A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Clive, Catherine

CLIVE, Catherine, daughter of William Raftor, an Irish gentleman, was born in London in 1711. Displaying a natural aptitude for the stage she was engaged by Colley Cibber for Drury Lane Theatre, and made her first appearance there in November 1728, as the page Ismenes, in Nat. Lee's tragedy 'Mithridates.' In 1729 she attracted great attention by her performance of Phillida in Colley Cibber's ballad opera, 'Love in a riddle.' Her personation of Nell in Coffey's ballad opera, 'The Devil to pay,' in 1731, established her reputation, and caused her salary to be doubled. On Oct. 4, 1734, she married George Clive, a barrister, but the pair soon agreed to separate. She continued to delight the public in a variety of characters in comedy and comic opera until April 24, 1769, when, having acquired a handsome competence, she took leave of the stage, and retired to Twickenham, where she occupied a house in the immediate vicinity of Horace Walpole's famous villa at Strawberry Hill, until her death, which occurred on Dec. 6, 1785. One of the most prominent events in Mrs. Clive's career as a singer was Handel's selection of her as the representative of Dalila in his oratorio 'Samson,' on its production in 1743.

[ W. H. H. ]