Mary Ann Wrighten

Mary Ann Wrighten Pownall, née Mary Matthews, (b. 1751, d. 12 August 1796) was an English singer, actress and composer. Life Mary Ann Matthews was born in England of a jeweler father and shop-keeper mother. She was apprenticed to organist Charley Griffith where she learned music, and made her debut on the stage at about age 15. She married actor James Wrighten in about 1769 in Birmingham, and the couple came to London to work in Drury Lane, where she quickly became successful as a singer and actress with Garrick and Sheridan at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. The couple had two daughters, Mary and Charlotte. They divorced in 1786 in a public scandal, and Mary Ann Wrighten emigrated to the United States to work for theater manager John Henry. Her first American appearance was at the Southwark Theater in Philadelphia in 1792, billed as Mrs. (Hugh) Pownall. She also appeared in New York City, and settled in Charleston, where she died during a yellow fever epidemic in 1796. Mary Ann Powell was scheduled to sing a concert on August 6th, 1796, and after she and her family were expected to return to England. However, on August 2nd Mary Ann discovered her daughter Charlotte had married theat