Elizabeth Inchbald (1753–1821)
Timeline
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Birth of Elizabeth Simpson
Elizabeth Simpson, the eighth child of nine is born to Catholic parents, John and Mary Simpson, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England.
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Elizabeth’s father dies
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Elizabeth’s brother George joins the Norwich Players
Elizabeth also makes an unsuccessful attempt to join the acting troupe that year.
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Elizabeth moves to London
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Elizabeth Simpson marries Joseph Inchbald
Soon after her marriage, Elizabeth becomes a traveling provincial player (continued until after her husband's death), beginning with an appearance in Bristol on September 4 as Cordelia opposite Joseph’s King Lear.
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Elizabeth and Joseph travel to France
The Inchbalds visit France for two months during the summer, where Elizabeth studies French. This trip was essential to her later translations.
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Joseph Inchbald dies suddenly
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Elizabeth Inchbald returns to London
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Appears on the stage at Covent Garden
Appears on the London stage as Bellario in the Covent Garden production of Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster. Except for a six-month engagement in Dublin during 1783, she continues to perform at Covent Garden until 1789. Meanwhile, she begins sending plays to theatre managers. Her earliest efforts were never performed or published.
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Elizabeth Inchbald's mother dies
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Debut of A Mogul Tale
Her first play, A Mogul Tale, debuts at the Theatre Royal in the Hay-Market with Inchbald playing the female leading role.
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Performance of I'll Tell You What
I'll Tell You What is performed at the Haymarket.
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Debut of Appearance is Against Them
Appearance is Against Them debuts at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
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Performance of The Widow's Vow
The Widow's Vow, Inchbald’s adaptation of Joseph Patrat’s L'Heureuse erreur, performed at the Haymarket.
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First contribution to The World and Fashionable Advertiser
Inchbald begins to contribute to The World and Fashionable Advertiser under the pseudonym “The Muse.”
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Such Things Are opens
The highly successful Such Things Are, an acknowledgment of the work of reformer John Howard, opens at Covent Garden to great success.
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Performance of The Midnight Hour
The first of Inchbald’s reworkings from French drama, The Midnight Hour, adapted from Guerre ouverte by Dumaniant, is performed at Covent Garden.
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Performance of All on a Summer's Day
All on a Summer's Day receives one performance at Covent Garden.
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Animal Magnetism opens
Animal Magnetism, adapted from Dumaniant’s Le Médecin malgré tout le monde, opens at Covent Garden.
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Performance of The Child of Nature
The Child of Nature, adapted from the comtesse de Genlis’s Zélie, ou l'Ingénue, performed at Covent Garden.
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Inchbald retires from acting
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The Married Man opens
The Married Man, an adaptation of Destouche’s Le Philosophe marié, opens at the Haymarket.
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Publication of A Simple Story
G. G. and J. Robinson publish Inchbald’s four-volume novel, A Simple Story.
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Performance of The Hue and Cry
The Hue and Cry, from Dumaniant’s La Nuit aux aventures, performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was revised as the musical An Escape into Prison for Covent Garden performance in 1797.
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Next Door Neighbors opens
Next Door Neighbors, an amalgamation of Mercier’s L'Indigent and Destouches’s Le Dissipateur, opens at the Haymarket.
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Writes The Massacre
Inchbald writes The Massacre, set at the time of the 1572 St. Bartholomew’s Eve massacre but reflecting the present scene of the French revolution. After having it printed, she suppressed the play on the advice of friends. It was not staged in her lifetime.
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Performance of Young Men and Old Women
Young Men and Old Women, from Le Méchant by Jean-Baptiste Gresset, performed at the Haymarket.
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Performance of Everyone Has His Fault
Everyone Has His Fault performed at Covent Garden.
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The Wedding Day opens
The Wedding Day opens at Drury Lane.
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Publication of Nature and Art
Nature and Art published in two volumes.
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William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft marry
William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft marry, and Inchbald withdraws from her friendship with them. Mary Wollstonecraft dies from childbirth complications 6 months later.
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Wives as They Were; Maids as They Are staged
Wives as They Were; Maids as They Are staged at Covent Garden.
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Lover's Vows opens
Lover's Vows, an adaptation of August von Kotzebue’s Das Kind der Liebe opens at Covent Garden.
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Performance of Wise Men of the East
Wise Men of the East, from Kotzebue’s Das Schreibepult, performed at Covent Garden.
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Translation of Judgement de Salomon rejected
Inchbald's translation of Judgement de Salomon is rejected at Covent Garden after Boaden's is played at Haymarket.
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Begins work on The British Theatre
Inchbald begins work on the series of critical “Remarks” to recently staged plays that made up The British Theatre, with the first play, George Colman the Younger’s The Mountaineers, appearing with her commentary on February 15, 1806.
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To Marry or Not to Marry staged
Inchbald’s last play, To Marry or Not to Marry, is staged at Covent Garden.
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Publication of "On Novel Writing"
Under the title “To The Artist,” Inchbald publishes the satirical essay usually referred to as "On Novel Writing" in Prince Hoare’s journal The Artist.
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Publication of The British Theatre
The British Theatre; Or, a Collection of Plays: Which Are Acted at the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Haymarket published by Longman, Hurst, Reese, and Orme, collecting 125 plays, each prefaced with Inchbald’s “Remarks.”
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Publication of A Collection of Farces and Other Afterpieces
Longman, Hurst, Reese, Orme, and Brown publish the seven volume A Collection of Farces and Other Afterpieces Which are Acted at the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Hay-Market ... Selected by Mrs. Inchbald.
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Withdrawal from society
Sells the copyrights to her novels. Begins withdrawing from society.
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Introductions by Barbauld in The British Novelists
Anna Letitia Barbauld introduces A Simple Story and Nature and Art in Longman’s collection The British Novelists.
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Publication of The Modern Theatre
The 10 volume collection The Modern Theatre; A Collection of Successful Modern Plays, As Acted at the Theatres Royal, London, selected by Mrs. Inchbald published, also by Longman, et. al.
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Jane Austen's Mansfield Park
Jane Austen's Mansfield Park depicts chaos in the Bertram family consequent on plans for private theatricals featuring Inchbald's Lover's Vows.
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Inchbald finishes editing her autobiography
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Inchbald burns the manuscript for her autobiography
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Final illness worsens leading to Inchbald's death on August 1st
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Publication of Memoirs of Mrs. Inchbald
James Boaden publishes Memoirs of Mrs. Inchbald which includes two unpublished plays, The Massacre and Case of Conscience. Boaden’s edition of Inchbald’s letters also appears the same year.