MARGARET [PEG]

See also:

• MARGARET [PEG] WOFFINGTON (c. 1714-1760)

WOFFINGTON (c. 1714-1760)  , English actress, was born at Dublin, of poor parents . As a child of ten she played Polly Peachum in a lilliputian presentation of The Beggar's Opera, and danced and acted at various Dublin theatres until 1740, when her success as Sir Harry Wildair in The Constant Couple secured her a London engagement . In this, and as Sylvia in The Recruiting Officer, she had a pronounced success; and at Drury Lane and Covent Garden, as well as in Dublin, she appeared in all the plays of the day to ever growing popularity . Among her best impersonations were the elegant women of fashion, like Lady Betty Modish and Lady Townley, and in " breeches parts " she was unapproachable . She lived openly with Garrick, and her other love affairs were numerous and notorious, but her generosity and kindness of heart were equally well known . She educated her sister Mary, and cared for and pensioned her mother . She built and endowed by will some almshouses at Teddington, where she lived quietly after her retirement in 1757 . See Austin Dobson's introduction to Charles Reade's novel Peg Woffington (London, 1899), and Augustin Daly's Woffington: a Tribute to the Actress and the Woman (1888) .