Introduction
Sidney Frances (Cowell) Bateman (March 29, 1823 – January 13, 1881) was an English-born actor who spent her career on the American stage.
Biography
Sidney Frances Cowell was the daughter of Joseph Cowell, an English actor who had settled in America. She married Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman, also an actor. They moved to St. Louis in the 1850s before moving on to New York and later to London, where Hezekiah managed the Lyceum Theatre.
After her husband's death in 1875, Sidney Frances Bateman continued to manage the Lyceum for another three years. She later became manager of the Sadler's Wells Theatre, a position she held until her death. While she ran the Sadler's Wells Theatre, her daughter Kate Josephine appeared in several roles. She was the first to bring to England an entire American company with an American play, Joaquin Miller's The Danites.
Bateman was also the author of several popular plays, in one of which, Self (1857), she and her husband made a great success.
Family
The Batemans had eight children, with all of their daughters appearing on stage. The two oldest, Kate Josephine (b. 1842), and Ellen (b. 1845), began their theatrical career so young that they were known as the "Bateman children." Ellen retired from the stage on her marriage. The third daughter to go on the stage was Virginia (b. 1854), who first appeared in London in the title-part of her mother's play, Fanchetle, in 1871. The fourth daughter, Isabel (b. 1854), was also well known on the London stage.