ESSEX

Catharine Capel-Coningsby , Counte of ( dau. of Edward Stephens of London, carver and gilder ). b. London 18 Sep. 1791; sang under name of Mi Young at many concerts in the provinces; sang in Italian opera at the Pantheon, London 1812 as Catharine Stephens; first appeared at Covent Garden as Mandane in Arne’s opera Artaxerxes Sep. 1813; played Polly in The Beggar’s Opera and Clara in The Duenna ; sang at Drury Lane 1822–26; sang at concerts and in oratorios; one of the finest soprano singers; her voice reached to the high D; retired from the stage 1831. ( m. 19 April 1838 George Capel-Coningsby 5 Earl of E ex 1757–1839), she d. 9 Belgrave sq. London 22 Feb. 1882, mural monument erected in Watford church, Herts. March 1885. Oxberry’s Dramatic Biography ii , 123–36 (1825), portrait ; Mrs. C. B. Wilson’s Our Actre es i , 276–87 (1844), portrait ; E. C. Clayton’s Queens of song ii , 33–44 (1865); Theatrical Inquisitor iii , 259–61 (1813), portrait ; Musical Gem (1832), 2–3, portrait .