A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Catley, Anne

CATLEY, Anne, was born in 1745 in an alley near Tower Hill, of very humble parents, her father being a hackney coachman, and her mother a washerwoman. Endowed with great personal beauty, a charming voice, and a natural talent for singing, she gained her living at the early age of 10 years by singing in the public houses in the neighbourhood, and also for the diversion of the officers quartered in the Tower. When about 15 years of age she was apprenticed by her father to William Bates for the purpose of receiving regular instruction in the art of singing, Catley binding himself in the penalty of £200 for her due fulfilment of the covenants in the indenture. She made rapid progress, and in the summer of 1762 made her first appearance in public at Vauxhall Gardens. On Oct. 8 in the same year she appeared at Covent Garden Theatre as the Pastoral Nymph in Dr. Dalton's alteration of Milton's 'Comus.' Early in 1763 she became acquainted with Sir Francis Blake Delaval, a young baronet, who prevailed on her to quit the house of Bates and reside with him. Desirous of obtaining a legal control over her, Delaval, in April 1763, induced Bates to consent to an arrangement for his pupil doing some act which would put an end to the apprenticeship, Delaval paying him the £200 penalty, and also the amount of an engagement he had entered into for her singing during the summer season at Marylebone Gardens. She was then colourably apprenticed to Delaval to be taught singing by him. Application being made to her father, who was then coachman to Barclay, the quaker, of Cheapside, for his concurrence, he consulted his master, who, shocked at the iniquity of the transaction, at once sent Catley to his attorney. A habeas corpus was obtained for Delaval to produce Anne Catley before the Court of King's Bench, where the affair being inquired into, the Court ordered that Delaval, Bates, and John Frayne, an attorney employed by Delaval, should be prosecuted for conspiracy, the Chief Justice, Lord Mansfield, denouncing their conduct in strongly indignant language. They were accordingly tried, convicted, and fined. In the summer of 1763 Anne Catley fulfilled her engagement at Marylebone Gardens, and shortly afterwards became a pupil of Macklin, the actor, who procured her an engagement at Dublin, where she became a great favourite. O'Keeffe, the dramatist, who became acquainted with her there, says, in his amusing 'Reminiscences,' 'She wore her hair plain over her forehead in an even line almost to her eyebrows. This set the fashion in Dublin, and the word was with all the ladies to have their hair Catley-fied.' He elsewhere observes, 'She was one of the most beautiful women I ever saw; the expression of her eyes and the smiles and dimples that played round her lips and cheeks enchanting. She was eccentric, but had an excellent heart.' In 1770 she returned to England, and reappeared at Covent Garden Theatre on Oct. 1 as Rosetta in 'Love in a Village.' After the season she was again engaged at Marylebone Gardens, where she appeared on July 30, 1771, and sang until the close of the season. On Feb. 6, 1773, O'Hara's burletta, 'The Golden Pippin,' was produced at Covent Garden Theatre. Miss Catley performed the part of Juno with a spirit and humour that excited the utmost applause, and was particularly admired for her singing of two of the songs, viz. 'Push about the jorum,'—the tune of which has been used for an almost endless number of comic songs,—and 'Where's the mortal can resist me?'—the tune of which, slightly varied, has long been associated with the Advent Hymn. Having amassed an independence Miss Catley retired from public life in 1784. She died Oct. 14, 1789, at the house of General Lascelles (to whom she was married), near Brentford. The public prints of the day eulogised her as a good mother, a chaste wife, and an accomplished woman.

[ W. H. H. ]