Background
Mary Ann Matthews was born in England of a jeweler father and shop-keeper mother.
Mary Ann Matthews was born in England of a jeweler father and shop-keeper mother.
She was apprenticed to organist Charley Griffith where she learned music, and made her debut on the stage at about age 15.
The couple had two daughters, Mary and Charlotte. They divorced in 1786 in a public scandal, and Mary Ann Wrighten emigrated to the United States to work for theater manager John Henry. Her first American appearance was at the Southwark Theater in Philadelphia in 1792, billed as Mistress
(Hugh) Pownall.
She also appeared in New York, and settled in Charleston, where she died during a yellow fever epidemic in 1796. She wrote an autobiography entitled An Apology for he and Conduct of Mrs Mary Wrighten, Late a Favourite Actress and Singer, of Drury Lane Theatre, and Vauxhall Gardens.