Mary Ann Paton

The eldest daughter of George Paton, a writing-master at Edinburgh and amateur violin, and his wife, née Crawford, was born in Edinburgh in October 1802. She and her sisters received a good musical training: they were singers also, Isabella making her début at Mary Ann's benefit at Covent Garden Theatre, 1824, as Letitia Hardy, and Eliza sing at the Haymarket Theatre in 1833. Mary Ann, aged eight, appeared at public concerts as a singer, performer on the harp and pianoforte (Giovanni Battista Viotti's concerto in G), and recited William Collins's Ode to the Passions and ''Alexander's Feast''. The family settled in London in 1811, and she gave some concerts; but then took a break from performing. She had instrumental lessons from Samuel Webbe the younger, and after six years, began a career as a vocalist, appearing in 1820 at Bath, and in 1821 at Huntingdon. ==On the London stage==

'' In 1822 Paton joined the Haymarket company, and on 3 August tried the role of Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro. With critical success she took the roles of the Countess in the same opera, of Rosina in the Barber of Seville, Lydia in Morning, Noon, and Night (George Frederick Perry), and Polly in the ''Beggar's Opera. She went on to Covent Garden, as Mandane in Artaxerxes, Rosetta in Love in a Village, Adriana in the Comedy of Errors, and Clara in The Duenna''. As a prima donna, she was largely responsible for the success of a number of adaptations of Rossini's operas in London during 1829–1830. In 1831 Paton was engaged at the King's Theatre, where she sang in La Cenerentola and other Italian operas. Returning to Drury Lane, she took the part in 1832 of Alice in Robert le diable, arranged by Henry Bishop. ==Later life==

As Mrs. Wood, she then went to reside at Woolley Moor in Derbyshire, with her husband. In 1840 they visited America for the first time. After their return she retired to a convent for a year, but she reappeared at the Princess's Theatre and at concerts, in which her husband was also engaged. in Yorkshire, and it was there that Mary Ann Wood died, on 21 July 1864, aged 62. ==Family==

Paton's father had insisted on her breaking off an engagement with a young medical man named Blood, who went upon the stage for a short time under the name of Davis. She married on 7 May 1824 Lord William Pitt Lennox; they were divorced in the Scottish courts in 1831. In the same year she married Joseph Wood, a tenor singer. She left a son, Robert Henry Wood, born in 1838. ==See also==