The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Jane LESSINGHAM

  • Born: 1739
  • Died: 1783
  • Grave/memorial: XD 221

Late of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden’. The original inscription added that ‘her grateful and affectionate son, William Frederick, caused this tomb to be repaired anno 1802’; he was one of four sons who benefited from her will. Mrs Lessingham is less remembered locally as an actress than as an encroacher on the Heath. Her attempts to build Heath Lodge [on the site of the present Hill Garden] brought a law suit against her by other residents in 1775, led by Henry White [XD 149]

Also mentioned: Henry White qv
Reference: Buried in Hampstead, Camden History Society 1986