Hannah Pritchard was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress.

Born Hannah Vaughan and married to an actor William Pritchard at a young age, she first attracted attention as a singer at Bartholomew Fair

Bartholomew Fair

Bartholomew Fayre: A Comedy is a comedy in five acts by Ben Jonson, the last written of his four great comedies. It was first staged on October 31, 1614 at the Hope Theatre by the Lady Elizabeth's Men...

 in 1733 She was born on 11th July 1711 to her father Oliver Pritchard. Her mothers name is not known. She was soon playing a wide variety of parts, mostly comedy, at the Haymarket

Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...

, Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

 and Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

. When David Garrick

David Garrick

David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...

 became patentee of Drury Lane in 1747 she joined his company and played with him for twenty years, her last appearance being as Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth may refer to:*Lady Macbeth, from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth**Queen Gruoch of Scotland, the real-life Queen on whom Shakespeare based the character...

 - one of her greatest roles - in April 1768, a few months before her death. Her talents were highly thought of by the critics of the day. Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...

, however, said of her that "she no more thought of the play ... than a shoemaker thinks of the skin out of which the piece of leather of which he is making a pair of shoes is cut".

Daughter

Her daughter, who had studied under Garrick, and whose beauty created a sensation when she made her debut (as Miss Pritchard) in October 1756, did not live up to the expectations then raised. She married in 1762 the actor "Gentleman" John Palmer, retired from the stage at the same time as her mother and after her husband's death married a political writer named Lloyd.

Death

She died after obtaining horrific injuries caused by her profounded love of horse riding. Her horse, named Coke, was buried next to her when it too died. Her death was recorded as just a day after her birthday 12th July 1768