Margaret Kennedy

Margaret Kennedy (née Doyle; died 23 January 1793) was a contralto singer and actress. She was best known for her performances in male roles, especially in the operas of Thomas Arne.

Early career (1776–1779) Kennedy was born with the name Margaret Doyle, but the place and date of her birth are not known. She had Irish ancestry, and she may have been born in Ireland or possibly in London. She was discovered by Thomas Arne while performing as a singer at an inn in St Giles, London. She studied under Arne and sang at the Haymarket Theatre in three concerts organised by Arne for his pupils in 1775, appearing in another pupils' concert in early 1776. She appeared in Arne's Comus at Covent Garden in March 1776. Her debut performance in The Beggar's Opera was greeted by protests because a woman was playing the role of a lead character.

She sang at Ranelagh Gardens in 1777 and 1778, in the theatre, and at festivals in Manchester, Oxford, and Winchester. She subsequently appeared as "Mrs Kennedy".

After 1779, Kennedy performed as Young Meadows in Love in a Village and Don Carlos in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Duenna. She completed her career at Covent Garden. While there, she performed in many roles, including Don Alfonso in Thomas Arnold's The Castle of Andalusia, Patrick in John O'Keeffe's The Poor Soldier and Mrs Casey in his Fontainebleau, Margaret and then Allen-a-Dale in William Shield's Robin Hood, as well as parts in Shield's Rosina and Omai, and also in Henry Fielding's Tom Thumb, William Kenrick's Lady of the Manor, and Dibdin's The Islanders. Kennedy also sang at concerts in Vauxhall Gardens from 1781 to 1785, in the Drury Lane oratorios (1778–84), and in the Handel commemorations of 1784, 1786, and 1791.

She retired from public performance in 1789, appearing for the last time on the theatre stage in the role of William in Shield's Rosina on 2 April 1789.

Later life (1790s–death) Kennedy's health declined and she died in Bayswater in January 1793, where her husband was practising at a lying-in hospital . She was buried at St Anne's Church, Soho, on 3 February 1793.