Relict of Thomas Betterton, the celebrated tragedian (see his burial 2 May 1710), and her self an equally celebrated actress. The dates of her marriage and death, and place of her burial appear to have been hitherto alike unknown to the biographers of her husband. In the marriage allegation, on which was based the license from the Vicar-General, dated 24 Dec. 1662, she was described as Mary Saunderson, of St. Giles Cripplegate, London, spinster, aged about twenty-five, and the consent of her mother, [blank] Saunderson, widow, was attested by Enoch Darrack, of St. Pancras, Soper Lane, London, grocer. They were to marry at Islington, Midx. Her private character appears from universal testimony to have been without reproach, an instance almost miraculous in her profession at the period in which she lived. After her husband's death the Queen bestowed upon her a handsome pension. She is said to have lost her reason, from the violence of her grief, and to have continued in that condition until shortly before her death ; but this statement must be taken with some degree of allowance, as her will, dated 10 Mch. 1711-12, was accepted by the authorities as that of a sane person, and was proved 16 Apl. 1712, by her niece Frances, wife of her nephew Mr. John Williamson. She left to her sister Mrs. Mary Head, and to Mrs. Margaret Robinson and Mrs. Hannah Long, each £20 out of the arrears of her pension, and to her nieces Mrs. Mary Kelly and Mrs. Anne Harrison each £5 ; but there is reason to believe that they were relations of her husband, instead of her own. She bequeathed rings to Mrs. Bracegirdle, Mrs. Barry, and a few other friends, and made her niece Frances 'Williamson residuary legatee.

Source: The marriage, baptismal, and burial registers of the collegiate church or abbey of St. Peter, Westminster, edited by Joseph Lemuel Chester, London, 1876