Hannah Cowley (1743–1809) grew up in the small town of Tiverton, Devon, the daughter of Hannah (nee Richards) and Philip Parkhouse (ca. 1712–1790). An excellent scholar, her father had been “educated for Holy Orders,” but with scant prospect of securing a church living, he “became a Bookseller, as the nearest approach he could then prudently make to a life of some degree of literary enjoyment” and a member of Tiverton's corporation. As Angela Escott points out,

Philip Parkhouse befriended Lord Harrowby, a Member of Parliament, who provided Cowley with contacts in London during the early stages of her career and subsequently helped her husband, Thomas Cowley, obtain a position with the East India Company.

The anonymous author of the preface to The Works of Mrs. Cowley (1813) describes the genesis of Cowley's first play:

Cowley sent her comedy to the renowned actor David Garrick, the manager of Drury Lane Theatre, who generously “tightened the text without damaging the charm and ingenuousness of the characters and situations, and helped her structure into the text moments that are clearly performable.” The Runaway premiered on February 15, 1776, and was an instant success, playing for seventeen nights. Unfortunately for Cowley, Garrick retired from the stage on June 10, 1776, and his successor as manager of Drury Lane, the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, treated Cowley more like a theatrical rival than a protégée.