Vestris, Lucia Elizabeth or Lucy Eliza (1797–1856)

English actor and theatre manager. She had a long and distinguished career on the London stage, appearing in light opera and as a singer at Vauxhall Gardens. From 1815 she played in Paris, France, but returned in 1820 to star at Drury Lane and Covent Garden, London, winning huge acclaim in The Haunted Tower and Paul Pry. In 1830 she took over the Olympic, where she staged a series of spectacular burlesques.

Her second husband was the younger Charles Mathews, with whom she acted and managed Covent Garden and the Lyceum. They married in 1838.

Madame Vestris was an innovator in the theatre, particularly in costume and scenery, and was probably the first to use a box set, with walls and ceiling, in the place of wings and a backcloth.