thumb|Lavinia Fenton as Polly Peachum in [[John Gay's Beggar's Opera (Charles Jervas)]]

Lavinia Powlett, Duchess of Bolton (1708 – 24 January 1760), known by her stagename as Lavinia Fenton, was an English actress who was the mistress and later the wife of the 3rd Duke of Bolton.

Life and career

She was probably the daughter of a naval lieutenant named Beswick, but she bore the name of her mother's husband, who was a coffee-house owner. She was thought to have been born in Charing Cross, London, and had been a child prostitute, a waitress, and a barmaid before becoming an actress. One of her biographers describes her as having "a vivacious, lively spirit, and a promising beauty", displaying "some singular turns of wit, which shew'd her of an aspiring genius". who entered the church, the navy, and the army respectively. According to Historic England, she reputedly lived at a house now called The Grange in Edington, Wiltshire, near Westbury.

The duchess survived her husband and died in 1760 at Westcombe House in Greenwich, being buried in St Alfege Church, Greenwich on 3 February 1760. Peachum Road, close to the site of Westcombe House, was named after her role as Polly Peachum.

See also

  • List of entertainers who married titled Britons

References

Further reading

  • Hilton, Lisa. Mistress Peachum's Pleasure: The Life of Lavinia, Duchess of Bolton (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005)
  • Lavinia Fenton, Duchess of Bolton circa 1740–50 by William Hogarth
  • A Scene from 'The Beggar's Opera', IV, 1731 by William Hogarth
  • The Life of Lavinia Beswick, Alias Fenton, Alias Polly Peachum at exclassics.com