Clara Evelyn, concert pianist, singer and actress

 

I was intrigued by the words on the back of this postcard from Kate in Lewisham. She told her friend Connie that this famous star had been the pianist they remembered from dancing class when they were younger. With a little research I was able to confirm that Clara Evelyn was born Clara Evelyn Smith. While living with her parents in Rotherhithe and then New Cross she was given a scholarship to study the piano at the Royal College of Music and three years later another scholarship for singing. She also played the piano for her mother’s dancing classes.

Clara was born in 1882 in Camberwell. Her father was an ironmonger and she had 2 brothers and a sister, Ida. In the Edwardian era she starred in several musicals on the London stage including The Merry Widow, and then in The Dollar Princess at Daly’s theatre where she replaced Lily Elsie. In the press she was praised for her excellent singing, though criticised for a slight stoop.

While touring with George Edward’s Merry Widow company she received many excellent reviews and still found time to sing or play at charity concerts. She had further success in the West End in “Girl in the Train” and “Princess Caprice” and she was still performing in concerts in the 1930s.

I wonder if my Grandma, Connie, saw Clara when she came to Bournemouth.

Clara married Julian Day, a merchant banker who also owned more than 50 companies. He died in Switzerland in 1947 but Clara continued living in Chelsea until her death in 1980.

An amazing obituary of Clara Evelyn the last Gaiety Girl written by Hughie Green on https://summertime76.wordpress.com/ a fascinating Blog about Gabrielle Ray.

Lewis Waller and Florence West, a couple of Victorian actors

 

I discovered the show business couple of Florence West and Lewis Waller thanks to a postcard posted on Twitter by MissHistoryGal.  Starting their careers a little earlier than the Edwardian actors I usually research I hadn’t been aware of their interesting lives.

Florence Isabella Brandon was born in Chiswick in December 1859, the eldest daughter of Horatio Brandon a successful solicitor. She had 6 sisters and 2 brothers. She was a keen amateur actress who decided to write to the famous comedian J L Toole to ask for employment with his theatrical company. Having convinced him that she was a serious actress he gave her a trial. Using the stage name of Florence West, she can be found on the billboards of Mr Toole’s company in London and touring England in 1882. In that same year she had quietly married William Waller Lewis, also a keen amateur actor. When a fellow cast member fell ill, she suggested her husband take the part. For several years, Florence continued using the stage name Florence West, perhaps not wanting to affect the matinee idol image which Lewis had acquired along with a host of young female fans. However they were frequently partners on stage.

Lewis was born William Waller Lewis in Bilbao Spain. His father William James Lewis was English, his mother Carlotta Vyse, Spanish. For 5 years he was employed in the city of London, but he always wanted to use, “his fine rich voice,” on stage. His romantic good looks soon made him popular in swashbuckling roles. Florence’s sister, (Constance) Margaret, who as Mrs Clement Scott became theatre critic of the John Bull magazine, described Lewis thus,

“He lived in Cloudland as an enthusiast, a romanticist, a bit of a Don Quixote, a splendid, honest, straightforward, virile man.”

Harry Esmond described Waller’s school of plays as, “The Sword and Caper drama.”

In the mid-1890s he was actor/manager of the Royal Haymarket Theatre and he later impressed with his Shakespearian characters.

The couple had two children, Edmund Lewis Waller born in 1884 who followed his father on stage and Nancy Waller born in 1896. 

In the 1890s as Mrs Lewis Waller, Florence started her own touring company of actors.  In 1904, Florence objected strongly to, “the advertisement of soaps and corsets,” between acts on the screened stage. “I object to half-dressed people being thrown on the screen.”  Such was her influence that the practice stopped during her performances. One of the actresses Florence employed was Ethel Warwick, a famous artists’ model. Ethel later married Edmund Waller Lewis but sadly the marriage ended in divorce.

Both Florence and Lewis died young, Florence, aged 53, in 1912, while her husband was in New York and Lewis of pneumonia, aged 55, in 1915 after a long tour of America, Canada and Australia, with his daughter Nancy by his side.

#AtoZChallenge T is for Thames

A to Z Challenge 2020

Things to be Grateful For

is for Thames



The River Thames has always been important to me. It is the place where my ancestors worked and also a special place for me to visit when I go to visit London.

This map, drawn by John Roque in 1747, shows Wapping on the north side of the river and Rotherhithe on the south side. I love the ships you can see in the Thames and the vegetables planted on the south bank.

