Anne Bracegirdle

• "Anne Bracegirdle", Westminster Abbey
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bracegirdle

Anne Bracegirdle (c. 1671 – 12 September 1748) was an English actress.

Precise date of birth is a source of dispute due to conflicting records of her life.

• Daughter of Justinian Bracegirdle, described as a coachman or coach-maker, and his wife Martha (née Furniss)
• Baptised in Northampton on 15 November 1671, although her tombstone says that she died at the age of 85 (suggesting that she was born around 1663).[

She was probably raised by actors Thomas and Mary Betterton from an early age, and it is speculated that she was the "little girl" referred to several times in playbills before 1688 for the Duke's Company, where Thomas Betterton was the big star.

Her name first appears in the Lord Chamberlain's accounts in 1688 as a member of the United Company and a few of her roles in the following years are known through surviving manuscript cast lists.

She played Semernia in Aphra Behn's The Widow Ranter in 1689,

By 1690 playing parts such as Lady Anne in Shakespeare's Richard III and Desdemona in Othello.

She soon became one of the important members of the company and an audience favourite, indicated by the frequency with which she spoke prologues and epilogues.