Etherege and the Carolean Theatre

Abstract

George Etherege (c1636–92), the second of seven children, was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to Captain George and Mary (nee Powney) Etherege.¹ The elder George served as purveyor to Queen Henrietta Maria from 1636 until 1642 when the Civil War forced the queen to flee London and seek exile in France. Captain Etherege, who died in France in 1650, probably accompanied the queen, leaving his wife and children in the care of his father, a wealthy London vintner. In 1654, Grandfather Etherege apprenticed young George to the prominent attorney George Gosnold in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, where he served as a clerk until autumn 1658. The following year and perhaps with Gosnold’s clout, George gained admittance to Clement’s Inn as preparatory study for law at the Inns of Court. How long Etherege remained at Clement’s is unknown, and although he probably did not complete his law studies, his tenure there afforded him an advanced education, exposing him to Law-Latin, Law-French, and legal instruction as well as providing him with lodgings proximate to the fashionable London world which was to be both his playground and the fodder for his comedies.