Esten, Harriet Pye

1765?

1865

Harriet Esten was born about 1765, probably in Tooting, Surrey, where at the time her mother was reputedly housekeeper and mistress to Admiral Sir Thomas Pye. Contemporary memoirs contain colourful stories about the early life of her mother, Agnes Maria Bennett (d. 1808), author of several popular novels. But the DNB states that ‘there is no evidence of her birth, her parentage, or her condition.’ Supposedly her mother was the daughter of a Bristol grocer named Evans and early on married Mr Bennett, a tanner from Brednock. They soon separated, and Mrs Bennett became a slop-seller in Wych Street, London. While working at a chandler’s shop in Borough High Street she met Admiral Pye. Eventually she had two children by him: Thomas Pye Bennett, a naval officer, and Harriet Pye Bennett, the subject of this notice. Harriet Bennett was married to James Esten in Lower Tooting on 24 February 1784. He was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and soon after the marriage he had to seek refuge in France because of his financial losses in business undertakings. Left with two children, Harriet Esten turned to the stage, and, probably with her mother’s assistance, was engaged at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, in 1786 and then in the Bath-Bristol company. She made her debut at Bristol on 19 June 1786 as Alicia in “Jane Shore” and was subsequently seen as Roxalana in “The Sultan”, Beatrice in “Much Ado about Nothing”, Widow Belmour in “The Way to Keep Him” and the title role in “Isabella”. Successful engagements at Edinburgh and York earned her a London debut at Covent Garden on 20 October 1790 as Rosalind in “As You Like It”, followed by Indiana in “The Conscious Lovers” on 23 October. She received excellent notices and in her first season at Covent Garden took on such capital roles as Ophelia, Monimia in “The Orphan” and Belvidera in “Venice Preserv’d”. She remained at Covent Garden through 1793-94, while her mother managed on her behalf the Edinburgh Theatre, the lease of which Harriet had secured the previous year. At Edinburgh in July 1794 she gave birth to a daughter by the Duke of Hamilton, who then settled her in an elegant house in Half-Moon Street, Piccadilly, with £1000 a year. Her mother joined her to share in her ‘magnificent elevation.’ When Harriet’s husband returned from St Domingo in 1797 with a fortune of some £200,000, he was granted a divorce. The Duke of Hamilton died in August 1798, leaving her an annuity of £3000. Harriett Esten acted one more season at Edinburgh, in 1802-3. On 15 October 1812 she become the third wife of Major John Scott-Waring, who had previously been married to the actress Maria Hughes. Waring died in May 1819, and Harriet lived another 46 years. She died on 29 April 1865, at No 36, Queen’s Gate Terrace, Kensington, at about the age of 100. As an actress, she was placed ‘next to Miss Farren in elegant walks of comedy’ by F. G. Waldon, who also called her a ‘little enchanting made-up piece of elegance.’ She had been in the flowering of her career ‘a beautiful and agreeable actress.’ Evidently Harriett was not particularly intelligent. The shrewdness of her mother had managed her professional and personal life. (BDA)