Frances Brett Hodgkinson

Frances Brett Hodgkinson (1771–1803) was an English-born American theater actress. She played major roles in high comedy and tragedy plays and was also a noted performer of opera. She was the second wife of John Hodgkinson, a famous American stage actor. Biography Hodgkinson was born in 1771 in England to a family of performers. Her parents, William and Hannah, also referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Brett, were both stage actors and were prominent performers of the Bath-Bristol company and Foote's Haymarket. Hodgkinson was the eldest in the family. Hodgkinson and her mother came to Bath and Bristol when William Brett died in 1789. In 1790, English actor John Hodgkinson moved from Exeter to join the Bath-Bristol company and eventually became the lead actor of the troupe. This is where he met the then Frances Brett. Hodgkinson was married to his first wife and for this reason, he emigrated to the United States to marry Frances Brett. John and Frances Hodgkinson had two daughters and one son. Frances Hodgkinson contracted tuberculosis but still performed on stage despite her illness. In History of American Theatre, William Dunlap stated how she appeared so unwell when she played Letitia Hardy on June 15, 1803, and would perform several days later in The Stranger "looking so as to make the writer's heart ache". According to Dunlap, those around her had the impression that she was compelled to perform. She died in Philadelphia on September 27, 1803, due to tuberculosis and was buried at New York's Saint John's Cemetery.