76        A   HISTORY   OF  THE  NEW  YORK   STAGE      C189S

26, 1898, and was buried at Forest Hills, Boston. One year prior to
her death she had a severe illness, caused, it is said, by the work and
responsibility of producing " A Soldier of France," at the Boston
Theatre, and her keen disappointment at its failure. Her last en¬
gagement was at the Grand Opera House, Chicago.

Fanny Davenport came of an unusually talented theatrical parent¬
age. Her father was Edward L. Davenport, one of the most celebrated
of American actors. She was born in Great Russell Street near the
British Museum, London, Eng., April 10, 1850. The eldest of five
children, Fanny was brought to America at the tender age of
four.

Her first glimpse of the footlights was at Burton's Chambers Street
Theatre in this city, Feb. 23, 1857, then a child of about seven years.
She sang a verse of " The Star Spangled Banner" in a ballet of little
girls. Shortly after this she was at the Howard Athenaeum, Boston,
Mass., and played Papoose to Brougham's Metamora, August 12, 1857,
when Brougham's burlesque of " Metamora, or The Last of the
Pollywogs " was produced.

Miss Davenport came before the New York public Feb. 14, 1862,
at Niblo's Garden, where she played Charles I., King of Spain, in
"Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady," to the Ruy Gomez of her
father.

In 1882 Miss Davenport went to England, making her dibut as an
actress in her native land on Sept. 9 at Toole's Theatre, London, in
the title-r61e of a new version of " Diana de Lys." While abroad
her attention was attracted to Sardou's "Fedora." From Miss
Davenport's mother came the suggestion that she should go to
France, see Sardou, and secure the American rights to " Fedora."
Miss Davenport went direct to the French dramatist, and upon the
payment of a cash bonus of ^5,000 obtained the sole rights of presen¬
tation of " Fedora" in the United States and Canada. On her
return to this country, she produced the play Oct. i, 1883, at the
Fourteenth Street theatre. She retained " Fedora " for a number
of years, and on March 3, 1888, at the Broadway Theatre, this city,
gave to the American public, for the first time, " La Tosca," another
of Sardou's works. "Cleopatra" was the next Sardou play which
she presented in this country, Dec. 23, 1890, at the Fifth Avenue
Theatre. " Gismonda" was the last play by Sardou in which she ap¬
peared, and this was given its first performance Dec. ii, 1894, also
at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Her last play was written by Frances
A. Mathews, and was given its initial production Oct. 20, 1897, at
the Boston, Mass., Theatre, under the title of " A Soldier of France."
She afterward presented it as " The Saint and the Fool," and later
under the title of " Joan."

Fanny Davenport was married July 30, 1879, to Edwin F. Price
(who has recently been divorced from Kate Baker), and was divorced