Henrietta Amelia Leeson Documentary - British actors

Henrietta Amelia Leeson was an English actress of the 18th-century. Known as Mrs Lewis after her marriage to the actor William Thomas Lewis In 1780, she appeared regularly with him at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She made over 100 appearances on the London stage between 1775 and 1791.
Born in London, Leeson developed an early interest in the theatre through the encouragement and support of her friends exacerbated by the frequent absence of her father from the family home owing to the long hours he worked in his printer's business. The Irish actor Charles Macklin took her on as an apprentice and in 1771 she accompanied him to Ireland where she made her début at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin. Leeson played a number of roles on her tour of Ireland with Macklin's company including Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Desdemona in Othello. On their return to Dublin Leeson continued to act in Macklin's company but he had become "deeply but fruitlessly infatuated with her" and he released her from her apprenticeship, following which she joined the Dawson Company at the Capel Street Theatre. She began to live with the actor William Thomas Lewis and went with him to England in 1775 where they married in about 1780. She appeared with Lewis at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, at first as Mrs Leeson and later as Mrs Lewis. She joined her husband on his tours of the provinces.