Margaret ‘Peg’ Woffington

Margaret Woffington, known throughout her career as Peg, was an Irish actress. Peg grew up in Dublin and was spotted at an early age by Madame Violante, who took her into her Lilliputian Theatre Company, where Peg made her first appearance on stage as Polly in the Beggar’s Opera aged about twelve.

She became a well-known and popular actress in London as well as Dublin. She was an accomplished dancer and was known for comedy parts and breeches roles. In London she took many lovers, most notably David Garrick, they parted when she realised that he would never marry her.

As an actress she became notorious for her rivalries with other women, particularly the actress Kitty Clive, who had an equally fiery temper. Garrick’s biographer Thomas Davies stated: ‘No two women in high life ever hated each other more unreservedly than these two great dames of the stage.’[1]

[1] Davies, T. (1780) Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick. London: Thomas Davies, p.311