Susanna Centlivre

Susanna Centlivre (c. 1667 to 1670 – 1 December 1723), born Susanna Freeman and also known professionally as Susanna Carroll, was an English poet, actress, and "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century". Centlivre’s “pieces continued to be acted after the theatre managers had forgotten most of her contemporaries.” During a long career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, she became known as the second woman of the English stage, after Aphra Behn.

Life

The main source of information on Centlivre's early life is Giles Jacob, who claimed he had received an account of her life directly from her. This was published in The Poetical Register of 1719, but it includes little information about her early life. Centlivre was probably baptised Susanna Freeman at Whaplode, Lincolnshire on 20 November 1669, as the daughter of William Freeman of Holbeach and his wife, Anne, the daughter of Mr Marham, a gentleman of Lynn Regis, Norfolk. Her father was a dissenter and a parliamentarian; as a result, the family surely faced persecution at the Restoration. Several biographical sources state that Holbeach was the possible place of her birth or at least the place where she spent her childhood. There is some mystery surrounding her early life; however, it is generally believed that her father died when she was three, her mother died shortly after remarrying, and her step-father married soon after that. Abuse by this new stepmother may have motivated Centlivre to leave her childhood home before the age of 15.