thumb|Mrs. Gilbert
Anne Hartley Gilbert (October 21, 1821December 2, 1904) professionally billed as Mrs G. H. Gilbert was a British stage actress and dancer.
She was born Anne Jane Hartley at Rochdale, Lancashire, England. At fifteen she was a pupil at the ballet school connected with Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, conducted by Paul Taglioni, and became a dancer. Her first conspicuous appearance on stage was made as a dancer, in the Norwich theatrical circuit, England, in 1845. In 1846 she married George H. Gilbert (d. 1866), a performer in the theatre company of which she was a member. Together they filled many engagements in English theatres, moving to America in 1849.
Her first 15 years in America were spent in inland cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Mrs Gilbert's first success in a speaking part was in 1857 as Wichavenda in John Brougham's Po-ca-hon-tas. where, on 5 August 1867, Mr and Mrs W. J. Florence presented Thomas William Robertson's comedy Caste, for the first time in America. On leaving the Broadway she went to Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre on Twenty-fourth Street with Robertson's comedy of Play. The cast included E. L. Davenport, George Holland, William Davidge, J. L. Polk, Agnes Ethel, and George Clarke. Mrs Gilbert played Mrs Kinpeck. For many years she played opposite James Lewis as his "wife", or playing old women's parts, in which she had no equal. and died there on the following day from a brain haemorrhage.
References
Bibliography
- Brown, Thomas Allston, A History of the New York Stage from the Earliest Performances in 1732 to 1901, Vol. I, New York: Dodd Mead & Co., 1903.
- Brown, Thomas Allston, A History of the New York Stage from the Earliest Performances in 1732 to 1901, Vol. II, New York: Dodd Mead & Co., 1903.
- Gilbert, Anne Hartley, ed. by Charlotte M. Martin, The Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. Gilbert, New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1901.
- Mantle, Burns, and Garrison P. Sherwood, eds., The Best Plays of 1899-1909, Philadelphia: The Blakiston Company, 1944.