Ethel Sydney, a Gaiety girl #EdwardianActress #Postcards

 

I discovered Ethel Sydney from someone who responded to my post about The Gaiety Girls and what an interesting discovery she was.  Most Victorian and Edwardian actresses came from theatrical families or at least were supported by their mothers at the outset of their career but Emily Beatrice Lloyd, as she then was, ran away from home to go on stage. Having been born in Burma in 1874, the youngest daughter of Lt-Colonel Malcolm Lloyd of HM Madras Staff Corps she was brought to England at the age of two, by her mother Louise, after her father’s sudden death. In 1893, nineteen year old Ethel married Sydney Douglas Edward Hall, whose father had been an officer of the Bengal cavalry and from this point her acting name was Ethel Sydney. It is in this name that she is listed in the programme of George Edwards’ production of “A Gaiety Girl”.  In newspaper articles she is praised for her ability as a comedy actress as well as her fine singing voice.

When interviewed by The Sketch in 1894 she told of a gold medal awarded to her as champion Lady swimmer of Portsmouth 5 years earlier but now all her ambitions were in musical comedy. 

After playing the title role in The Shop Girl on Broadway in 1895 there was a pause in her career for the birth of her son in 1898. In the 1901 census Ethel is listed in her married name, accompanied by her son Durham Hall staying at the South Shore Hydro, Blackpool along with the cast of the play in which she was performing.  But her marriage did not survive as in 1902 she divorced Sydney Hall, citing his denial of conjugal rights and she later married Samuel Robinson Oliver, a man of independent means. 

However, in 1911 allegations of adultery with John Upton Gaskell were made against Ethel by her husband, Samuel. Guy Oliver, the child she and Samuel Oliver had in 1905, remained in his father’s custody. Once the divorce was finalised, she married John Gaskell and in 1913 they had a son, Peter Upton. At her last three marriages Ethel gave misinformation about her age, probably because she was considerably older than her spouses.

Ethel’s last husband, Alistair Ian Matheson, was at 25, half Ethel’s age but on the marriage certificate in 1924, she is listed as “of full age”. 

  Alistair Matheson had been a 2^nd  Lieutenant during the First World War and then became a commercial artist specialising in animation including the Bonzo cartoon for New Era Films.  Despite the age difference Ethel and Alistair remained together for the rest of her life. Ethel died in London in 1967, her husband a year later.

Wartime Postcards #Humour

During the second world war my mother was constantly being separated from her friends in the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) as they were each given different postings or went on leave so they kept in touch by sending postcards.

Mabel Lucie Atwell

Valentine cards

The postcards were sent from Dundee and Lowestoft and were received by my mother at home in Scotland or at her army billet in Oxted, Surrey or at HQ 21st Army Group in Belgium.

To read my mother's story of life in the ATS during World War Two 

The disappearance of Mabel Love #Edwardian actress #wwwblogs

Mabel Love, a beautiful child star from a theatrical dynasty, caused consternation in 1889 when she suddenly disappeared in the middle of London.  The Star newspaper reported, “The Disappearance of a Burlesque Actress.”  Only 14 years old, she was described as, “of fresh complexion, with light grey eyes and fair hair, curling and hanging loose over the shoulders. She was wearing, when she left home, a black and white striped fish-wife skirt, Oxford patent shoes, black plush hat and feathers, and a terra-cotta coloured cloak trimmed with white fur round the collar and cuffs and with large metal buttons.”

She had already been on the stage for two years, appearing in the first play version of “Alice in Wonderland,” in a Christmas pantomime at Covent Garden and had recently been contracted by George Edwardes at the Gaiety to dance in the burlesque "Faust up-to-date".  A very pretty girl, she had many admirers and a great deal of pressure.

But she had been spotted by several people after leaving her parents house in Arundel Street, The Strand with her payment from The Gaiety Theatre.  Luckily she was traced a few days later in Dublin and returned to Euston Station to crowds of admirers.

Article from "The Era" newspaper 

Mabel was the granddaughter of entertainer and ventriloquist William Edward Love and the daughter of actress Kate Watson (Love). Mabel's father was the brother of Robert Grant Watson, who served in the diplomatic service and had held the posts of First Secretary to the British Embassy in Washington, and Charge d'affaires in Japan.

Sadly Mabel still suffered from a distressed state of mind as a few months later she made a suicide attempt.

Mr Vaughan showed great sympathy for her and gave her the following advice.

Subsequently she was able to return to her career and no more dramatic events were recorded.  By the age of 20 she was even more popular with the public as well as young Winston Churchill and Edward the Prince of Wales.  She appeared in musical comedy and burlesque and when photographer Frank Foulsham produced postcards of her, they were widely bought and sent.

In 1913 Mabel gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Mary, later called Mrs Mary Lorraine.  There is mystery about Mary’s father but she was acclaimed for her bravery during the second world war. Originally an actress like her mother, she became a secret agent for the SOE in France and was captured and tortured by the Gestapo.  After the war she suffered from mental health problems and died in poverty, unaware that her mother had left her a substantial legacy.

After retiring, Mabel Love continued to enjoy visits to the theatre. She moved into an hotel in Weybridge with her best friend Vesta Tilley and died there in 1953 at the age of 78.

©Elizabeth Lloyd

More tales of scandal on the Edwardian stage:

Jean Alwyn the lady Harry Lauder

The notorious Maud Allan

Lily Elsie the most photographed woman in the British Empire

The murder of William Terriss

#LouisWain - The man who drew cats

Both my grandmother and my mother collected postcards of cats painted by Louis Wain.

Many of these are of appealing cats with large eyes.  However Wain did not begin his artistic career with cats.  Born the son of a textile trader and embroiderer in Clerkenwell, he lost his father when he was 20 but continued to live with his French mother and his 5 younger sisters for most of his life.  He worked for newspapers such as the Illustrated london News, drawing detailed pictures of English country houses and livestock at agricultural shows.

