Louisa Fontenelle

Louisa Fontenelle (31 August 176930 October 1799) was an actress and singer who played in London and Scotland before marrying and heading off to America to join the Boston Theatre. In Dumfries, her acting came to the attention of Robert Burns, who wrote a number of poems for her.

Early life Fontenelle was born in London on 31 August 1769, the daughter of John and Ann Fontenell. She was sent to boarding school, after which, having "discovered so much agreeable vivacity", she was persuaded by friends to take up acting as a career.

Early career Fontenelle was recommended by the proprietor of the Public Advertiser, Henry Sampson Woodfall,

Following her success in her debut role, she appeared as Sophia in John O’Keeffe’s The Toy and a controversial female MacHeath in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera. She was in the cast of Such Things Have Been and went on to play Mademoiselle D'Epingle in Richard Steele's The Funeral. After her benefit night on 2 May 1789, Fontenelle received adverse criticism for overacting and she and Thomas Harris parted company. She went north to join the company at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, where she played in various roles for a season before returning to London to play at the Haymarket Theatre. In December of the following year, Burns wrote another address for her benefit night. He also wrote a poem for her entitled To Miss Fontenelle, on Seeing her in a Favorite Character.

Marriage and emigration While at Dumfries, she also caught the eye of, and later married, the theatre manager, John Brown Williamson, a friend of Burns. Shortly after they were married, in 1796, the couple emigrated to Boston, America. In their American debuts in the Boston Theatre, John played the Moor in Othello and Louisa 'Little Pickle' in Bickerstaff's The Spoil'd Child. Williamson's acting was criticised in that he "lacked flexibility of countenance." Fontenelle's role, on the other hand, was described as "the most astonishing and brilliant display of theatrical genius ever exhibited in America." After their first season, Williamson became manager of the Boston Theatre but his "unfortunate habit of undervaluing everything American" led to failure "through a want of co-operation and support from the stockholder." They later joined the Charleston Company of Actors in South Carolina and played in Boston and New York.