Mary Slingsby

Mary, Lady Slingsby, born Aldridge (perhaps died 1693), was an English actress. After a marriage lasting 1670 to 1680 to John Lee, an actor, during which she was on the stage as Mrs. Lee, she was widowed. She then married Sir Charles Slingsby, 2nd Baronet, a nephew of Sir Robert Slingsby, and performed as Lady Slingsby. Theatre historians have pointed out the difficulty in identifying her roles in the period when Elinor Leigh, wife of Anthony Leigh, was performing as Mrs. Leigh, because the homophones "Lee" and "Leigh" were not consistently spelled at the time.

Stage career
In 1671 Mrs Lee appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields in the character of Daranthe in Edward Howard's tragi-comedy Woman's Conquest, and as Leticia in Town-Shifts, or the Suburb-Justice, attributed to Edward Revet, and licensed on 2 May 1672. Next, at Dorset Garden, where Mrs Lee remained for ten years, she played opposite Æmilia in Joseph Arrowsmith's Reformation (1672). Mrs Lee also appeared as Olinda in Afra Behn's Forced Marriage, or the Jealous Bridegroom, Mariamne in Elkanah Settle's Empress of Morocco, and Amavanga in Settle's Conquest of China by the Tartars (1674). In the same year she was Salome in Herod and Mariamne, attributed to Samuel Pordage, but staged by Settle. She was in 1675 Deidamia, queen of Sparta, in Thomas Otway's Alcibiades, and Chlotilda, disguised as Nigrello, in Love and Revenge, a play by Settle, based on the Fatal Contract of William Heming. In Ibrahim, the Illustrious Bassa, taken by Settle from Madeleine de Scudery and licensed on 4 May 1676, she was Roxalana, the wife of Solyman; in Otway's Don Carlos, Prince of Spain, licensed 13 June, she was the Queen of Spain; in D'Urfey's Madame Fickle, or the Witty False One (licensed 20 November), Madame Fickle; and in Pastor Fido, or the Faithful Shepherd, translated from Giovanni Battista Guarini by Settle, she was Corisca. In Otway's Titus and Berenice, licensed 19 February 1677, the part of Berenice was assigned to Mrs Lee, as were Cleopatra in Charles Sedley's Antony and Cleopatra, licensed 24 April 1677, and Circe in William Davenant's Circe, licensed 18 June. In the Constant Nymph, or the Rambling Shepherd (by a "Person of Quality"), licensed 13 August, she was Astatius, the rambling shepherd. In Pordage's Siege of Babylon, licensed 2 November, she was Roxana, and in Abdelazer, or the Moor's Revenge, adapted by Behn from Lust's Dominion (unjustifiably ascribed to Marlowe), the Queen of Spain. In 1678 Mrs Lee was Cassandra in John Bankes's Destruction of Troy, licensed 29 January 1679, but played earlier; and Elvira in the Counterfeits (John Leanard), licensed 29 August 1678. Next year she was Eurydice in Dryden and Lee's Œdipus, Laura Lucretia in Behn's Feigned Courtezans, or a Night's Intrigue, and, as Mrs Mary Lee, Cressida in Dryden's adaptation of Troilus and Cressida; in 1680 she was Bellamira in Lee's Cæsar Borgia, and Arviola in Tate's Loyal General. Mrs Mary Lee was also Julia in L. Maidwell's Loving Enemies.

In Henry VI, Part I, with the Murder of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, adapted by John Crowne from Shakespeare, and acted in 1681, the part of Queen Margaret was assigned to Lady Slingsby. In Henry VI, Part II, or the Misery of Civil War, from the same source, the same character went to Mrs Lee. As the second part was written first, and probably produced first, Mrs Lee's second marriage may have been in 1681. In Nahum Tate's adaptation of King Lear Lady Slingsby was Regan, in Nat Lee's Lucius Junius Brutus, the Father of his Country, Sempronia, and Marguerite in Lee's The Princess of Cleve.

After the merger of the two major acting companies in 1682, Slingsby played, at the Theatre Royal, the Queen Mother in John Dryden and Nat Lee's Duke of Guise. In Thomas D'Urfey's Commonwealth of Woman, an adaptation of John Fletcher's The Sea Voyage, produced in 1685, she was Clarinda. Her name then disappeared from the bills.

Her name appears on the Burdett-Coutts Memorial Sundial in Old St. Pancras Churchyard, listing the names of important graves lost therein by the building of a railway line. Her date of death is given as 1693. She was probably buried on 1 March 1693, although there is some doubt as to whether the Mary Slingsby buried is this lady. It has been speculated that the name may have been withheld to prevent her husband's creditors from finding him via his wife.

In fiction
Mrs Lee appears as a character in the 2015 play [exit Mrs Behn] or, The Leo Play by Christopher van der Ark.

Selected roles



 * Olinda in The Forc'd Marriage by Aphra Behn (1670)
 * Doranthe in The Women's Conquest by Edward Howard (1670)
 * Euginia in The Six Days' Adventure by Edward Howard (1671)
 * Leticia in The Town Shifts by Edward Revet (1671)
 * Salome in Herod and Mariamne by Samuel Pordage (1671)
 * Aemilia in The Reformation by Joseph Arrowsmith (1673)
 * Mariamne in The Empress of Morocco by Elkanah Settle (1673)
 * Nigrello in Love and Revenge by Elkanah Settle (1674)
 * Amavanga in The Conquest of China by Elkanah Settle (1675)
 * Deidamia in Alcibiades by Thomas Otway (1675)
 * Christina in The Country Wit by John Crowne (1676)
 * Roxalana in Ibrahim by Elkanah Settle (1676)
 * Mrs Loveit in The Man of Mode by George Etheredge (1676)
 * Queen of Spain in Don Carlos, Prince of Spain by Thomas Otway (1676)
 * Isabella in Abdelazer by Aphra Behn (1676)
 * Madam Fickle in Madam Fickle by Thoms Durfey (1676)
 * Berenice in Titus and Berenice by Thomas Otway (1676)
 * Corsica in Pastor Fido by Elkanah Settle (1676)
 * Circe in Circe by Charles Davenant (1677)
 * Roxana in The Siege of Babylon by Samuel Pordage (1677)
 * Elvira in The Counterfeits by John Leanerd (1678)
 * Eurydice in Oedipus by John Dryden (1678)
 * Cassandra in The Destruction of Troy by John Banks (1678)
 * Laura Lucretia in The Feign'd Curtizans by Aphra Behn (1679)
 * Bellamira in Caesar Borgia by Nathaniel Lee (1679)
 * Cressida in Troilus and Cressida by John Dryden (1679)
 * Arviola The Loyal General by Nahum Tate (1679)
 * Julia in The Loving Enemies by Lewis Maidwell (1680)
 * Queen Margaret in The Misery of Civil War by John Crowne (1680)
 * Marguerite in The Princess of Cleve by Nathaniel Lee (1680)
 * Sempronia Lucius Junius Brutus by Nathaniel Lee (1680)
 * Lucia in Mr. Turbulent by Anonymous (1682)
 * Queen Mother in The Duke of Guise by John Dryden (1682)
 * Lady Noble in Dame Dobson by Edward Ravenscroft (1683)
 * Clarinda in A Commonwealth of Women by Thoms Durfey (1685)