Author: Pownall, Mary
Biography:
POWNALL, Mary, formerly WRIGHTEN, formerly MATTHEWS (1751-96: ODNB)
Later celebrated as a singer, composer of songs, and actor, she was the daughter of a London tradesman, William Matthews (d 1797) and his wife Mary (birth name not known). She was born on 14 Sept. 1751 in Hoxton, where her mother kept a small shop, and may be the Mary Matthews baptised at Shoreditch on 29 Sept. She ran away from home repeatedly and as a teenager took refuge with an aunt who had her apprenticed to an organist to train as a singer. Garrick (q.v.) engaged her for Drury Lane where she made her first appearance on 8 Feb. 1770 as “Mrs. Wrighten,” having married her first husband James Wrighten (1745-93) on 9 Oct. 1769 at Bethnal Green. Wrighten was a riding master, equestrian performer, actor and prompter; they had at least six children together, of whom three survived childhood. Mrs. Wrighten became a star, performing at Drury Lane every season until 1786-7, besides regular performances at Vauxhall Gardens (1777-86) and in oratorios at other theatres. But the marriage was a very public failure: in 1786, amid rumours of her infidelities, she left her husband and took refuge with Hugh Pownall, a manufacturer of oil of vitriol with whom she had two more children. She published her version of the story in An Apology for the Life and Conduct of Mrs. Mary Wrighten (1789?). In the autumn of 1792 the Pownalls arrived in Philadelphia. For her new career, she seems to have changed her name to “Mary Ann” and performed as Mrs. Pownall although the couple did not marry until 17 Apr. 1794 after the death of James Wrighten. She was fêted in America at least as much as in her heyday in England, but as they were preparing for departure in Aug. 1796 they were caught up in an epidemic of yellow fever. Their young son Felix was buried at St. Philip’s in Charleston VA on 10 Aug., his mother on 12 Aug., and an older daughter, Mary Wrighten, on 24 Aug. Their infant daughter Louisa was also buried there in July 1797. Pownall established himself as a druggist in New York, where he was still living in 1807. (ODNB 6 Nov. 2023; ancestry.com 6 Nov. 2023; findmypast.com 6 Nov. 2023; Highfill; earlyamericanactresses.com)
Other Names:
- Mary A. Pownall