Amy Sedgwick

A carte-de-visite portrait of the English actress Amy Sedgwick (1835-1897).

Born Sarah Gardiner at Bristol, she made her debut in August 1853 at the Richmond Green Theatre. She first appeared in London at the Haymarket Theatre in 1857 and later proved very popular with audiences at the Theatre Royal in Brighton, where she became a well-known local resident. She was sometimes referred to as ‘The Queen of Comedy’.

She was married three times, each time retiring from the stage, but returning to the boards for periods after the deaths of her first and second husbands. Her first marriage, in 1858, was to Dr William B. Parkes but he died in 1863. In 1873 she married Charles Pemberton, a Liverpool solicitor, but he died two years later. After her third marriage to Charles Goostry in August 1878 she left the stage altogether, but continued to give dramatic recitals in concerts and 'At Homes' until her death. She enjoyed a happy semi-retirement becoming a talented amateur painter and a popular supporter of fundraising activities in Brighton and Hove. In 1893 she moved to Hill View in Haywards Heath, where she died, aged 67, on 7 November 1897.

Photographed by Horatio Nelson King of Bath.