# Frances Cross

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{{Short description|British stage actress (1707–1781)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Frances Cross''' (1707–1781) was a British [stage actress](/source/stage_actress).

From 1727 as '''Frances Shireburn''' she appeared at the [Drury Lane Theatre](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Drury_Lane). During her early years she established herself in a number of roles that she played repeatedly throughout her career including in Lady Darling in ''[The Constant Couple](/source/The_Constant_Couple)'', Mademoiselle D'Epingle in ''[The Funeral](/source/The_Funeral_(play))'', Mademoiselle in ''[The Provoked Wife](/source/The_Provoked_Wife)'' and Regan in ''[King Lear](/source/King_Lear)'', Lady Bountiful in ''[The Beaux' Stratagem](/source/The_Beaux'_Stratagem)'' and Mrs Motherly in [The Provoked Husband](/source/The_Provoked_Husband). She also appeared at [Bartholomew Fair](/source/Bartholomew_Fair) during the summer months.<ref name=":0">Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.71-72</ref> From 1735 she became involved in with fellow actor [Richard Cross](/source/Richard_Cross_(actor%2C_died_1760)) and began styling herself as Mrs Cross, although she did not formally marry him until 1751.<ref>Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.67</ref> She was widowed in 1760, and had a son also named Richard Cross who appeared alongside her at Drury Lane.

Apart from during the [Actor Rebellion of 1733](/source/Actor_Rebellion_of_1733) when she briefly moved to the [Haymarket Theatre](/source/Haymarket_Theatre) and two seasons at [Covent Garden](/source/Covent_Garden_Theatre) from 1739 and 1741, she spent the remainder of her career as an established part of the Drury Lane company.<ref name="Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.72">Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.72</ref> She has been described as a "[workhorse](/source/workhorse)" of the company playing numerous new roles as well as established ones each year, "rarely getting leading roles, but seldom being assigned tiny ones".<ref name="Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.72"/>

Cross died on 29 June 1781 in Hart Street, [Bloomsbury](/source/Bloomsbury).<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800: West to Zwingman''. SIU Press, 1973.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Frances}}

Category:18th-century British actresses
Category:1707 births
Category:1781 deaths
Category:Actresses from London

{{UK-stage-actor-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frances Cross](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Cross) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Cross?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.