Harriet Smithson, Actress, Is Born in Ennis, Co. Clare

Harriet Constance Smithson (18 March 1800 – 3 March 1854), who also went by Henrietta Constance Smithson, Harriet Smithson Berlioz, and Miss H.C. Smithson, was an Anglo-Irish Shakespearean actress of the 19th century, best known as the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz.

Harriet Smithson was born on 18 March 1800, at Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. Her father, William Joseph Smithson, was an actor and theatrical manager from Gloucestershire, England, and her mother was an actress whose full name is unknown.

She also had a brother, Joseph Smithson, and a sister, name also unknown. In October 1801, Harriet was left in the care of Reverend James Barrett, a priest of the Church of Ireland, parish of Drumcliffe.

Barrett became her guardian and brought her up as though she were his own daughter. He instructed her “in the precepts of religion,” and kept everything connected with the stage from her view.

After Barrett’s death on 16 February 1808, the Smithsons sent Harriet to a boarding school in Waterford.