Kitty Clive

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1735 painting of Clive in her role as Philida

Catherine "Kitty" Clive (née Raftor; 1711-6 December 1785) was a British actress of considerable repute on the stages of London.

Most likely born in London, her father William Raftor was an Irishman and former officer in the French army under Louis XIV. Starting at approximately age 17, she worked at the Drury Lane theatre, shortly afterwards marrying George Clive, a barrister and brother to Baron Clive. The marriage was not a success, and she returned quickly to acting. In the early 1730s she fully established herself as a popular actress, and in 1747, she became one of the founding members of David Garrick's acting company. Her career onstage spanned over forty years, and according to K.A. Crouch, "[h]er pay places her among the very best actresses of her generation." She also tried her hand at writing farces, with some success.

She retired in 1769 to a villa in Twickenham that had been a gift from her friend Horace Walpole, dying there in 1785. She was buried at Twickenham: a poem inscribed on her commemorative plaque praises her generosity.

[edit] References

Crouch, K. A.. “Clive , Catherine (1711–1785).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 30 Nov. 2006.