Peg Woffington and Her World

Margaret Woffington spent her life as an actress living on her own, cultivating her reputation as a beauty, the friendship of her theatrical fellows, and members of fashionable society. She was prone to rivalries with other actresses, and moved often between the London and Dublin stages. Her specialty was breeches roles: dressing as a man and playing a man's role nearly straight, or dressing as a man and playing it as a travesty (with her woman's body emphasized). Her one long-time liaison was with the foremost actor of the day David Garrick. It ended in sorrow--she apparently wanted to marry him, but he found her unacceptable as a social choice. But when John Rich, manager of Covent Garden in London, started the Beefsteak Club in 1749, she was the first female member of a (previously) all male dining club, in 1750 she became president of the club by election. She apparently suffered a stroke while playing Rosalind in "As You Like It." She retired to her hard-won house, a villa in Teddington where she was cared for by an admirer for her last three years.