Mary Anne Davenport was a Shakespearean actress born and married in Cornwall.
Little is known of Mary Anne Davenport's early life. Her stage début was in Bath on 21 December 1784, when she appeared as Lappet in Henry Fielding's The Miser. She then went on to perform in Exeter and Bristol, where she met George Davenport, another provincial actor.
The couple were itinerant players before they married in Penzance in 1787, where Mary Anne's occupation was listed as "comedian" on the marriage certificate.
In 1792 Mary Anne Davenport opened as Rosalind in As You Like It, and continued to specialise in young heroines. However, after having to play the part of an old woman she was so successful in the role that she was never able to return to her former line.
After staring as Mrs Hardcastle in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer in 1794, Mary Anne Davenport remained working at Covent Garden for the following 36 years, and by 1824 was earning decent sums of money from her craft.
After her husband's death in 1814, Mary Ann Davenport lived in seclusion with her daughter, officially retiring from the stage in 1830 after appearing for the last time as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet.
Mary Anne Davenport died at her house in Brompton on 8 May 1843 aged 84.
