The next meeting of the Tisbury History Society takes place on Tuesday 10 th March at 7.30 p.m. in

the Hinton Hall when Maxwell Steer will be talking about ‘Kitty Stephens, a life in eighteenth century

theatre’.

Well-known local personality Michael Maxwell Steer has a hidden secret. One of his forebears was a

famous opera singer who married an earl. Kitty Stephens, whom William Hazlitt called ‘the sweetest

voice on the Regency stage’. Kitty was the doyenne of Covent Garden between 1818- 1830, both as

a singer, an actress, and a singing-actress; that is to say she could take on a wide range of roles, from

works by Handel to Gay’s Beggars Opera, as well as straight acting roles opposite Charles Macready.

She even appeared with David Garrick, and sang in the premieres of two Mozart operas. No fewer

than 10 portraits were painted of her by leading artists and numerous prints made. Jane Austen and

many other writers commented on her. 

Kitty retired from the stage in 1834, a wealthy woman, and in a fairly unusual turn of events the Earl

of Essex who had been her secret lover for about 15 years did the decent thing and married her

when his first wife died. He himself died a year later, sad for Kitty, but not so sad that he left her in

possession of a house in Belgrave Square and a position at the forefront of society as a musical

patron. 

Maxwell has published a biography of her and will tell this dramatic story with many illustrations, a little music and some wit at our next meeting.