Edwin, Elizabeth Rebecca (Mrs)

1771?

1854

Elizabeth Rebecca Richards was probably born about 1771, the daughter of the provincial actor William Talbot Richards and his first wife, an actress. Probably when she was a child and young woman she made appearances in the provinces with her parents. She was at the Theatre Royal in Richmond, Surrey, in 1790, but by the time she made her debut at the Haymarket Theatre on 20 June 1792 as Lucy in “The Virgin Unmask’d” she was married to the comedian John Edwin the younger (1769-1805). After having modest success in a few more appearances in London, Mrs Edwin went to act in Edinburgh, Dublin and York. Her husband died in 1805, and she was not re-engaged in London until the autumn of 1809, when she appeared on 14 October with the Drury Lane company playing at the Lyceum. She remained in that company for six years and then went back to the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin. Returning to London in 1818 she acted at the Olympic and had short engagements at Drury Lane, Covent Garden, the Adelphi and other places for several years. She lived on, in relative obscurity, for some 35 years, until she died at her lodgings in Chelsea on 3 August 1854. Though she never achieved distinction as an actress, when at Drury Lane between 1809 and 1815 she acted some major roles, such as Beatrice in “Much Ado about Nothing”, Lydia Languish in “The Rivals”, Fanny in “The Clandestine Marriage” and Miss Prue in “Love for Love”. She made an impression sufficient for De Wilde to have painted the three portraits of her in the Garrick Club. Other pictures of her are listed in her notice in the BDA.