Opera Singer, Folk Figure. A rare operatic prodigy, she was known as much for her scandalous sexual escapades as for her musical proficiency. Born Ann Brown, the child of a coal merchant, little is known of her life prior to her Covent Garden debut at 11 as Titania in a November, 1771, production of George Colman and Thomas Arne's "The Fairy Prince". Ann soon played Sally in the same author's "Man and Wife", and was to appear at Covent Garden for several seasons. By 1775, she was a noted oratorio singer, and had found success as Clara in Sheridan's "The Duenna", but had also run away from home with a somewhat older playwright and gunpowder merchant named Miles Peter Andrews; when she was scheduled to appear in the lead role of Polly in John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" in 1776, her father attempted to block the performance, but was restrained by her fans. In the late 1770s, Ann was much in demand and earning well, but eloped to Edinburgh with a certain Mr. Cargill. Returning to London in 1781, she appeared as "Mrs. Cargill" at both the Haymarket and Drury Lane Theatres; skipping-out on contractural obligations, she appeared in Bath as Patie in Allan Ramsay's "The Gentle Shepherd" and as Marinetta in Tickell and Linley's "Carnival of Venice". (A lawsuit against her and her husband proved unsuccessful, as she had been underage when she signed the contracts). Touring England, she sang in Liverpool in 1782, then, in 1783, a new love drew her to India. Her operatic appearances in Calcutta garnered her both acclaim and huge fees, but a denunciation by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger ("An actress should not be defiling the pure shores of India") forced her to sail for home onboard the "Nancy". Ann started a romance with the ship's captain, but was killed in a shipwreck off the Isles of Scilly; she was found a week later, either nude or in a nightgown depending on the version of the story, clutching a dead infant, whether her own or someone else's being unknown. Initially buried in a pauper's grave on Rosevear, she was later moved to the Old Town Church, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly. In the fall of 2008, a group of British divers found a wreck that they claim to be the "Nancy", but to date none of the vast quantity of jewels that Ann was reported to be carrying has been found.