Bertie Greatheed

Bertie Greatheed (1759–1826) was an English dramatist.

Greatheed was born on 19 October 1759, the son of the MP Samuel Greatheed of Guy's Cliffe, near Warwick, by his wife Lady Mary Bertie, daughter of Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster. When residing in Florence he became a member of the society called Gli Oziosi.

Greatheed was a contributor to the privately printed collection of fugitive pieces of the Gli Oziosi, the Arno Miscellany (Florence, 1784). The following year he contributed to the Florence Miscellany (Florence, 1785), a collection of poems by the Della-Cruscans. Greetheed was termed by William Gifford the Reuben of the Della-Cruscans, in his satirical Baviad and Mæviad.

A blank verse tragedy by Greatheed, The Regent was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre on 1 April 1788, supported by John Kemble and Mrs. Siddons; it ran for nine nights. The epilogue was furnished by Mrs. Piozzi. The author later published it with a dedication to Mrs. Siddons, who had once been an attendant upon his mother, and was his frequent guest at Guy's Cliffe.

His only son, Bertie, who died at Vicenza in Italy on 8 October 1804, aged 23, was an amateur artist. The younger Greatheed had married in France, and his only daughter became, on 20 March 1823, the wife of Lord Charles Greatheed Bertie Percy, son of Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 

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