Nannette Johnston

{{Short description|British stage actress}} thumb|200px|Johnston in 1812. '''Nannette Johnston''' (born 1782) was a British stage actress and dancer active during the Regency era. She was born in London as the daughter the actor William Parker, but educated in Edinburgh where her father was working and began her career as a dancer. In 1796 she married the actor Henry Erskine Johnston, with whom she had six children, and the then went to Dublin for a season before heading to London where she acted at Covent Garden and the Haymarket. <ref>Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.200-1</ref> They both moved to Drury Lane for two seasons, before returning to Covent Garden.<ref> Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.201-2</ref>

During a spell in Dublin in 1811 she abandoned her husband, who had been employed by the Peter Street Theatre, and began living with Thomas Harris, the manager of Covent Garden. She in turn left Harris in 1814 for a banker Harry Drummond, after which Harris released her from Covent Garden. She seems to have effectively retired apart from a benefit for the actor William A. Conway in 1816. In 1820 she was granted a divorce from Johnston and was still alive in 1826, but little is known about her later life.<ref> Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.202-3</ref>

==Selected roles== * Miss Blandford in ''Speed the Plough'' by Thomas Morton (1798) * Amelia Wildenhaim in ''Lovers' Vows'' by Elizabeth Inchbald (1798) * Aurelia in ''Five Thousand a Year'' by Thomas John Dibdin (1799) * Gangica in ''The Votary of Wealth'' by Joseph George Holman (1799) * Ruth Starch in ''The Wise Man of the East'' by Elizabeth Inchbald (1799) * Eloisa in ''Joanna of Montfaucon'' by Richard Cumberland (1800) * Amelrosa in ''Alfonso, King of Castile'' by Matthew Lewis (1802) * Honoria in ''Delays and Blunders'' by Frederick Reynolds (1802) * Lady Caroline Braymore in ''John Bull'' by George Colman the Younger (1803) * Laura in ''Hearts of Oak'' by John Allingham (1803) * Julia Clareville in ''The Sailor's Daughter'' by Richard Cumberland (1804) * Rosara in ''The Venetian Outlaw'' by Robert William Elliston (1805) * Olivia in ''The Delinquent'' by Frederick Reynolds (1805) * Matilda in ''Edgar'' by George Manners (1806) *Zorilda in ''Timour the Tartar'' by Matthew Lewis (1811) * Lady Julia Sandford in ''The Gazette Extraordinary'' by Joseph George Holman (1811) * Almeyda in ''The Renegade'' by Frederick Reynolds (1812)

==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: Hough to Keyse''. SIU Press, 1975.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Nanette}} Category:18th-century British actors Category:19th-century British people Category:English stage actresses Category:18th-century British actresses Category:19th-century British actresses Category:19th-century English actresses Category:Actresses from London Category:1782 births Category:Year of death unknown