Anna Larpent

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Anna Larpent
Sir Martin Archer Shee portrait Anna Margaretta Larpent in a white dress with a blue sash.jpg
by Sir Martin Archer Shee
Born
Anna Porter

4 April 1758
Pera
Died4 March 1832 (1832-03-05) (aged 73)
Putney Park House ??
NationalityUnited Kingdom
Occupationde facto censor of plays
Known forWriting
Spouse(s)John Larpent
Childrentwo
Parent(s)James Porter

Anna Larpent born Anna Porter (4 April 1758 – 4 March 1832) was a British diarist. She was the de facto assistant Examiner of Plays and her seventeen volume diaries document 47 years of Georgian life.

Life[]

Larpent was born in Pera in Turkey 1758 where her father, James Porter was a British diplomat.[1] Her father was the British Ambassador to Constantinople and he had married Clarissa Catherine who was the daughter of the Dutch Ambassador to Constantinople. She was the eldest of their three surviving children and she has come to notive because her diary is extant. She started the diary in 1773 and continued it in seventeen volumes over 57 years to 1830.[2]

When she was eighteen Larpent published a 32 page account of the bigamy trial of Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull at Westminster Hall that gathered 4,000 spectators. The manuscript that was written by a woman for other women to read has been re-published as a historic source.[3]

On 25 April 1782 she married a widower who she hoped would care for her and younger sister Clara who she had adopted. Her husband, John Larpent, was the Inspector of Plays serving as the single approver of plays that were to be performed in Britain. Anna was the de facto assistant to him. When the plays were written in French or Italian then she had the skills to be able comprehend them.[1] She was fluent in Italian where her husband had little knowledge so it was she who reviewed the plays that were written in Italian.[2] Larpent was interested in her work and she was a fan of Elizabeth Inchbald.[1]

Her son became Sir George Gerard de Hochepied Larpent, 1st Baronet inheriting the Hochepied claim from his maternal grandfather.

Larpent died in London in 1832.[2] Her diary is held at the Huntington Library.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c A Women's View of Drama, Huntingdon Library, Retrieved 13 April 2017
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Lisa Forman Cody, ‘Larpent , Anna Margaretta (1758–1832)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 13 April 2017
  3. ^ Chalus, Elaine (2006-10-16). "'The Production of a Female Pen'. Anna Larpent's Account of the Duchess of Kingston's Bigamy Trial of 1776 (review)". Parliamentary History. 25 (3): 420–421. doi:10.1353/pah.2006.0038. ISSN 1750-0206. S2CID 144408369.
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