Elizabeth Younge

Elizabeth Younge (1740 – 15 March 1797) was an English actress who specialized in Shakespearean roles.

She was born near Old Gravel Lane, Southwark. Little is known about her early life and family background. An Elizabeth Young, daughter of Samuel and Mary Young, was baptized at St Olave's, Southwark, on 14 January 1744, but it is not known if this was the same person. She received her early education at a day-school with other working-class children but showed a superior aptitude from an early age. After she left school, she became apprenticed to a milliner. Her parents died while she was still young and she had to support herself. In her leisure time, she did a great deal of reading and devoted herself to studying the best poets, especially the dramatic ones.

She made friends with a young woman who was the daughter of an actor named Mr. Thompson. Around 1767–8, Younge was introduced by Thompson to George Garrick, younger brother of the theatre manager David Garrick. The younger Garrick was sufficiently impressed by Younge's acting that he took her to his brother. The timing was fortunate for Younge, as it was during that season that the actress Hannah Pritchard retired, and Garrick was having difficulties with Ann Barry. Garrick liked to keep a good actress in reserve, and not only hired Younge for the Drury Lane company, but also gave her personal tuition.

Elizabeth Younge's début at Drury Lane was on 22 October 1768, when she appeared as Imogen in Cymbeline. Garrick was pleased enough to raise her salary from £2 to £3 per week, while William Hopkins, the prompter, wrote of her performance in his diary,

Miss Younge – an elegant Figure in both dresses, has a very good voice, but wants management, — a great deal of acting about her, and would make a great figure, if she had a better face. Upon the whole she played the part amazingly well, and had deserved the applause.

Younge's next parts were Jane Shore in The Tragedy of Jane Shore by Nicholas Rowe and Ovisa in the première of Alexander Dow's Zingis. This play was not well received, and Younge was hissed by the audience. On 7 April 1769, she played Perdita in Florizel and Perdita, Garrick's adaptation of The Winter's Tale. That summer, she worked at Richmond with James Love, but in the autumn she returned to Drury Lane and on 2 October, she played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.

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