Woman of the Century/Mary Frances Scott Siddons

SIDDONS, Mrs. Mary Frances Scott, actor, was born in India. Her father was Capt. William Young Siddons, of the 65th Bengal Light Infantry. Her mother was a daughter of Col. Earle, of the British army. Her paternal great-grand-mother was the famous Sarah Siddons. Mary Frances Siddons was educated in Germany. At the age of eleven years she astonished her teachers and friends by her striking performance of a part in a French play, "Esther." MARY FRANCES SCOTT-SIDDONS. She became fascinated with the stage and was constantly acting in French and German plays, playing the most difficult roles in the dramas of Schiller, Racine, Moliere and Corneille. Her rendition of Mortimer in Schiller's "Marie Stuart" led her teacher to introduce her to Charles Kean. who recognized her talents and advised her to wait till she was older before going on the stage. In 1862 she became the wife of Mr. Scott-Chanter, a British naval officer. In 1865 she took as her stage-name Mary Frances Scott-Siddons, and, against the wishes of her family, joined the company of the Theater Royal in Nottingham, Eng. She made her debut as Portia in "The Merchant of Venice." In 1866 she appeared as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet," in Edinburgh. On 1st April, 1867, she made her first appearance in London in the Hanover Square Rooms, where she read selections from Shakespeare and Tennyson. On 8th April she played Rosalind in the Haymarket Theater in London. In the fall of 1868 she came to the United States, and in New York City she gave readings from Shakespeare in Steinway Hall Her theatrical debut in that city was made in the Fifth Avenue Theater, where she played successfully in a long line of characters. In July, 1870, she played as Pauline in "The Lady of Lyons" in London, following with other impersonations. In 1872 she played as Coralie in "Ordeal by Touch " in the Queen's Theater in London. She then starred in the United States for several years, returning to London in 1879. In 1881 she assumed in London the management of the Haymarket Theater. She has won a great reputation as an actor and dramatic reader.