Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mellon, Harriot
MELLON, HARRIOT, Duchess of St. Albans (1777?–1837), actress, is said to have been born in London 11 Nov. 1777. Her mother, a native of Cork, of peasant descent, was a shopgirl in that city, and was also dresser, wardrobe-keeper, and money-taker in Kena's company, well known in Ireland and Wales. She claimed to have married, on Boxing day 1777, a certain Lieutenant Mathew Mellon of the Madras native infantry, who shortly afterwards deserted her, and has never been traced. Mysterious hints were subsequently dropped by her that the pseudonym hid a person of high rank. She married in 1782 Thomas Entwhistle, leader of the orchestra in Kena's company. Harriot received some education at Ulverstone, Lancashire, where her mother and Entwhistle were jointly engaged in Bibby's company. Here she made her first stage appearance as one of four juvenile mourners around the bier of Juliet. Other juvenile parts followed, and on 16 Oct. 1787, in the barn doing duty for a theatre at Ulverstone, she appeared as Little Pickle in the farce of the ‘Spoiled Child.’ She subsequently appeared as Priscilla Slowboy in the ‘Romp.’ On 31 Oct. 1789 she took an older part as Narcissa in ‘Inkle and Yarico,’ and on 12 Dec. Phœbe in ‘As you like it.’ She then joined Stanton's company in the midlands, playing for a guinea a week important parts in comedy, including Beatrice, Celia, Lydia Languish, and Letitia Hardy. Her singing and dancing also commanded attention. She was seen by Sheridan, through whom, after some delays, she obtained an engagement at Drury Lane, where she appeared, according to the trustworthy authority of Genest, 31 Jan. 1795, as Lydia Languish. Her beauty and the music of her voice were commended, but her performance was almost a failure. On 15 Oct. 1795 she was Lady Godiva in a revival of O'Keeffe's ‘Peeping Tom,’ and she played during the season Maria in the ‘Spoiled Child,’ Lucy in the ‘Country Girl,’ Maria in ‘Twelfth Night,’ Blanch in ‘King John,’ Amanthis in the ‘Child of Nature,’ and many other parts. In the summer of 1796 she visited Liverpool, where she played an extensive round of characters, including Ophelia, Rosalind, Miranda, Louisa Dudley in the ‘West Indian,’ Miss Grantham in the ‘Liar,’ Cherry in the ‘Beaux' Stratagem,’ and the Page (Cherubin) in the ‘Follies of a Day.’ At the opening of the Drury Lane season, 20 Sept. 1796, she took again Mrs. Jordan's part of Amanthis in the ‘Child of Nature.’ She played subsequently Miss Prue in ‘Love for Love,’ Celia, Maria in ‘Twelfth Night,’ and Hero in ‘Much Ado about Nothing.’ Some original parts, including Philotis in the ‘Roman Actor’ of Massinger, compressed into two acts, and Cicely Copsley in the ‘Will’ of Reynolds, had already been assigned her. Among the more important parts trusted her in succeeding seasons were Susan in the ‘Follies of a Day,’ and, 6 Feb. 1800, Estifania in ‘Rule a Wife and have a Wife,’ Blanch in the ‘Iron Chest,’ and Albina Mandeville, a ‘breeches part,’ in which her figure was seen to surpass that of Mrs. Jordan, a former representative. In Allingham's ‘Marriage Promise,’ 16 April 1803, she was the original Mary. She also played Lady Constant in the ‘Way to Keep him,’ Olivia in ‘A Bold Stroke for a Husband,’ and Mrs. Page in the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor.’ On 31 Jan. 1805 she made a success as the first Volante in Tobin's ‘Honeymoon.’ Later in the season Mrs. Ford, Angelica in the ‘Constant Couple,’ Viletta in ‘She would and she would not,’ and Dorcas in the ‘Mock Doctor,’ were added to her characters, and she was, 10 Dec. 1806, the heroine of Lamb's ill-starred farce, ‘Mr. H——.’ Dorinda in the ‘Beaux' Stratagem,’ Lady Delmar in H. Siddons's ‘Time's a Telltale,’ Audrey, Nell in the ‘Devil to Pay,’ Muslin, and Mrs. Candour, the last-named one of her most successful impersonations, followed. On 7 Feb. 1815, as Audrey, she made her last appearance on the stage. While engaged at Drury Lane she had paid frequent summer visits to Liverpool, where she became very popular, and to other provincial towns.
Harriot Mellon was long intimate with Thomas Coutts [q. v.] the banker, said to be the richest man in London, and the connection, which was generally known, caused much unfriendly comment. Early in 1815 Coutts, then eighty years of age, after the death of his first wife, married Harriot Mellon privately at St. Pancras Church. The marriage was publicly announced 2 March 1815. Coutts died 24 Feb. 1822, leaving to his wife the whole of his large fortune. To his children by his first marriage she behaved with much generosity. On 16 June 1827, at her house in Stratton Street, she married William Aubrey de Vere, ninth duke of St. Albans. She died in Stratton Street, 6 Aug. 1837. She was a handsome brunette, with a figure inclining slightly to portliness, great vivacity and animal spirits, generous, ostentatious, and somewhat fiery in temper. As an actress she came in the second line, being eclipsed by Mrs. Jordan. Scott, whom she visited at Abbotsford, regarded her as a kind, friendly woman, ‘without either affectation or insolence in the display of her wealth.’ Dibdin speaks of her as a great favourite with the public. A portrait of her by Romney was exhibited at Burlington House in 1887. Portraits of her by Sir William Beechey and by Masquerier (as Mrs. Page) belonged to the Baroness Burdett Coutts: the former was engraved by T. Woolnoth. An engraving of her as Cherry was very popular.
[A full but not wholly trustworthy memoir of Mrs. Mellon, by Mrs. Cornwell Harries (afterwards Mrs. Baron Wilson), was published, in 2 vols. 8vo, in 1839, and again in 1886. Scurrilous memoirs of her and her first husband were written with a view principally to extort money. These are fully described in Mr. Lowe's Bibliographical Account of the English Theatre. The Secret Memoirs of Harriott Pumpkin, a Celebrated Actress, &c., is the most infamous of these. It was bought up and destroyed, and copies are scarce and costly. Genest's Account of the English Stage mentions many of her performances, but gives no list. See also Boaden's Life of Mrs. Jordan; Clark Russell's Representative Actors; Dibdin's History of the Stage; the Life of Reynolds; Lockhart's Life of Scott; Notes and Queries, 6th and 7th ser.; Memoir of Charles Mathews; Gent. Mag. for October 1837, and Georgian Era.]