Charlotte Thompson

Charlotte Thompson (known after marriage as Mrs. Loraine Rogers; 1843–1898) was an English-born American actress. Debuting at the age of eleven, she went on to star in theater productions around the U.S. and Canada. As Jane Eyre, the consensus of critical opinion was that her creation of that role was one of the most remarkable known to the stage.

Early life She was born in Bradford, England, June 7, 1843.

She came to the U.S. with her mother and a brother, three years her senior, in November 1853. Her father, Lysander Thompson, had preceded his family to the U.S., and was engaged as a comedian and actor in one of the leading theaters of New York City at the time of their arrival. He died on July 28, 1854, little more than six months after his family arrived in New York. Her mother, too, was ill and bedridden, and with no financial support available for the family, Thompson determined she would try to earn a living by following in her father's profession.

Still a child artist, she was now in great demand among theatrical managers, who were aware of her attractive style, and that she was the pet of audiences wherever she performed. She performed in Mr. Fleming's company Savannah, Georgia, Columbus, Georgia, and Macon, Georgia and other cities till April 1859. She then started for Toronto, Canada to play a star engagement of two weeks, which was extended to five; thence to Troy, New York, where she played as a star four weeks. She bègan the next season in Washington, D.C. as a stock star, and remained there until the opening of Owen's Varieties Theatre, New Orleans, in November 1859. At the end of the season in New Orleans, May 1860, she played star engagements at Troy and Albany, New York.

Charlotte Thompson died at her home in Montgomery on April 22, 1898, after an illness which lasted only a few hours.