KEMBLE, FRANCES ANNE (Mrs. FANNY KEM BLE) (1809-93). An English actress and au thor, born in London, November 27, 1809, daugh ter of Charles Kemble. She was educated largely in France, and made her first appearance on the stage Octobar 5, 1829, in the character of Juliet, reviving the fortones of the Covent Garden Thea tre nailer her father's management. This was followed by a series of brilliant successes in Por tia. Lady Teazle. and other parts. till she was compared with Mrs. Siddons, her famous aunt. Her crowning, triumph was as Julia in Sheridan Knowles's masterpiece, The Hunchback, written expressly for her. in 1832 she came to New York with her father. making her American &but as Bianca in Fazio, and exciting great enthusiasm. Two years later she married Pierce Butler of Philadelphia, and retired. living in that city and on the Butler estate in South Caro lina. In 1847 she had left her husband. and re appeared on the English stage. She returned its 184'J to the United States, and having been di vorced frosts Mr. Butler, resumed her maiden name, and went to reside in Lenox, Mass. Later, she gave public readings front Shakespeare and other dramatic authors in the principal cities of the United States and Great Britain, an occu pation she much preferred to regular acting.
She had a magnificent presence, her voice was flexible, ample, and harmonious, and her self possession remarkable. During the War of the Rebellion she resided in England, and contrib uted valuable articles to the London Times on the evils of slavery. Among her other works are: Francis the First, an Historical Drama (1832); Journal of Frances Anne Butler (1835): Poems (1344); A Year of Consolation (1547), descrip tive of a tour to Italy; Journal of a Residence Nn a Georgian Pia It tat hAl in 1838-39 (1863): Record of a Girlhood (1878-79); Records of Later Life (1SS2) : Votes Upon Some of Shakespeare's Plays (1SR2) ; Poems ( 1SS3) ; Far A way and Long A go, a story (1889) ; Further Records (1891). Pier death occurred in London. January 15, 1893.
Consult, besides the autobiographical works men tioned above: The Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (London, 1895) ; Parton, in Eminent Women of the Age (Hartford, Conn., 1869).