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The Unrespectable Proselyte:
The Fortunes of Beckey Wells
- Abstract
THE curious story of “Beckey” (born Mary) Wells starts in humdrum enough fashion. In the 18th century, the English stage was not yet recruited from the nobility, and Mary Davies was the daughter of a carver and gilder who lived in Birmingham, helped Garrick dig up the root of Shakespeare’s mulberry tree at Stratford, and died appropriately in a madhouse. His widow set up a tavern which was much frequented by actors; and in consequence Beckey also went on the stage, making her first appearance as the Duke of York in Shakespeare’s Richard III. In about 1777, when she was only eighteen, she married a fellow actor named Wells, who had played Romeo to her Juliet and was determined to perpetuate the association in private life. Notwithstanding this auspicious beginning, he sent her back almost immediately to her mother with a note to say that she was too young and childish, consoling himself thereafter with her bridesmaid.
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