Popular as a playwright, novelist, and critic, Elizabeth Inchbald was one of the most famous women writers of her day. Born on 15 October 1753 to a family of middle-class Catholics residing near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Inchbald was an unusually intelligent young girl, showing an early appetite for both reading and the stage. She tried unsuccessfully to join a Norwich theater company, and meeting no encouragement there, at age eighteen ran away to London to become an actor. Two months later, in June of 1772, she married Joseph Inchbald, a much older established actor who had courted her before she left home. Shortly after the wedding, Joseph Inchbald engaged with a Bristol theater company in the role of King Lear. Elizabeth Inchbald's stage debut in the role of Cordelia took place…
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Citation: Waters, Mary. "Elizabeth Inchbald". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2299, accessed 22 November 2024.]
