Harriet Pitt
| Harriett Pitt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1748? |
| Died | 10 December, 1814 |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | actress and mother to an acting family |
| Partner(s) | Charles Dibdin |
Harriett Pitt (1748? – 10 December, 1814) was a British actress and dancer.
Life
Pitt was born to Ann Pitt who was an actress. In 1848 she was appearing doing recitations. The theatrical career did not involve major parts but she did appear at the Drury Lane Theatre and the Covent Garden Theatre. She established a relationship with Charles Dibdin who already had a family and together they had three children. The eldest was the songwriter Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin who was born in 1768, the next was a daughter known also as Harriett Pitt, in 1770 and another son and songwriter was Thomas John Dibdin who was born in 1771.[1]
Harriett gave birth to Thomas in Russell Court, Covent Garden, he was named after his father's librettist Isaac Bickerstaffe and their character Mungo in an afterpiece entitled The Padlock. Charles Dibdin made his theatrical debut opposite his elder brother Thomas John Dibdin in David Garrick's[2] The Jubilee in 1775. Soon after this performance, his parents separated, and Charles changed his surname to Pitt.[3] David Garrick was Thomas's godfather and he looked after the family when the elder Charles Dibdin abandoned this family too.[1] Harriett entrusted the upbringing of her children to her brother, Cecil, and he sent both boys away to a boarding school at Barnard Castle. The school kept them there even during the holidays and Thomas did not return for five years.[4]
Harriett appeared at the Drury Lane Theatre in the 1770s as she started to use the name "Mrs Davenett". Still using this new name she obtained regular work at the Covent Gardem during most of the 1780s and until 1793.[1]
Pitt retired in 1793 and she was buried, with her mother, in 1814.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dwayne Brenna, ‘Pitt, Ann (c.1720–1799)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2013 accessed 9 Feb 2015
- ↑ McConnell Stott, p. 80
- ↑ Kilburn, Matthew. "Dibdin, Charles Isaac Mungo", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed December 2012 (subscription required)
- ↑ Matthew Kilburn, ‘Dibdin, Charles Isaac Mungo (1768–1833)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 9 Feb 2015