Many of the pictures I have collected show the Spritsail barges which my ancestors built.  You can still see several today at St Katherine's Wharf near the Tower of London.

This painting by Walter Greaves shows the flat bottomed barges unloading their cargo at Lindsay Wharf, Chelsea.

Here is a picture of the Mudlarks who in Victorian times scavenged the tideline for articles to sell or dead bodies to rob.  Modern day Mudlarkers have a licence to search for artefacts.

This beautiful fish is one of many made by Tidelineart.com from found pieces of river washed glass.

 Here are two paintings of the Thames. Above is one of the colourful pieces by Sarah Fosse including the Shard and Tower Bridge.  Below is one of many pictures Monet produced while staying in London.

And these pictures were taken from one of the Thames Clippers which in normal times travel up and down the river from Westminster to Canary Wharf.

A visit to the Mayflower at Rotherhithe #WordlessWednesday

My ancestors' photograph in pride of place below the Mayflower.

The story of my barge building family on the Thames 

https://somerville66.blogspot.com/2014/10/building-thames-barges.html

The Mayflower home page https://www.mayflowerpub.co.uk/

Past meets Present in London

Following the challenge set by Becky on It caught my Eye in Portugal this is my second Past Meets Present post but I've moved it across, more appropriately, to this blog.

I have many old postcards and photographs of parts of London and I can never resist using my phone for snaps when I travel into town, so here are a few locations to compare.

Building Tower Bridge

I like to think of my Grandmother, who lived nearby, watching Tower Bridge being erected.  She was 2 years old when they started and 10 when it was completed.

Southwark cathedral in the 1950s

The Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie only became a Cathedral in 1905.  Although frequently thronged with visiting tourists, this lovely building on the South Bank is well worth visiting.

When I took this photograph, the Shard was not quite finished.

St Mary-at-Lambeth next to Lambeth Palace in the 18th century

Now the Garden Museum in Lambeth

You can read my blog about finding my ancestors in St Mary's churchyard here.

 St Katharine's Docks were built after the monastic hostel of St Katharine and 1250 houses were demolished.  Opened in 1828 they were severely damaged by bombing in 1940.  In 1968 the Docks closed but St Katharine's Marina opened in 1973.  It is a lovely spot to walk around, eat or shop.  I go to see the beautiful Thames Barges moored there.

St Katherine's Dock

St Katharine's Marina

The Thames Barge makes this picture special.

From this angle you can avoid seeing the high modern buildings.

Betty's War #WW2 1944

Betty

Betty was born in 1922, in a croft on the Gareloch in Scotland.  She had two brothers, one older and one younger.  Her father, Alec, was 30 and her mother, Lizzie, was 22.  There was no electricity or gas at the croft and Alec worked long hours every day on his uncle’s farm.  When Betty was 4 they moved to the farm where she and her brothers grew up doing their chores, like collecting eggs and calling in the cows for milking.

Doing well at school, especially at maths, Betty left after completing her Highers, age 17.  She found employment at the Clydesdale bank but she had to help milking the cows every morning before running down to catch the bus into town.  War with Germany had been declared in Britain six days before Betty’s 17th birthday.  In September 1942 she would become eligible for conscription and she feared that she would be assigned to the Land Army, working on someone else’s farm, so to avoid that, she volunteered to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).

Leading up to D Day on June 6th 1944, Betty worked on supplies for the Normandy invasion, Operation Overlord, although she had no idea whereabouts in France it would be, or the specific date.  In August, she and her colleagues set off from Portsmouth to Arromanche.  She was part of the vast 21st Army Group, established in London during July 1943.

After she died in 2010 I found many years of diaries written in tiny untidy writing and gradually I have transcribed some of them.  These are some of her entries for the period around D-day leading up to her journey first to France and then on to Brussels and Germany.

These first entries were while she was billeted at Oxted, Surrey.

Elizabeth

Greta

4^th June 1944

Went to Church of Scotland service in the chapel at St Paul’s Cathedral.  Met Elizabeth and Ana and sat in St James’s park.  Visited Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral.  Met Mary, Greta & Greta’s boyfriend.

Like many in the forces, Betty knew invasion was imminent as her work involved supplies.

6^th June 1944 (D-Day)

Couldn’t sleep for the noise of planes in the early hours.  Waited expectantly for news.  D-Day things went very well.  Heard the King’s speech in WVS club lounge.  Rang Greta & Elizabeth.

