# Helena Faucit > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Helena_Faucit > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Helena_Faucit.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Faucit > Source revision: 1326338500 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English actress (1817–1898)}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} thumb|right|Helena Faucit '''Helena Saville Faucit, Lady Martin'''{{refn|group=nb|Sometimes spelled '''Helen Fawcett'''.{{cite book |last1=Hale |first1=Sarah J |title=Woman's Record: Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from the Creation to A.D. 1868 |date=1874 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |page=843 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA843 |accessdate=4 May 2019}}{{cite journal |title=The Drama |journal=The Reader: A Review of Literature, Science and Art |date=30 July 1864 |volume=IV |issue=83 |page=146 |location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToBNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA146 |accessdate=4 May 2019}}}} (11 October 1817 – 31 October 1898) was an English actress. ==Early life== Born in London in 1817, she was the daughter of actors [John Saville Faucit](/source/John_Saville_Faucit) and [Harriet Elizabeth Savill](/source/Harriet_Elizabeth_Savill). Her parents separated when she was a girl, and her mother went to live with [William Farren](/source/William_Farren) in 1825.Carol J. Carlisle, 'Saville , John Faucit (1783?–1853)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49703, accessed 2 Nov 2015] With her elder sister Harriet, she was trained for the stage by her step-uncle, Percy Farren. She debuted as [Juliet](/source/Juliet) at a small theatre in [Richmond](/source/Richmond%2C_London) in 1833. Her performance was praised by critics of ''[The Athenaeum](/source/Athenaeum_(British_magazine))'', but Farren delayed her professional debut to give her further training. ==Early career== Faucit's first professional appearance was made on 5 January 1836 at [Covent Garden](/source/Royal_Opera_House) as Julia in [James Sheridan Knowles](/source/James_Sheridan_Knowles)'s ''[The Hunchback](/source/The_Hunchback_(play))''.{{EB1911|wstitle=Faucit, Helena Saville |volume=10 |page=205 |inline=1}} Her debut, a spectacular success, placed her at once among the leading actresses in London, helping to fill the void left by the retirement of [Fanny Kemble](/source/Fanny_Kemble) in 1834. Her success in ''The Hunchback'' was followed by turns as Belvidera in [Thomas Otway](/source/Thomas_Otway)'s ''[Venice Preserv'd](/source/Venice_Preserv'd)'', and as Margaret in [Joanna Baillie](/source/Joanna_Baillie)'s ''The Separation''. Though her interpretation of Belvidera was received coldly by critics, she remained a favourite of playgoers; already in that first season, she was signed to a three-year contract at Covent Garden. ==Career with Macready== [[File:Memorial to Helena Faucit.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Helena Faucit in [St Tysilio's Church, Llantysilio](/source/St_Tysilio's_Church%2C_Llantysilio), Denbighshire]] [William Charles Macready](/source/William_Charles_Macready) joined the Covent Garden company in the middle of 1836. In the following year, Faucit played numerous Shakespearean roles, among them Juliet, Imogen (''[Cymbeline](/source/Cymbeline)''), Hermione (''[The Winter's Tale](/source/The_Winter's_Tale)''), [Beatrice](/source/Beatrice_(Much_Ado_About_Nothing)) (''[Much Ado About Nothing](/source/Much_Ado_About_Nothing)''), and Cordelia ([King Lear](/source/King_Lear)), alongside both Macready and the soon-to-retire [Charles Kemble](/source/Charles_Kemble). Her non-Shakespearean roles during the three years at Covent Garden included the female leads in [Lytton](/source/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton%2C_1st_Baron_Lytton)'s ''Duchess de la Vallière'', ''Lady of Lyons'', ''Richelieu'', ''The Sea Captain'', and ''Money'', in [Robert Browning](/source/Robert_Browning)'s ''[Strafford](/source/Strafford_(play))'', and in Knowles's ''[Woman's Wit](/source/Woman's_Wit_(Knowles_play))''. Faucit followed Macready to the [Haymarket Theatre](/source/Haymarket_Theatre) in 1840; in December of that year, however, she suffered an attack of a recurrent lung ailment. While she recuperated at the coast, rumours circulated that she was pregnant with Macready's child; her physicians published diagnoses that scotched these rumours. She returned to the Haymarket by May of 1841 playing the character Clara Douglas in Bulwer-Lytton's play ''Money'' and later performing in Zouch Troughton's ''Nina Sforza.'' After a visit to Paris and a short season at the [Haymarket](/source/Haymarket_Theatre), she joined the [Drury Lane](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Drury_Lane) company under Macready early in 1842. There she played [Lady Macbeth](/source/Lady_Macbeth_(Shakespeare)), Constance in ''King