Hester Santlow

Hester Santlow (married name Hester Booth; c. 1690 – 1773) was a noted British dancer and actress, who has been called "England's first ballerina". She was influential in many spheres of theatrical life.

Hester Santlow was born circa 1690, and by about 1705 had produced an illegitimate daughter named Harriot; the father was James Craggs. Harriot married firstly in 1726 Richard Eliot, having 9 children, including Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot, and secondly in 1749 to John Hamilton, by whom she had a son, John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn.

In 1706, Santlow made her first appearance as a dancer at Drury Lane, and three years later as an actress on the London stage. Some of her earliest roles included Harlequin, for which she earned a considerable boost in her reputation.

John Essex, in the preface of The Dancing Master (1728), his translation of Pierre Rameau's Le Maître à danser, writes:

WE have had a great many Women attempt to be Theatrical Dancers, but none ever arrived to that Height and Pitch of Applause as the incomparable Mrs. Booth, in whom Art and Nature are so beautifully wove together, that the whole Web is of a Piece so exquisitely formed to Length and Breadth, that the Produce of the many different Characters she represents is the Wonder and Admiration of the present Age, and will scarce be credited by the Succeeding. I shall beg leave to mention the Chaconne, Saraband, Menuet, in all which she appears with that Grace, Softness, and Address none can look on but with Attention, Pleasure, and Surprise. She far excels all that went before her, and must be the just Subject of Imitation to all that dare attempt to copy after her. Besides all these, the Harlequin is beyond Description, and the Hussar another opposite Character in which she has no Rival. All which shew how many extensive as well as extraordinary Qualifications must concentre in one Person to form so bright a Genius: A Subject becoming the most elevated Wit to describe, and the politest Taste to contemplate.

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