Powell, Ann

c.1761

1821

Ann Powell, who is shown standing next to her mother in Mortimer’s picture of her family (G0695), was born in late 1760 or early 1761, probably in London. She was the elder daughter of the estimable William Powell (q.v.) and his wife Elizabeth (née Branson, later Mrs John Abraham Fisher (q.v.). She was probably the Miss Powell who acted at China Hall, Rotherhithe, in the summers of 1777 and 1778, when her roles included Desdemona in "Othello" and Miss Neville in "She Stoops to Conquer". She was still a minor when she married Thomas Warren of the Inner Temple in October 1780. She re-appeared on the London stage, at Covent Garden, on 10 December 1788 as Elvira in "Percy". During the remainder of that season there, now called Mrs Warren, she acted a number of leading roles, including Mrs Sullen in "The Stratagem", Indiana in "The Conscious Lovers" and Olivia in "A Bold Stroke for a Husband". But she never again acted in London. Warren having died, she married John Martindale on 8 August 1795. Martindale became a proprietor of Covent Garden Theatre through the one-eighth share Ann had inherited from her father William Powell. Ann Martindale died at her house in King Street, London, in September 1821. She was also pictured in a portrait by George Romney, which was engraved by Hodges; as Rosetta in "The Foundling", engraved by Scott, after Stothard; and by M. Brown as Helena in "All’s Well that Ends Well". The Brown drawing was sold at Christie’s in 1793 and was engraved by Thornthwaite for "Bell’s Shakespeare", 1786. Ann seems not to have acted either Helena or Rosetta in London. The portrait by Romney was with Agnew’s in 1969. (BDA)