Chronology of early-modern British women playwrights

This is a chronological list of women playwrights who were active in England and Wales, and the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland before approximately 1800, with a brief indication of productivity.

Aphra Behn, Restoration playwright, by Peter Lely

Playwrights

Nota Bene: In cases where an author's date of birth is unknown, their period of professional activity has been used.

• Katherine of Sutton (abbess 1358–1376): rewrote several mystery plays
• Jane Lumley (1537–1578): first translator of Euripides into English
• Mary Sidney Herbert (1561–1621): translated one play
• Elizabeth Cary (1585–1639): wrote first original play in English by a woman
• Mary Wroth (1587–1652): primarily a poet; one drama extant
• Rachel Bourchier (Countess of Bath, née Fane; 1613–1680): wrote masques
• Jane Cavendish (1620/21–1669): co-authored a pastoral masque with her sister, Elizabeth Egerton
• Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673): author of closet dramas
• Elizabeth Egerton (1626–1663): co-authored a pastoral masque with her sister, Jane Cavendish
• Katherine Philips (1631–1664): mainly a poet; author of two plays (one unfinished)
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689): usually credited with being the first female professional playwright in English
• Elizabeth Polwheele (c. 1651 – c. 1691): two plays extant
• Anne Wharton (née Lee; 1659-1685): poet and verse dramatist
• Anne Finch (1661–1720): primarily a poet; author of verse dramas
• Delarivier Manley (1663 or c. 1670–1724): playwright
• Mary Pix (1666–1709): playwright
• Susannah Centlivre (c. 1667–1723): playwright
• Frances Boothby (fl. 1669–1670): author of the first original play by a woman to be produced in London
• Mary Davys (1674–1732): novelist; produced one play; had another published
• Penelope Aubin (c. 1679 – c. 1731): primarily a novelist; had one play produced
• Catherine Trotter (1679–1749): playwright
• Jane Wiseman (fl. c. 1682–1717): author of one produced play
• Mary Wortley Montagu (c. 1689–1762): wrote primarily in other genres
• Eliza Haywood (1693–1756): playwright; wrote primarily in other genres
• Ariadne (fl. 1694-95): pseudonym of unknown author of She Ventures and He Wins
• Elizabeth Cooper (née Price) (1698? – 1761?): actress, playwright, and poet
• Elizabeth Boyd (c. 1710 – 1745): wrote one play; wrote primarily in other genres
• Catherine Clive (1711–1785): actress; wrote farces with some success
• Charlotte Charke (1713–1760): playwright/actress/manager
• Eglantine Wallace (née Maxwell; died 1803): comedies and tragedy
• Charlotte Lennox (1720–1804): wrote primarily in other genres; two plays (one an adaptation)
• Frances Brooke (1723–1789): primarily a novelist; wrote comic opera
• Frances Sheridan (1724–1766): playwright
• Mary Latter (1725–1777): one tragedy produced
• Elizabeth Griffith (c. 1727 – 1793): playwright
• Charlotte Lennox (c. 1727 – 1804): playwright; primarily a novelist
• Jael Pye (née Mendez) (c. 1737 – 1782): published four works, each in a different genre
• Dorothea Celesia (baptised 1738, d. 1790): translated Voltaire's Tancrède
• Hannah Cowley (1743–1809): playwright and poet
• Hannah More (1745–1833): playwright; published in many genres
• Mary Bowes (1749–1800): published one play
• Charlotte Smith (1749–1806): novelist and poet; one comedy attributed to her
• Elizabeth Craven (1750–1828): writer of farces and pantomimes
• Sophia Lee (1750–1824): playwright
• Frances Burney (1752–1840): primarily a novelist; author of several plays, only one produced in her lifetime
• Sophia Burrell (1753–1802): author of two tragedies
• Elizabeth Inchbald (1753–1821): playwright
• Ann Yearsley (c. 1753 – 1806): primarily a poet; produced and published one play
• Hannah Brand (1754–1821): published playwright
• Margaret Holford(1757–1834): one play produced
• Harriet Lee (1757–1851): playwright
• Mary Robinson (1757–1800): wrote primarily in other genres; one play produced
• Jane West (1758–1852): wrote primarily in other genres
• Anne Plumptre (1760–1818): wrote primarily in other genres; translated dramas
• Elizabeth Kemble (1761–1836): known for acting
• Mariana Starke (1761/2–1838): author of four plays, not all produced; mainly a travel writer
• Joanna Baillie (1762–1851): prolific playwright
• Susanna Rowson (née Haswell) (1762–1824): British-American novelist, poet, playwright
• Jean Marishall (Jane Marshall) (fl. 1765–1788): one play
• Fanny Robertson (1765-1855): actor-manager, author of at least two plays
• Barbarina Brand (1768–1854): author of four published plays, one produced
• Anna Ross (b. 1773): performer; wrote comic opera
• Frances Burney (1776–1828): published two unproduced tragedies
• Jane Porter (1776–1850): two plays
• Margaret Holford (1778–1852): one play, neither published nor produced
• Jane Scott (1779–1839): theatre manager, actor, and playwright
• Mary Russell Mitford (1787–1855): playwright
• Felicia Hemans (1793–1835): primarily a poet; some verse drama
• Catherine Gore (1799–1861): eleven plays produced
• Catherine Crowe (1800–1876): primarily a fiction writer; two plays, one produced
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861): primarily a poet; one closet drama and one translation
• Elizabeth Polack (fl. 1830–1838): author of five plays, three surviving

See also

• List of biographical dictionaries of women writers in English
• List of early-modern women novelists (England, Wales, and Great Britain)
• List of early-modern women poets (England, Wales, and Great Britain)
• List of female poets
• List of feminist poets
• List of playwrights
• List of playwrights by nationality and date of birth
• List of poets
• List of women rhetoricians
• List of women writers
• Lists of writers
• Oxford period poetry anthologies
• Women Writers Project
• Women's writing (literary category)

References

• Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990. (Internet Archive)
• Buck, Claire, ed.The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature. Prentice Hall, 1992. (Internet Archive)
• Chadwyck-Healey Database of English Prose Drama (through 1750) and (1750–1939)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP, 2004.
• Robertson, Fiona, ed. Women's Writing, 1778–1838. Oxford: OUP, 2001. (Internet Archive)
• Schlueter, Paul, and June Schlueter. An encyclopedia of British women writers. Rutgers University Press, 1998. (Internet Archive)
• Todd, Janet, ed. British Women Writers: a critical reference guide. London: Routledge, 1989. (Internet Archive)

External links

• Bibliography of Early Modern Women Writers That Are In Print
• British Women Playwrights around 1800
• The Brown University Women Writers Project Archived 8 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine
• A Celebration of Women Writers
• Emory Women Writers Resource Project
• Images of Early Modern, 20th and 21st Century British Female Playwrights
• List of biographical dictionaries, with a focus on 17thc women writers
• London Theater People - 1660–1800
• Luminarium
• The Perdita Project
• The Restoration Comedy Project
• Romantic Circles
• Women Romantic-Era Writers
• The Women Writers Archive: Early Modern Women Writers Online