First Woman on English Stage

Date: December 8, 1660 • Location: London, United Kingdom

Margaret Hughes (pictured) appeared professionally on the English stage; she is thought to have been the first woman to do so.

Margaret Hughes, also Peg Hughes or Margaret Hewes, was an English actress who is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage, as a result of her appearance on 8 December 1660. Hughes was the mistress of the Royalist English Civil War general Prince Rupert of the Rhine.