Item V/v/10 - Letters which passed between Mr. West Digges, Comedian and Mrs Sarah Ward 1752-1759

DIGGES, WEST, son of Col. Thomas Digges, Chilham Castle, Kent, and Hon. Elizabeth West, dau. of John West, 6th Baron De La Warr; b.; adm. (aged 11) Jun 1737; left 1740; Ensign, Col. Long’s Regt. Foot 26 Jan 1741; Col. O’Farrell’s Regt. Foot 25 Jun 1744; made his first appearance on the stage as Jaffier in Venice Preserved at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 27 Nov 1749 (The Orrery Papers, 1903, ii, 63); although he had a wife still living, Digges went through a ceremony of marriage with the well-known actress George Anne Bellamy; acted in Scotland under the name of Bellamy 1763; at Florence, Italy Dec 1767; played Cato at the Haymarket Theatre 1777 and Sir John Brute in The Provoked Wife at Covent Garden 1778; Wolsey in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII appears to have been his best character, but in London he made no great reputation; went to live in Ireland 1781; m. [apparently c. 3 Mar 1746 Mary Wakeling (IGI)]; d. at Cork, Ireland 10 Nov 1786. DNB.