Hannah Brand (1754-1821) was an English poet, playwright, and actress.
Life[]
Brand was born in Norwich, the daughter of a tanner.[1] She was the younger sister of Rev. John Brand (died 1808).[2]
She kept a school at Norwich in conjunction with an elder sister Mary. But Hannah soon abandoned teaching for the stage, and on 18 January 1792 appeared with the Drury Lane Company at the King's Theatre (Opera House) in the Haymarket, in her own tragedy of Huniades.[2]
This piece, not without merit, was received during its progress with much favour. It proved too long, however, and the performance of Miss Brand, who was announced as making "her first appearance upon any stage," deprived it of what chance it might have had with an actress of more experience as the heroine. After the 1st showing it was withdran, but was revised and reproduced on 2 February with the title of Agmunda, and with the omission of the character of Huniades, originally played by John Kemble. This curious experiment proved no more successful than the previous, and piece and author vanished from London.[2]
On 20 March 1794, she appeared at the York Theatre, playing Lady Townly in the Provoked Husband. Formality of manner, a rigour in dress entirely out of keeping with the notions then prevalent, and it may have been a provincialism of pronunciation of which her manager, Tate Wilkinson, complains, stirred against her the feminine portion of the audience, and her earliest appearance, "so far from being well received, met with rude marks of disgustful behaviour, and that from ladies who did not add by such demeanour addition to their politeness or good understanding"[3] [2] She remained in York till the last night of the season, 21 May 1794, when she appeared in her own play of Agmunda, in which she was derided. In the summer she played in Liverpool with no greater success.[4]
Starched in manner, virtuous in conduct, and resolute in her objection to a low-cut dress, she seems, according to Tate Wilkinson, to have had little chance of succeeding on the stage. Her defeat she attributed to the jealousy of Mrs. Siddons and the Kembles. Of her play she thought so highly that she would not for fear of theft trust the whole manuscript to the prompter, but copied out with her own hand the entire play, except her own part, which she reserved. Many curious stories show how high was her estimate of her own capacity. Wilkinson says that, apart from her tragedy airs, she possessed many good qualities, that she was estimable in her private character, and endowed with a good understanding. The editors of the Biographia Dramatica, who saw her performance in 'Huniades,' find fault with her deportment, but say that her acting was marked by discrimination.[4]
After her failure on the stage, Miss Brand became a governess. Her pupil was a married lady, and her eccentric conduct was the cause of much unpleasantness between husband and wife.[4]
Brand died in March 1821.[4]
Writing[]
In 1798 she published in Norwich, in 8vo, a volume of Dramatic and Poetical Works, containing: (1) 'Adelinda,' a comedy founded on 'La Force du Naturel' of Destouches; (2) 'The Conflict; or, Love, Honour, and Pride,' an heroic comedy adapted from 'Don Sanche d'Arragon,' by Pierre Corneille; and (3) 'Huniades, or the Siege of Belgrade,' a tragedy, with some miscellaneous poems.[4]
Publications[]
- Plays and Poems. Norwich, UK: Beatniffe & Payne, for F. & C. Rivington, London / Elmsley & Bremner, London, 1798.[5]
See also[]
References[]
- British Women Playwrights Around 1800
- Chandler, David. "'The Conflict': Hannah Brand and Theatre Politics in the 1790s." Romanticism On the Net 12 (November 1998) [22 December 2006].
Knight, John Joseph (1886) "Brand, Hannah" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 6 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 212-213 . Wikisource, Web, Apr. 1, 2020.
Notes[]
- ↑ Hannah Brand ((1770ca.-1821), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, May 2, 2016.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Knight, 212.
- ↑ Tate Wilkinson, The Wandering Patentee, iv. 158.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Knight, 213.
- ↑ Search results = au:Hannah Brand, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 2, 2016.
External links[]
- Poems
- "Ode to Youth," "Ode to Adversity"
- Hannah Brand at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (7 poems)
- Books
- Plays and Poems at Amazon.com
- About
- About
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Brand, Hannah
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