Fenton, Lavinia (1708–1760)
Fenton, Lavinia (1708–1760)
English actress. Name variations: Duchess of Bolton. Born in 1708; died on January 24, 1760; probably the daughter of a naval lieutenant named Beswick; married Charles Paulet, 3rd duke of Bolton, in 1751; children: three (all died young).
Lavinia Fenton was probably the daughter of a naval lieutenant named Beswick, but she took the name of her mother's second husband, a man named Fenton. Her first appearance on stage was as Monimia in Otway's Orphans (1726) at the Haymarket. She then joined the company of players at the theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where her success and beauty made her the toast of the town. It was in Gay's Beggar's Opera, as Polly Peachum, that Fenton made her greatest success in 1728. That same year, she appeared as Ophelia in Hamlet. She was the rage in London: her pictures were in great demand, verses were written to her, and books were published about her. William Hogarth portrayed her in a scene from Hamlet, with Charles Paulet, 3rd duke of Bolton, in a theater box-seat (she had lived with the duke for many years). After appearing in several comedies, and then in numerous productions of the Beggar's Opera, she ran away with her lover Paulet, a man much older than herself. After the death of his wife in 1751, Paulet married Fenton who then left the stage.