{{short description|Scottish actress}} {{Use British English|date=September 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Margaret Bicknell | birth_name = Margaret Younger<ref name=goff>Goff, Moira. ''Bicknell [''née'' Younger], Margaret (1681&ndash;1723) – Actress and Dancer''{{Clarify|date=August 2010|reason=what is source? a book? an article? worldcat.org has various listings for both under name "moira goff" but none styled anywhere close to ''Bicknell [née Younger], Margaret (1681&ndash;1723), actress and dancer''}}</ref> | birth_date = {{circa}} 1695 | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | death_date = 1723 (aged {{circa}} 28) | death_place = London, England, Great Britain | occupation = Actress and dancer | website = }}

'''Margaret Bicknell''' ({{Circa}} 1695 – 1723) was a Scottish theatre actress and dancer.

==Early life and education== She was sister of Elizabeth Younger, an actress, who survived her some years. Younger informed Mrs. Saunders, a well-known actress who had for some years quitted the stage, that her father and mother, James and Margaret Younger, were born in Scotland. {{sfn|Knight|1886}}

==Career== Bicknell's first known appearance was at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, located in London, England, on 20 August 1702.{{sfn|Goff|2008}} On 7 November 1706, we hear of Mrs. Bicknell playing, at the Haymarket Theatre, "Edging, a Chambermaid," in ''The Careless Husband'' of Cibber, her associates including Wilks, Cibber, Mrs. Oldfield, and Mrs. Barry. {{sfn|Knight|1886}}

Subsequent years saw her appear as Miss Prue in Congreve's "Love for Love," Miss Hoyden in the "Relapse" of Vanbrugh, Melantha in "Marriage à la Mode," and other characters of which sauciness and coquetry are the chief features. Her name appears to a petition signed by Barton Booth and other actors of Drury Lane Theatre, presented apparently around 1710 to Queen Anne, complaming of the restrictions upon the performances of the petitioners imposed by the lord chamberlain.{{sfn|Knight|1886}} In 1713, she appeared in John Gay's comedy ''The Wife of Bath'' and two years later in ''The What D'Ye Call It''.

She remained at Drury Lane from 1708 to 1721, on 14 February of which year she 'created' the character of Lady Wrangle in Cibber's comedy, the "Refusal." Her last recorded appearance was on 2 April 1723. The 'Daily Journal' of 25 May following announces her death from consumption. {{sfn|Knight|1886}}

==Personal life== Her sister Elizabeth Younger was also a stage actress and dancer.{{sfn|Goff|2008}}

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== *{{DNB|wstitle=Bicknell, M|first=John Joseph |last=Knight|volume=5}} *{{cite book| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MX-Wtxq6L00C&q=%27%27Bicknell+Younger%2C+Margaret&pg=PA184| chapter = Margaret Bicknell | title = Women's Work: Making Dance in Europe before 1800 | editor = Lynn Brooks | first = Moira | last = Goff |pages=184–185 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year= 2008 |isbn= 9780299225339}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicknell, Margaret}} Category:1690s births Category:1723 deaths Category:18th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England Category:Actresses from London Category:Actresses from Edinburgh

Category:Scottish female dancers Category:18th-century British dancers Category:18th-century Scottish actresses