When he was 23 he married his sisters' governess, Emily Richardson, but sadly she died 3 years later.  While she was suffering from breast cancer she took great comfort from the company of a stray black and white cat which the couple had taken in.  Louis began to draw the cat, eventually publishing his first cat picture in 1886.

Wain illustrated one hundred children's books during his life.  He considered taking up illustrating dogs but decided to experiment with his cat pictures.

                

At first the cats stood on four legs, but soon they walked upright and wore clothes, which was a popular motif of the day.  They always exhibited exaggerated expressions.  The postcards have always remained popular and from 1901-1915 the Louis Wain annual was published.

Louis had poor business sense and struggled financially to support his mother and sisters.  In the 1920s his behaviour became erratic and occasionally violent so in 1924 his sisters had him committed to the Pauper Ward of a mental hospital in Tooting.  A year later, at the instigation of the Prime Minister, Wain was transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital where the garden included a colony of cats.

  

It was said that Louis Wain suffered from schizophrenia and that this could be seen in the bright colours and highly patterned cats he produced in his later years, but it now believed that in fact he had Asperger's Syndrome.  None of his pictures were dated and some argue that if these were his later drawings, they were evidence of his experimentation and artistic maturity.

One thing is certain; you either love them or hate them.

  

       

Humorous Greetings #postcards

Many of the postcards in my grandmother's collection were really notecards for sending a quick message to a friend.  Usually arriving on the same day they were posted they could be compared to a text or WhatsApp today but perhaps more like Instagram since they include an entertaining picture.

Thanks for Yours

In 1903 my grandmother was 19 years old, the youngest daughter living in Rotherhithe with her parents.  The family were able to have one servant and unlike her mother thirty years earlier, Connie did not have to work.  

So sorry I missed you

She had a busy social life meeting her friends, going to the London theatres and staying with relations in the country.  Sometimes the shortened phrases are rather cryptic.

A little thought

Many of the cards are from an unidentified friend called Mal.  

The note duly reached

Three Little Maids was a musical at the Apollo Theatre.

I shouldn't have thought

This card was posted locally and Mal was planning to catch the bus.

Exhilaration

This exhilarating card came from Mary, who wrote more formally.

I need not explain

Laura wrote from Bournemouth, so has sent a friendly greeting.

And finally Connie didn't post this card. perhaps because it was inappropriate!

Things are looking healthy

Lance Thackeray (1870 - 1916) was a gifted artist who specialised in beautifully drawn comic scenes. Thackeray was a founding member of the London Sketch Club. 
Louis Wain's early cat pictures were very popular despite their wild eyes.
You can read the history of the postcards of Raphael Tuck and sons here

Music, comedy and #murder #EdwardianActress

Probably the most popular type of postcards to be collected in the early 20^th century, were those of Edwardian actors and actresses.  It was the golden age of British theatre and just like today, everyone wanted to know more gossip about their families.

Ellaline Terriss made her London debut at the Haymarket in 1888, aged 16. She was a talented actress and singer who began her career in musical comedies.

 

She was the daughter of William Terriss, who after trying the merchant navy, tea planting in India and farming in the Falkland Islands, had become a member of Sir Henry Irving’s company at the Lyceum theatre.  Besides being a noted Shakespearian actor, he was also known for his swashbuckling roles such as Robin Hood. 

William Terriss

A year earlier than Ellaline, Edward Seymour Hicks also began his career on the London stage at the age of 16.  As well as becoming a popular actor he soon became a prolific author of light comedies.  The public were thrilled in 1893 when he and Ellaline Terriss were married.

In December 1897 tragedy struck.  William Terriss, who was known for his kindness, had helped out a young actor, Richard Archer Prince.  He gave Prince work but the young man proved to be unstable and drank too much, so he was dismissed.  Terriss sent Prince money and the Actor’s Benevolent Society found him another part.  However, finding himself unemployed again, Prince blamed all his woes on William Terriss, so one evening he waited outside the stage door of the Royal Adelphi theatre, carrying a knife.  When Terriss arrived, Prince stabbed him and he sadly died.  The trial was read avidly by the general public and there was a great outpouring of sympathy for Ellaline and Seymour Hicks.

 

Their popularity was immense.  During the following year Seymour Hicks co-authored “A Runaway Girl” in which Ellaline starred at the Gaiety Theatre and the couple also adopted a four year old Irish girl, Mabel Magdalene.  In 1914 Seymour Hicks recalled, “My wife saw and fell in love with the sweetest of little Irish girls, and we adopted her, calling her Mabel. To-day she is a sweet and gentle girl of eighteen, and is dearly loved by us."

 

In 1902 Ellaline and Seymour Hicks appeared together in Quality Street by J M Barrie.  They had recently bought a new home called The Old Forge at Merstham in Surrey and their cul-de-sac was renamed Quality Street.  Two years later Ellaline gave birth to their baby, Betty.

 

Edward Seymour Hicks became so successful that in 1905 he built the Aldwych Theatre and in 1906 The Globe, although at that time it was called The Hicks.  After 1911 Ellaline appeared mainly in comedy and music hall.  During the First World War, the couple gave concerts to the troops at the Front in France and in 1940 they went to the Middle East with ENSA.  Having been the first British actor to perform in France during both World War I and World War II, Hicks was awarded the Croix de Guerre twice for his services and he was knighted in 1934.

Following the Second World War, Ellaline and Edward moved to South Africa, but after the death of Seymour Hicks in 1949, Ellaline returned to England where she took up painting and had an exhibition in London.  She died in Hampstead in 1971, aged 100.