Popular as a playwright, novelist, and critic, Elizabeth Inchbald was one of the most famous women writers of her day. Born on 15 October 1753 to a family of middle-class Catholics residing near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Inchbald was an unusually intelligent young girl, showing an early appetite for both reading and the stage. She tried unsuccessfully to join a Norwich theater company, and meeting no encouragement there, at age eighteen ran away to London to become an actor. Two months later, in June of 1772, she married Joseph Inchbald, a much older established actor who had courted her before she left home. Shortly after the wedding, Joseph Inchbald engaged with a Bristol theater company in the role of King Lear. Elizabeth Inchbald's

This article in full comprises 2122 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 10 October 2002

Citation: Waters, Mary. "Elizabeth Inchbald". The Literary Encyclopedia. 10 October 2002.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2299, accessed 20 November 2009.]