Ward, Sarah

1756?

1838?

Sarah Hoare, who probably was the daughter of provincial actors, was born about 1756. She had two sisters who went into the profession: Katharine Hoare, later Mrs Sparks Powell (1762-1807), and Letitia Hoare, who became the common-law wife of a Cheapside haberdasher named Sage. They may have been related to the banker Henry Hoare (d. 1828) and the dramatist Prince Hoare (1755-1834). By the summer of 1775 Sarah Hoare was acting in Younger’s company on the Birmingham circuit. Sometime that summer she married Thomas Achurch Ward (1747-1835), who was also an actor in the Birmingham company. The Wards obtained an engagement at Covent Garden for the 1776-77 season, when Mrs Ward made her debut on 14 November 1776 as Rodogune in "The Royal Convert". Other roles followed: Zara in “The Mouring Bride”, Queen Eleanor in “King Henry the Second”, Roxana in “Alexander the Great” and Euphrasia in “The Grecian Daughter”. Mrs Ward was employed in and out of London for several seasons, and in 1782 she joined Drury Lane, where she remained until June 1793. She then went to the Manchester Theatre, where she was greeted favourably, and acted such capital roles as Lady Randolph in “Douglas”, Calista in “The Fair Penitent”, Mrs Beverley in “The Gamester” and Belvidera in “Venice Preserv’d”. She died at Manchester, probably in 1838. This Mrs Ward is not to be confused with the Sarah Ward who became the wife of Roger Kemble and the matriarch of the Kemble dynasty. (BDA)