John'', [Desdemona](/source/Desdemona_(Othello)), and Imogen, and took part in the first production of [John Westland Marston](/source/John_Westland_Marston)'s ''[The Patrician's Daughter](/source/The_Patrician's_Daughter)'' (1842) and Browning's ''Blot on the Scutcheon'' (1843). Her Lady Macbeth of the 1843 season was, however, a failure; Macready found her conception deficient in "heart", and she was physically unable to achieve the commanding presence of [Sarah Siddons](/source/Sarah_Siddons), as Macready wished. She was, moreover passed over for Rosalind in favour of [Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett](/source/Louisa_Cranstoun_Nisbett); this role would later become one of her best-known Shakespearean roles. Nevertheless, Macready considered her "beyond all compare" the best English actress of the period. ==After Macready== When Macready left for America in 1843, Faucit emerged as an even greater celebrity. In the mid-1840s she toured in Scotland and Ireland. Her most celebrated roles included Pauline in ''Lady of Lyons'' at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, [Antigone](/source/Antigone_(Sophocles)) at [Dublin](/source/Dublin), and various Shakespearean roles, including a revamped and now-successful Lady Macbeth. Acting with Macready in Paris in 1845, she received so much applause that Macready was jealous, and the two did not act together again. thumb|upright=0.9|Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London Faucit occasionally returned to London, but her main activity for the remainder of her career was touring, especially in [Manchester](/source/Manchester) and in [Sheffield](/source/Sheffield), where her brother owned a theatre. In 1846 she returned to Dublin to perform in [Euripides](/source/Euripides)' ''[Iphigenia at Aulis](/source/Iphigenia_at_Aulis)'', which proved as popular as her Antigone had been the previous year. In October 1846 she took the part of Juliet to the Romeo of [Gustavus Brooke](/source/Gustavus_Vaughan_Brooke) at Dublin.[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogBr-By.html#brooke1 Brooke, Gustavus Vaughan (1818–1866)] at [Dictionary of Australian Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_Australian_Biography) In 1850, she acted in the title role of Iolanthe in [Theodore Martin](/source/Theodore_Martin)'s adaptation of ''[King René's Daughter](/source/King_Ren%C3%A9's_Daughter)''.Martin, Theodore. ''King René's daughter: a Danish lyrical drama'', W. Crosby and H.P. Nichols, 1850 The last time she assayed the role was in 1876 at the [Lyceum Theatre](/source/Lyceum_Theatre%2C_London), London, with [Henry Irving](/source/Henry_Irving)'s company opposite Irving as Count Tristan.[http://www.henryirving.co.uk/correspondence_subject.php?pageNum_rs_corr=16&totalRows_rs_corr=491&subject=6 Correspondence of Henry Irving], 6 June 1876, Henry Irving Foundation Centenary Project website. Retrieved 12 January 2012 ==Career after marriage== In 1851 she married [Theodore Martin](/source/Theodore_Martin), who was later knighted, making her Lady Martin. She continued to act occasionally for charity. One of her last appearances was as Beatrice, on the opening of the [Shakespeare Memorial](/source/Shakespeare_Memorial) at [Stratford-on-Avon](/source/Stratford-on-Avon) on 23 April 1879. In 1881 there appeared in ''[Blackwood's Magazine](/source/Blackwood's_Magazine)'' the first of her ''Letters on some of Shakespeares Heroines'', which were published in book form as ''On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters'' (1885). Lady Martin died at her home at [Bryntysilio Hall](/source/Bryntysilio_Hall) near [Llangollen](/source/Llangollen) in 1898, aged 81. There is a tablet dedicated to her in [Llantysilio church](/source/Llantysilio_church). There is also a tablet to her in the Shakespeare Memorial with a portrait figure, and the marble pulpit in the Shakespeare church with her portrait as Saint Helena was given in her memory by her husband. She is buried in [Brompton Cemetery](/source/Brompton_Cemetery), London. ==Notes== {{reflist|group=nb}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * ''Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States'', edited by Matthews and Hutton (New York, 1886). * Sir Theodore Martin, ''Helena Faucit'' (London, 1900). ==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{Internet Archive author|sname=Helena Faucit}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Faucit, Helena}} Category:1817 births Category:1898 deaths Category:English stage actresses Category:English Shakespearean actresses Category:19th-century English actresses Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery Category:Actresses from London --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Helena Faucit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Faucit) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Faucit?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.