotes
541:
Charlotte Mardyn - Lord Byron and His Times website
343:In 1834 Byron's historical tragedy in blank verse
531:, Palgrave Macmillan (2007) - Google Books pg. 90
247:rumoured to have eloped with Byron in 1815".
8:
568:, Volume 1 (1835) - Google Books pg. 251-251
761:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
613:The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 2
516:, Palgrave Macmillan (2015) - Google Books
510:Frederick Burwick and Manushag N. Powell,
719:, Volume 18 (1834) - Google Books pg. 251
430:
428:
426:
424:
422:
656:The Closet Drama of the Romantic Revival
513:British Pirates in Print and Performance
491:
489:
487:
485:
388:
458:
456:
454:
452:
450:
448:
446:
164:before going on to play Miss Peggy in
465:The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist
7:
583:Medwin's Conversations of Lord Byron
410:Kostas Boyiopoulos and Mark Sandy,
289:Charlotte Mardyn as Miss Peggy in
14:
687:Kate Mitchell (3 December 2012).
398:The Orient on the Victorian Stage
208:(1818) adapted from Byron's poem
198:(1815). She was Zuleika opposite
242:In 1816 rumours circulated that
154:in 1816 as Amelia Wildenhaim in
787:English people of Irish descent
413:Decadent Romanticism: 1780-1914
797:18th-century English actresses
792:19th-century English actresses
751:National Galleries of Scotland
65:Charlotte Mardyn as Sylvia in
1:
150:Mardyn made her début at the
98:She gained employment at the
757:Portrait of Charlotte Mardyn
349:(1821) was performed at the
307:was up and she moved to the
763:Library Digital Collections
693:. Springer. pp. 120–.
653:Mathur, Om Prakash (1978).
365:. The part instead went to
79:In 1807 she was working in
813:
782:Actresses from Chichester
416:, Routledge (2015) pg. 38
351:Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
305:Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
252:Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
152:Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
137:Mrs. Mardyn as Amelia in
123:Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
24:Henry William Pickersgill
372:A portrait of Mardyn by
733:Royal Collections Trust
281:Marriage and retirement
747:Mardyn as 'Miss Peggy'
495:Mrs. C. Baron Wilson,
376:(1787-1863) is in the
374:Thomas Charles Wageman
341:
300:
239:
219:The Recruiting Officer
147:
93:The Jew and the Doctor
76:
72:The Recruiting Officer
27:
323:
288:
233:
212:and played Sylvia in
177:A Trip to Scarborough
136:
129:Success at Drury Lane
64:
21:
104:William Wyatt Dimond
22:Charlotte Mardyn by
595:Alexander Kilgour,
205:The Bride of Abydos
174:and Miss Hoyden in
108:Crow Street Theatre
100:Theatre Royal, Bath
462:Theodore Hook (ed)
329:their literature.
301:
266:To his biographer
240:
148:
102:where the manager
77:
28:
700:978-1-137-29154-7
434:William Oxberry,
315:In November 1824
309:Haymarket Theatre
236:George Cruikshank
145:George Cruikshank
116:Love in a Village
804:
735:
726:
720:
716:Literary Gazette
711:
705:
704:
684:
678:
677:
675:
673:
650:
644:
640:The Morning Post
635:
629:
623:
617:
608:
602:
593:
587:
575:
569:
561:
555:
549:
543:
538:
532:
523:
517:
508:
502:
493:
480:
475:
469:
460:
441:
432:
417:
408:
402:
393:
