Augusta Wainwright

Augusta Wainwright (previously Lockridge and Tonnell) is a fictional character from the American soap opera Santa Barbara. She was portrayed by American actress Louise Sorel on three occasions. She first appeared on the show in the very first episode, July 30, 1984 and she left on August 22, 1986. She returned on November 7, 1988 and stayed until May 9, 1989. She then returned once again on December 4, 1989 and made her final appearance on September 18, 1991.

Character's background

Augusta Wainright Lockridge was a proud, arrogant, rather patrician woman with a haughty demeanor, an icily acerbic wit, and a fiery temper. She also was a passionate woman of rather questionable morals. She was for many years the wife of wealthy Santa Barbaran Lionel Lockridge and the mother of their two children, Warren and Laken. Augusta neither liked nor respected her mother-in-law, Minx, who entirely reciprocated these feelings. Minx insinuated that she knew of Augusta's late father's crooked real estate dealings which indicated a distrust for Augusta's family background. Augusta had one younger sister, an attorney named Julia Wainwright who was as upright as Augusta was amoral.

During her husband's absence from Santa Barbara, Augusta seduced young Joe Perkins, a gardener at the Lockridge estate. She had earlier tried to scare Joe from returning to Santa Barbara by hiring goons to threaten him on his way back in from prison. Augusta and Lionel's marriage had not been okay for years. When an earthquake hit Santa Barbara, Augusta finally began to talk to Lionel about her (and their) problems. Augusta was insecure around Lionel. She started suspecting that something weird was going on and became suspicious when she saw her husband talking to a person named Dominic. It was revealed that Dominic was in fact Sophia Wayne Capwell Armonti, Augusta's long ago rival for Lionel's affection. Sophia, a former actress, had been hanging around Santa Barbara disguised as a man because everyone believed she was dead. Augusta immediately informed C.C. Capwell, Sophia's former husband and the archenemy of Lionel, about the ruse. She then confronted Lionel, resulting in an old-fashioned food-fight that led to love making.

Their tumultuous marriage took another hard hit when Augusta ended up being a victim of a tunnel cave-in and suffered from temporary blindness. She found comfort in her milkman Frank Amsted whom she really had used to make Lionel jealous. Later she took another new lover named Joseph. Realizing that there was nothing else for her to do, Augusta left Santa Barbara, leaving divorce papers behind for her husband to sign. Before that happened though, she arranged her own kidnapping so Lionel could get back the money he needed to re-claim the Lockridge estate which C.C. got control of out of revenge against Minx for switching Channing Capwell Jr. (really Lionel's son by Sophia) and Brick Wallace at birth.

Augusta's first return to town happened around the time of her sister Julia's first wedding to Mason Capwell, C.C.'s oldest son while Lionel was out of town. Augusta tried to persuade Julia to leave Mason at the altar. She was surprised to learn that Gina DeMott had transformed the Lockridge mansion into a hotel. Augusta found a new lover named T.J. Daniels, and then she left town again.

Augusta's second and final return to town followed her marriage to a dangerous mob boss named Anthony Tonnell, who had been trying to murder various citizens of Santa Barbara. When Tonnell himself was murdered, Augusta was one of the suspects. When that story ended, Augusta had to deal with phony rumors of Lionel's death. After she got over the shock that he was alive, they briefly reconciled, and Augusta even made amends with Minx by aiding her in getting back the Lockridge land. Mason Capwell learned that Warren Lockridge was not the son of Lionel, but was a product of an affair that Augusta had a long time ago. Augusta started drinking heavily and then left for a detoxication center.

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