Kemble is the name of a family of English actors, of whom the most famous were
Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) and her brother
John Philip Kemble (1757-1823), the two eldest of the twelve children of
Roger Kemble (1721-1802), a strolling player and manager, who in 1753 married an actress, Sarah Ward. Three younger children of Roger,
Stephen Kemble (1758-1822),
Charles Kemble (1775-1854), and
Elizabeth Whitlock (1761-1836), were also actors, while
Ann Hatton was a novelist.
The tradition was continued by two daughters of Charles Kemble: actress and Shakespearean reader Fanny Kemble (1800-1893) and Adelaide Kemble (1815-1879), an opera singer.
Among later members of the Kemble family, mention may also be made of Charles Kemble's grandson, Henry Kemble (1848-1907), a sterling and popular London actor.
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