378:Royal Collection
318:The Morning Post
296:The Country Girl
210:of the same name
171:The Country Girl
31:Charlotte Mardyn
812:
811:
807:
806:
805:
803:
802:
801:
767:
766:
743:
738:
727:
723:
712:
708:
701:
686:
685:
681:
671:
669:
667:
652:
651:
647:
638:'Mrs Mardyn' -
636:
632:
624:
620:
609:
605:
594:
590:
576:
572:
562:
558:
550:
546:
539:
535:
524:
520:
509:
505:
494:
483:
476:
472:
461:
444:
433:
420:
409:
405:
394:
390:
386:
283:
274:The Irish Widow
228:
196:Twenty Per Cent
131:
47:William Oxberry
43:
12:
11:
5:
810:
808:
800:
799:
794:
789:
784:
779:
769:
768:
765:
764:
754:
742:
741:External links
739:
737:
736:
721:
706:
699:
679:
665:
645:
630:
618:
603:
588:
570:
556:
544:
533:
518:
503:
481:
470:
442:
418:
403:
395:Edward Ziter,
387:
385:
382:
363:William Dimond
333:Captain Medwin
282:
279:
227:
224:
130:
127:
42:
39:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
809:
798:
795:
793:
790:
788:
785:
783:
780:
778:
775:
774:
772:
762:
758:
755:
752:
748:
745:
744:
740:
734:
730:
725:
722:
718:
717:
710:
707:
702:
696:
692:
691:
683:
680:
668:
666:9780773401624
662:
658:
657:
649:
646:
643:
641:
634:
631:
627:
626:Life of Byron
622:
619:
615:
614:
607:
604:
600:
599:
592:
589:
585:
584:
579:
578:Thomas Medwin
574:
571:
567:
566:
560:
557:
553:
548:
545:
542:
537:
534:
530:
529:
522:
519:
515:
514:
507:
504:
500:
499:
492:
490:
488:
486:
482:
479:
474:
471:
467:
466:
459:
457:
455:
453:
451:
449:
447:
443:
439:
438:
431:
429:
427:
425:
423:
419:
415:
414:
407:
404:
400:
399:
392:
389:
383:
381:
379:
375:
370:
368:
364:
360:
356:
352:
348:
347:
340:
336:
334:
330:
326:
325:MRS. MARDYN.
322:
321:stated that:
320:
319:
313:
310:
306:
298:
297:
292:
287:
280:
278:
276:
275:
269:
268:Thomas Medwin
264:
261:
256:
253:
248:
245:
237:
232:
225:
223:
221:
220:
215:
211:
207:
206:
201:
197:
193:
189:
185:
184:
179:
178:
173:
172:
167:
163:
159:
158:
153:
146:
142:
141:
135:
128:
126:
124:
119:
117:
113:
109:
105:
101:
96:
94:
91:
86:
82:
74:
73:
68:
63:
59:
56:
52:
48:
40:
38:
36:
32:
25:
20:
16:
777:1780s births
724:
715:
709:
689:
682:
670:. Retrieved
655:
648:
639:
633:
625:
621:
612:
606:
597:
591:
582:
573:
564:
559:
551:
547:
536:
527:
521:
512:
506:
497:
473:
464:
436:
412:
406:
397:
391:
371:
359:closet piece
346:Sardanapalus
344:
342:
337:
331:
327:
324:
316:
314:
302:
294:
272:
265:
249:
241:
217:
203:
195:
191:
187:
181:
175:
169:
161:
157:Lovers' Vows
155:
149:
140:Lovers' Vows
138:
120:
115:
97:
92:
78:
70:
44:
30:
29:
15:
610:John Galt,
200:Edmund Kean
771:Categories
714:'Drama' -
525:Tom Mole,
384:References
367:Ellen Tree
260:Lady Byron
244:Lady Byron
226:Lord Byron
188:The Quaker
81:Portsmouth
51:Chichester
41:Early life
35:Lord Byron
183:Tamerlane
143:(1816) -
26:RA (1836)
753:database
672:9 August
628:, pg 260
355:Macready
222:(1819).
214:Farquhar
162:The Will
67:Farquhar
291:Garrick
263:leave.
192:Revenge
166:Garrick
85:Gosport
55:Ireland
697:
663:
299:(1825)
112:Dublin
75:(1819)
353:with
255:Byron
90:farce
695:ISBN
674:2013
661:ISBN
194:and
293:'s
216:'s
202:in
168:'s
110:in
69:'s
773::
759:-
749:-
731:-
580:,
484:^
445:^
421:^
380:.
369:.
190:,
186:,
118:.
37:.
703:.
676:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
