Charlotte Vandenhoff

Charlotte Elizabeth Vandenhoff (1818 – 31 July 1860), later Charlotte Swinbourne, was a British actress who appeared in leading theatres in London, New York and Philadelphia.

Life Vandenhoff was born in Liverpool in 1818. Her parents were Elizabeth (born Pike) and the actor John Vandenhoff. Her younger brother was the elocutionist and actor George Vandenhoff.

Her debut as an actress was in the role of Juliet at Drury Lane on 11 April 1836. She soon appeared at the other leading theatres of Covent Garden and the Haymarket. She played several roles in The Lady of Lyons (Imogen, Cordelia, and Pauline). In 1837 she took the role of Lydia in the first production of The Love Chase by Sheridan Knowles.

In 1852, she was chosen to be in John Tallis's "Shakespeare Gallery" in a painting titled Miss Vandenhoff as Juliet (with a quote from Act 3, scene ii). Engravings were made and potters in Stoke made figurines of her.

In 1845 she and her father appeared at Covent Garden in Sophocles. Her father played Creon and she played, in what some thought her "great triumph", "Antigone".

Having taken ill in Birmingham, Vandenhoff died in 1860 in Handsworth, Staffordshire. Her father died in the following year.