The brief biographical information we have about Hannah Cowley centers on her life after she had begun writing for the theater and after her retirement in 1801 to Tiverton, Devonshire, where she was born on 14 March 1743. It is likely that she spent her childhood and years before her marriage there. Her father, Philip Parkhouse, was a bookseller and was reputed to be a highly educated classical scholar, who had originally trained to be a clergyman. It is likely that her father encouraged her literary interests and supervised her education, although it apparently did not include the study of any foreign languages.

After her marriage in 1772 to Thomas Cowley, a newspaper writer and clerk in the Stamp Office, the couple moved to London, which became her home until after her retirement from the stage. They had at least three children. Thomas, Mary Elizabeth, and Frances. Her husband died in 1797 in...