Nelson, Annette (?-1870)

Annette Nelson was born in Madrid to an English naval captain. In 1828, she made her acting debut in London as Peggy in a play called "The Country Girl." Nelson first came to the United States in 1833 to New Orleans. In 1836, she managed the Richmond Hill Theatre in New York for several months, a period during Winter noted that she was a "reigning beauty in thousands of hearts" (Winter 121-2). She made her debut in New York the following year at Park Theatre before performing later that same year at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia (Brown 49).

She met John Brougham as a widow named "Mrs. Coppelson Hodges," and they married in 1847 (Winter 121; Brown 49). As the wife of John Brougham, actress Annette Nelson was best known as “Mrs. Brougham.” She performed in several of her husband’s plays, including Love and Murder: A Farce in One Act, Dombey and Son and two productions of The Game of Life. Winter remembered her as "fascinated more by loveliness than by extraordinary dramatic talent," after her death in 1870 (Winter 122).