According to some sources, when Maria and her sister Elizabeth came of age, their mother urged them to take up acting, in order to earn a living, owing to the family's relative poverty, even though acting was not considered a respectable profession, as many actresses of that time doubled as courtesans; and that the Gunning sisters worked for some time in the Dublin theatres, befriending actors who included Margaret Woffington.

The two sisters did not have any dresses for the gathering until Thomas Sheridan, manager of one of the local theatres, supplied them with two costumes from the green room, those of Lady Macbeth and Juliet.

Harrington must have been pleased by the meeting as, by 1750, Bridget Gunning had persuaded him to grant her a pension, which she then used to transport herself, Maria, and Elizabeth, back to their original home in Huntingdon, England.

According to Horace Walpole, it was on 14 February (Valentine's Day) at a party at Bedford House, and the duke declared his wish to marry Elizabeth that night and called for a local clergyman to perform the ceremony.

They were eventually married that night in May Fair Chapel, which did not require a licence, with a ring from a bed-curtain, whereupon Elizabeth became the Duchess of Hamilton.