Sarah Woolgar

Sarah Jane Woolgar (8 July 1824 – 8 September 1909) was an English stage actress. She had leading roles in plays by notable dramatists of the day, including original productions. She had a long association with the Adelphi Theatre in London.

Early life and career Sarah Woolgar was born in Gosport, Hampshire, on 8 July 1824. Her father, a tailor and unsuccessful actor, gave her a professional training. Making her first appearance at Plymouth in May 1836, as Leolyn in The Wood Demon, she quickly acquired a reputation as a "young phenomenon", performing at Halifax, York, Nottingham, and on the Worcester circuit. Subsequently she studied music, and at Birmingham in 1841, during the visit of Joseph and Mary Ann Wood, the operatic vocalists, sang for five nights as Adalgisa in Norma. In November 1842 she fulfilled a successful engagement at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, where she appeared as Ophelia in Hamlet.

On 9 October 1843 Miss Woolgar made her London debut at the Adelphi Theatre as Cleopatra in Charles Selby's burletta Antony and Cleopatra. With the Adelphi she was long associated. Her first original character there was in T. Egerton Wilks's romantic drama The Roll of the Drum in October 1843. In April 1844 she joined Robert and Mary Anne Keeley at the Lyceum Theatre, London, and after appearing in several light pieces she rendered to great advantage the part of Mercy in Stirling's version of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit.

Lyceum Theatre In 1856 she joined the Lyceum company under Charles Dillon, appearing there in September as Florizel in William Brough's burlesque Perdita, to the Perdita of Marie Wilton, who then made her metropolitan debut. In October she was the original Constance in The Three Musketeers.

The following Christmas she sustained a leading character in the Oriental pantomime Lalla-Rookh. In January 1858 she was the original Countess de Montelons in Leigh Hunt's comedy Lovers' Amazements.

Later years Failing to keep step with the steady march towards naturalness, she came to be considered stilted and over-pronounced. On 15 May 1878 a testimonial performance of The Green Bushes was given on her behalf at Drury Lane, when Madame Céleste made her last appearance on the stage. In May 1879 she reappeared at the Adelphi as Mrs Candour in a revival of The School for Scandal, and there in April 1880 she played Mrs O'Kelly in the first performance given in England of Boucicault's The Shaughraun. In August following, at the Haymarket, she was the original Miss Sniffe in Boucicault's comedy A Bridal Tour. She remained on the stage until 1883.

Mrs Mellon died at her residence in Vardens Road, Wandsworth Common, after a very brief illness, on 8 September 1909, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery beside her husband, whom she survived forty-two years. She left two daughters, of whom the younger, Mary Woolgar Mellon, became an actress.