A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Oldfield, Anne
OLDFIELD, ANNE,
A celebrated English actress, was born in Pall-Mall in 1683. Her father, an officer in the army, left her poor; but the sweetness of her voice, and her inclination for the stage noticed by Farquhar, the comic writer, decided her destiny. She became the mistress of Mr, Maynwaring, and after his death of General Churchill. But notwithstanding these derilections, she was humane and benevolent In the highest degree, and a real friend to the indigent Savage, on whom she bestowed an annuity, although he had not the most remote claim upon her beyond his poverty and genius. She died in 1730, and was buried in Westminster Abbey with great pomp. She left two sons, one by each of the gentlemen with whom she lived, and to whom she behaved with the duty, fidelity, and attachment of a wife.