Charlotte Wattell

Charlotte Wattell (5 October 1770 – December 1812) was an English actress of the late 18th and early 19th-centuries and the first wife of the churchman Thomas James Twisleton.

He had already acted in school plays in Latin and had also appeared in more recent works with his mother and sister and other amateur actors at Adlestrop House.

[1] The newspapers at the time reported on the marriage of the second son of a lord to a minor provincial heiress, and this interest only increased when the couple continued acting in amateur dramatics, before turning professional.

[2][3][4] Twisleton was a friend of the Leigh family who were related to Jane Austen, and in 1789 the newly married couple performed in amateur theatricals at Adlestrop House, the home of the Leighs, with Charlotte playing Matilda and Thomas as Edwin in Francklin's tragedy Matilda,[5] and this is considered a contribution to the use by Jane Austen of amateur theatricals as a plot device in her novel Mansfield Park.

Mr Twistleton, agreeable to the late adopted standing orders for Divorces, was called to the Bar, and examined upon oath as to his motives for having granted this deed of settlement, which, he said, was on account of her extravagance threatening him with ruin; and her extreme partiality for the Stage depriving him of all domestic happiness, and on which she actually appeared, much against his will."

It is not known what became of Sandon, but Charlotte Wattell is recorded as acting as Mrs. Stanley at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston in Massachusetts, and was later seen on stage in Halifax in Nova Scotia on 5 March 1811.

The death of his mother in 1811 when he was aged 14 forced Charles onto his own resources and he went to sea, as a result of which father and son lost contact.