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. (For a chronological list, see the link on the right.) Nota Bene: Authors of dramatic works are the focus of this list, though many of these writers worked in more than one genre.)

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