{{Short description|British actress}} {{for|the Canadian writer|Margaret Marshall Saunders}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use British English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Margaret Saunders | image = Mrs Saunders Benefit performance at the Theatre Royal.jpg | caption = 1721 benefit performance | birth_name = | birth_date = 1686 | birth_place = Weymouth | death_date = 1745 | death_place = London }} '''Margaret Saunders''' or '''Mrs Saunders''' (1686–1745) was a British actress.
==Life== Saunders was born in Weymouth where her father Jonathon Saunders made wine barrels. Her mother's family were called Wallis and her maternal grandfather was a naval officer. She attended a boarding school at Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire before being apprenticed to Mrs Fane who was a milliner in the Strand.<ref name=msrb>{{Citation |title=Margaret Saunders |date=2004-09-23 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24701 |access-date=2025-05-21 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/24701 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> At the age of sixteen she began her acting career at Drury Lane Theatre due to an introduction by her lifelong friend Anne Oldfield.
In 1708 and 1709 she was billed as "Mrs Saunders" for her performances at Drury Lane. but it appears that she never married.<ref name=highfill>{{cite book|last1=Highfill|first1=Philip H. Jr.|last2=Burnim|first2=Kalman A.|last3=Langhans|first3=Edward A.|title=A biographical dictionary of actors, actresses, musicians, dancers, managers & other stage personnel in London, 1660-1800.|date=1991|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|location=Carbondale|isbn=0809315254|page=214|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfcTUoBuM9IC&pg=PA214}}</ref> Saunders appeared in many significant roles<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Saunders, Margaret}}</ref> and she was well known for playing nurse maids. She earned a salary of fifty pounds a year as a member of the Drury Lane company from 1710.<ref name=msrb/>
Anne Oldfield died from cancer in October 1730 after a successful career. She was buried in Westminster Abbey. Saunders had lived with her from 1720 and she cared for her during her illness. She was left an annuity that was worth ten pounds a year.<ref name=aorb>{{Citation |title=Anne Oldfield |date=2004-09-23 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20677 |access-date=2025-05-21 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/20677 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> There is no record of Saunders acting except in 1743 when she appeared in a benefit performance for Mrs Younger of ''The Way of the World'' where she played Lady Wishfort. In 1744 there was a benefit performance for Saunders and in the following year her will was read.<ref name=msrb/>
==Selected roles== * Wishwell in ''The Double Gallant'' by Colley Cibber (1707) * Mrs Flimsy in ''The Fine Lady's Airs'' by Thomas Baker (1708) * Patch in ''The Busie Body'' by Susanna Centlivre (1709) * Dorothy in ''The Man's Bewitched'' by Susanna Centlivre (1709) * Buisy in ''The Apparition'' by Anonymous (1713) * Abigail in ''The Drummer'' by Joseph Addison (1716) * Prudentia in ''The Play is the Plot'' by John Durant Breval (1718)
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Margaret}} Category:1686 births Category:People from Weymouth, Dorset Category:Actresses from Dorset Category:1748 deaths Category:18th-century British actresses