The youngest child of four, Esther's oldest sister Cecilia was one of the greatest English sopranos of the 18th century and the wife of composer Thomas Arne.
Although her older brother Charles was a clerk at the Royal Treasury and not a professional musician, his daughters Isabella, Elizabeth, and Polly followed in the foot steps of their aunts to become successful singers.
The following year she made her first opera appearance in the role of Mauxalinda in the original production of Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley at the Haymarket Theatre.
Her sister Isabella sang the heroine Margery in the production and both girls stayed with the show when it moved to the Covent Garden Theatre.
[1] Some references have indicated that she went with her sister Cecilia Young and her husband Thomas Arne to Ireland in 1755, but performance records prove this to be inaccurate as she sang at Covent Garden throughout the 1755–6 season.