{{Short description|Scottish actress and theatre manager}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use British English|date=September 2015}} '''Harriet Siddons''' (née '''Murray'''; 16 April 1783{{snd}} 2 November 1844), sometimes known as '''Mrs Henry Siddons''', was a Scottish actress and theatre manager. [[File:Harriet Siddons Wood.jpg|thumb|Harriet Siddons, portrait by John Wood]] thumb|300px|Theatre Royal, Edinburgh thumb|29 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh thumb|The grave of Henry and Harriet Siddons, Greyfriars Kirkyard
Edinburgh referred to her as '''"Our" Mrs Siddons''' to distinguish her from her English mother-in-law, Sarah Siddons.
==Life== She was born Harriet Murray, the daughter of actor Charles Murray and his second wife Ann Murray born at Norwich, Norfolk on 16{{nbsp}}April 1783.{{sfn|Highfill|Burnim|Langhans|1991|page=391}}
As a young child she appeared at Bath as Prince Arthur on 1{{nbsp}}July 1793.{{sfn|Highfill|Burnim|Langhans|1991|page=391}} Her first London appearance was at Covent Garden Theatre as Perdita in ''The Winter's Tale'', 12 May 1798. It was at Covent Garden in 1801 that she and Henry Siddons first appeared on stage together. They married the following year. The two remained at the theatre until the summer of 1805, when they joined the Drury Lane Theatre Company together. She left it with him in 1809. At Covent Garden she played a range of parts, such as Rosalind, Viola, Lady Townly, Lucy Ashton, Desdemona, Beatrice, Portia, Lady Teazle, and Miss Hardcastle. At Drury Lane on 24 September 1805 she was Juliet to Robert William Elliston's Romeo.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Siddons, Henry|volume=52}}</ref>
After moving to Edinburgh in 1809 with Henry, to take over the Theatre Royal at the east end of Princes Street<ref name="digital.nls.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/playbills/history.html|title=History - Playbills of the Theatre Royal Edinburgh - National Library of Scotland}}</ref> she helped her husband in his managerial work, and also appeared alongside him on stage. Her first Edinburgh role was on 9 November 1809 in the play "The Honey Moon" in which she played Juliana.{{sfn|Highfill|Burnim|Langhans|1991|page=391}}
Together they first lived at 3 Maitland Street<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1810</ref> then at 3 Forth Street.<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1814</ref>
In 1814 the Drury Lane management made her a tempting offer to play leading female parts to Edmund Kean, but she declined. When Henry Siddons died in 1815 the affairs of the Edinburgh Theatre were in a bad state, but, with her brother William Henry Murray, she continued to steer clear of all difficulties, and eventually was able to retire at the end of her 21 years' lease of the theatre. The turning point in the fortunes of the house had been the production on 15 February 1819 of Isaac Pocock's ''Rob Roy'', in which Charles Mackay made a hit in the role of Bailie Nicol Jarvie. When the same piece was played by royal command before George IV, on the occasion of his visit to Scotland, Siddons played, for that night only, the part of Diana Vernon.<ref name="DNB"/>
Due to English-Scottish tensions and post-Jacobite feelings, the promotion of Scots-based stories had to be placed in the past and labelled as fictions to disguise their anti-English stance and Sir Walter Scott wrote many pieces especially for the theatre. Scott was a close friend to Harriet.<ref name="digital.nls.uk"/>
In 1827 Mrs Siddons moved to 23 Windsor Street,<ref>Grants Old and New Edinburgh vol V p.158</ref> a handsome Georgian townhouse designed by William Henry Playfair.<ref>Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker</ref> The house lies around ten minutes walk from the site of the Theatre.
In 1830 Mrs Siddons paid the final of 21 annual rental payments of £2000 to the trustees of the owner of the Theatre Royal, Mr John Jackson, and thereafter became outright owner of the theatre.<ref>Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.350</ref>
Siddons' farewell benefit took place on 29 March 1830, and Sir Walter Scott wrote for the occasion an address which she delivered. Her final role on this night was as Lady Townley in the play "The Provoked Husband". Mrs Siddons continued to live in Edinburgh for the rest of her life and became a popular figure in Edinburgh society. The city was very proud of her and referred to her as "Our Mrs Siddons".<ref>Grants Old and New Edinburgh vol V</ref>
She moved to 29 Abercromby Place in her final years - a more central location for society affairs.<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1844</ref>
She died at home on Abercromby Place on 2 November 1844 aged 61.<ref name="DNB"/> She is buried with her husband in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. The grave lies in the south-west corner next to the entrance to the "Covenanters Prison".
==Epilogue==
Her brother, William Henry Murray took out a 21 year lease on the theatre from Harriet in 1830 and ran the Theatre Royal as manager from 1830 to 1851. The use was relocated to Broughton Street soon after his retiral, built in a high Victorian style. It original theatre was demolished in 1895 to make way for the General Post Office Scottish headquarters building.
All that remains of the original is a cast-iron hitching post on the pavement edge where riders would hitch their horses outside the Theatre.
==Selected roles== * Rosa Marchmont in ''Life'' by Frederick Reynolds (1800) * Marian in ''The School for Prejudice'' by Thomas Dibdin (1801) * Lady Memlmoth in ''Folly as it Flies'' by Frederick Reynolds (1801) * Lauretta in ''Delays and Blunders'' by Frederick Reynolds (1802) * Rosalie in ''The Three Per Cents'' by Frederick Reynolds (1803) * Emily in ''A Prior Claim'' by Henry James Pye (1805) * Miss Emily in ''The School for Friends'' by Marianne Chambers (1805) * Emily in ''The Vindictive Man'' by Thomas Holcroft (1806) * Lauretta in ''Faulkener'' by William Godwin (1807) * Adriana in ''The Siege of St Quintin'' by Theodore Hook (1808) * Ellen in ''Grieving's a Folly'' by Richard Leigh (1809)
==In fiction== Harriet Siddons features as a minor character in Helen Graham's novel ''The Real MacKay: Walter Scott's favourite comedian'' (2024).<ref>Graham, Helen (2024), ''The Real Mackay: Walter Scott's favourite comedian'', Troubador Publishing Ltd., Market Harborough, {{isbn|9781805143192}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
;Bibliography *{{cite book|first1=Philip H.|last1=Highfill|first2=Kalman A.|last2=Burnim|first3=Edward A. |last3=Langhans|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfcTUoBuM9IC|year=1991|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-1525-3}}
;Attribution {{DNB|wstitle=Siddons, Henry|volume=52|ref=none}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddons, Harriet}} Category:1783 births Category:1844 deaths Category:Scottish child actresses
Category:Scottish theatre managers and producers Category:18th-century Scottish actresses Category:19th-century Scottish actresses Category:19th-century British actresses Category:Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard Category:19th-century Scottish businesspeople