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| The Hampshire Chronicle 4 October 1773 The British Library Board |
In October 1773 Mr and Mrs Daigueville were performing at the theatre in Southampton and Mr Daigueville's teaching practice was based at a girls' boarding school.
Elizabeth Armstrong was a longstanding pupil and is listed among "scholars of d'Egville". She had certainly been on the stage since the age of six when she danced at Sadler's Wells in the autumn of 1769. At the time of the performance in Southampton she was no more than ten years old.
For Peter, the father of James Harvey d'Egville, to have married Margaret Benton in Portsea in December 1774 the Mrs Daigueville on the bill would have to have died sometime in the next twelve months. But at his benefit in May 1775 his wife danced in the role of Boadicea Queen of Britain assisted "by her two daughters."
Peter often seems to have spent extended periods in the provinces as he danced in Bristol in 1776. For him to have been in Southampton - a city of some importance - would not be unusual for a performer based in London.
After James returned to England at around the time of the French Revolution it becomes increasingly difficult which d'Egville is referred to in the bills and advertisements. It is consequently difficult to identify the woman referred to as Madame d'Egville.
The Daigueville who left a well furnished home in Ipswich in 1791 remains tantalising. In another coincidence Peter's daughter Sophie disappears from the English scene shortly afterwards.