8^th June 1944

Went to concert in Assembly Hall at Charing Cross.  Looked after a poor Canadian on the train on the way back & was touched when he held my hand wishing me luck.

9^th June 1944

David Niven “The Way Ahead” & newsreel of the Invasion.

11th June 1944

We have a new SSM, very pernickety, we will have to watch our steps

12^th June 1944

"Gone with the Wind" for the 2^nd time.

On 13^th June the first V1 flying bombs, often called doodlebugs in Britain, were launched from Calais over south-east England. 

15^th June 1944

Sirens and gunfire.  Pilotless planes (V1) above.  Very tired in morning.

16^th June 1944

Reached West Kensington and the siren went off.  During the night had to go to the Shelter- hardly slept again.

17^th June 1944

Bought some cornflowers to brighten up the bedroom- had to bargain for a good price.  Saw "Fanny by Gaslight" (Stewart Granger & Phyllis Calvert). Siren & guns kept us awake but we didn’t get out of bed -3^rd night no sleep.

18^th June 1944

Pilotless plane came down 50 yards from our billet- shook us up. Slept together in the Recreation Room.

19^th June 1944

More explosions. First aid lecture boring so I darned my stockings.

20^th June 1944

Spent most of the day in the office calling out figures as usual.  Fed up with sleeping in Rec. Room.

22^nd June 1944

Went to visit friends in Purley (Surrey).  Glorious walk along avenue of Lombardy Poplars and then Rose Avenue.  Wild flowers and gardens so beautiful.  Spent the night in the Shelter.

Saturday 24^th June 1944

PT this morning which nearly killed me.  Busy at the office but left at 5.30.  Came up to Kensington, walked up Notting hill & through Holland Park.

Sunday 23^rd June

Worked till 4 pm then went up to Victoria & sat in St James’s Park.  Walked along Embankment, past Big Ben to Trafalgar Square & then Piccadilly.

In July, Betty was posted to Wentworth, near Virginia Water, but she had volunteered to work overseas, as women were not sent abroad if they didn’t volunteer.

Betty on far left

11^th August 1944

Rose at 2 am to pick up my Kit and board the truck. 

Mulberry Harbour at Arromanche

12^th August 1944

Arrived in Arromanches on board an LST (Tank, Landing Ship) which took us to shore.  Beautiful sunset- ships silhouetted against it. Men cheered us as we travelled in the truck to our camp.

13^th August 1944

Sunbathed.  Tea on Tommy Cookers.  Walked into Bayeux with Hazel.  Beautiful architecture

14^th August 1944

Office till 8.30.  Found a tent with a wireless so we listened to the news.

15^th August 1944

Finding it rather strange under canvas, everything so damp.

The office at Vaucelles near Bayeux

 18^th August 1944

Browned off with such long hours in office & no time to read, sew or write.

22^nd August 1944

Mobile baths a good laugh.

23^rd August 1944

Bayeux festooned with flags to celebrate the Freedom of Paris.

26^th August 1944

ENSA show Kay Cavendish, Florence Desmond, Sandy Powell and Flannigan & Allen.

8^th September 1944

My birthday (22) Day off with Pat & Hazel.  Met 3 fellows in the afternoon & hitched into Bayeux.  Got into the theatre for an amusing ENSA show, autograph from Alice Delysia.  Wandered round the cathedral.  Found a hotel where we were able to get dinner.  I must hand it to the French, they know how to cook meat.  Didn’t think much of their Calvados.  Walked back to Billet by 9.  Had tea & biscuits at NAAFI.

In September, Brussels was liberated and many of the ATS were posted to HQ 21^st army group.

Caen September 1944

29^th September 1944

Reveille at 4.30 am.  Quick breakfast & on lorries by 6.30.  A bumpy journey which made me feel sick.  Passed through Caen & Rouen.  Saw some awful sights on the way.  Night in hostel at Amiens.

30^th September 1944

Left at 8 am and arrived in Brussels at 5 pm.  We are so impressed by our block of flats.  Luxury after tent life.  After tea we settled into life in Avenue Louise.  There is a marvellous view from the balcony overlooking the whole city.  Wonderful by moonlight.

Sunday 1^st October 1944

Trotted along the Avenue to the office at 10.  It is lovely, just like a Civie (Civilian) one.  The chestnut trees in the Avenue are wonderful.  Our Mess is in a school, polished tables and panelled walls.  It all seems too good to be true.

This was to be the best part of her time in the ATS.

To read more  about Betty's time in Brussels