Tracing Your Theatrical Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians

By Katharine M Cockin

How can you find out about the lives of ancestors who were involved in the world of theater: on stage and on film, in the music halls and traveling shows, in the circus and in all sorts of other forms of public performance? Katharine Cockin’s handbook provides a fascinating introduction for readers searching for information about ancestors who had clearly defined roles in the world of the theater and performance as well as those who left only a few tantalizing clues behind.

The wider history of public performance is outlined, from its earliest origins in church rituals and mystery plays through periods of censorship driven by campaigns on moral and religious grounds up to the modern world of stage and screen. Case studies, which are a special feature of the book, demonstrate how the relevant records and be identified and interpreted, and they prove how much revealing information they contain. Information on relevant archives, books, museums and websites make this an essential guide for anyone who is keen to explore the subject.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Aug 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781526732064

Katharine M Cockin

Professor Katharine Cockin teaches in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex. Her interdisciplinary research has focused on archival studies, theatre history and digital humanities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is the author of fifteen books including, as editor, several volumes of the collected letters of Ellen Terry, as well as numerous articles and essays. She is Principal Investigator of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Searching for Theatrical Ancestors project.

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TRACING YOUR THEATRICAL ANCESTORS

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TRACING YOUR THEATRICAL ANCESTORS

A Guide for Family Historians

KATHARINE COCKIN

First published in Great Britain in 2023 by

PEN AND SWORD FAMILY HISTORY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire – Philadelphia

Copyright © Katharine Cockin 2023

ISBN 978 1 52673 205 7

ePub ISBN 978 1 52673 206 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52673 206 4

The right of Katharine Cockin to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

AHRC Searching for Theatrical Ancestors (2015–17) was supported by

Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas, Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History, Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport, True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport, Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Stars, Rising Stars and the Mysterious Walter Plinge

Chapter 2 Stage and Society

Chapter 3 Performance and the People

Chapter 4 Amateur Dramatics

Chapter 5 Song and Dance

Chapter 6 Theatre and Performance on Tour: Mobility and its Consequences

Chapter 7 Stage and Screen

Chapter 8 Other Sources: Archiving Theatre and Performance

Valedictions

Notes

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

University of Essex, Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, supported my research time to write this book, conduct interviews and to give presentations on the topic from October 2017. I am grateful to the University of Essex for taking over the support of my online resource project, the AHRC Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Database and Searching for Theatrical Ancestors, available at www.ellenterryarchive.essex.ac.uk

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) financially supported the Searching for Theatrical Ancestors project 2015–17 (REF AH/N003438/1) of which I was Principal Investigator at the University of Hull. The project was supported by the National Trust, the British Library, and the Federation of Family History Societies, as project partners. The database development, programming and website design were skilfully carried out by Julian Halliwell, www.simplicityweb.co.uk and the visual designs for Searching for Theatrical Ancestors pages by John Oxton-King and Rachel Oxton-King, Mr and Mrs OK at www.mrandmrsok.com. Copyright clearance advice was provided by Naomi Korn, copyright consultant, who also led a workshop on copyright for family history researchers at the RSA, London on 7 September 2016 as part of the AHRC Searching for Theatrical Ancestors project.

Interviews and permission to reproduce material from them were kindly given by Margaret Bailey, Paul Cox, Dr Nicholas J. Evans, Moira Goff, Keith Gregson, Catherine Haill, Corinne Hastilow, Steve Jackson, Naomi Korn, Julie-Anne Lambert, Edwina Osborne, Professor Rebecca Probert, Dr Jill Sullivan, Sue Swalwell, Mary Twentyman, Peter Whitlock, Neil Wholey, and Henry Wilson.

Family history researchers, many hundred in total, have kindly given feedback and asked insightful questions, at numerous events. I am very grateful for invitations to speak at these events: the Searching for Theatrical Ancestors project conference at the British Library Conference Centre, London, 29 July 2016; BBC Who Do You Think You Are? National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, 6–8 April 2017; York Family History Fair, York Racecourse, 24 June 2017; Hull History Centre, 21 November 2017; Buxton U3A Family History event, 16 March 2018; East Yorkshire Family History Society, Beverley, 4 September 2018; Bi-centenary Theatre History Day, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, 5 July 2019; ‘Unconventional Lives’ seminar, Guild of One-Name Studies, Winchester, 22 February 2020.

Academic audiences gave feedback on my conference papers on the Searching for Theatrical Ancestors project, notably at the three conferences organised by Professor Liz Stanley on archives at Edinburgh University, 13 Jan 2017; University of East London, 13 March 2017; and Cambridge, 16 June 2017.

Interviews with me about the Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Database and the Searching for Theatrical Ancestors projects have been published in major family history magazines and I am grateful for this opportunity to have reached an international readership of family history researchers.

Simon Stabler interviewed me about the Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Database in Family History, January 2010, No. 178, 16.

The BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine (Dec 2016) included AHRC Searching for Theatrical Ancestors in the ‘Top 50 websites to watch in 2017’.

Karen Clare interviewed me and included two paragraphs and a photograph of the Searching for Theatrical Ancestors project stand in the two-page report of the BBC Who Do You Think You Are? National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham 2017, in Family Tree, June 2017, Vol. 33, No. 9, 6–7.

Simon Wills interviewed me in a two-page illustrated feature, in Family Tree, October 2017, Vol. 33, No. 13, 44–5.

Nick Thorne interviewed me about Searching for Theatrical Ancestors at the BBC Who Do You Think You Are? National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham 8 April 2017, and made the short film available on his blog, The Nosey Genealogist, at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QDDuefYk-0

Professor Jonathan Lichtenstein, my colleague at University of Essex, kindly read earlier drafts of the book and gave encouraging feedback which illuminated the theatre history wood through the family history trees.

Rupert Harding and Amy Jordan at Pen and Sword publishers gave excellent support and guidance through the development and production of this book, and I am grateful to Gaynor Haliday, copy editor.

INTRODUCTION

Theatrical ancestors are both surprisingly plentiful and hard to trace. If you are already on the trail of an ancestor who was involved in performance or theatrical activities of some kind, it is likely that you have encountered more than the usual ‘brick walls’ that tend to face family history researchers. Theatrical ancestors may have travelled extensively, used many different stage names, and evaded public records. In this book ‘theatrical ancestors’ applies broadly to anyone associated with the creation or consumption of theatre and performing arts. As an introduction to the range of relevant sources of information, it also offers some effective strategies for searching for your theatrical ancestor based on extensive academic research on archives in theatre history and discussions with family history researchers:

Consider theatre-making as a business. An understanding of the social and commercial contexts tends to open up new ways of thinking about performance.

Explore the numerous trades associated with the different performing arts. This may take the family history researcher into some unlikely, but very fruitful, avenues of investigation.

Look far and wide. Mobility is a common feature of the lives of those involved in theatre and the performing arts.

Be prepared to be surprised. The dominance of theatre and the performing arts as a popular and increasingly respectable form of leisure entertainment in the nineteenth century makes it likely that in that period ancestors had some connection with it, at least amounting to their experience as a member of an audience. The promotion of amateur theatre in Britain from 1919 as a strategic cultural movement for community rebuilding means that many individuals were associated with theatre as a sustained hobby or occasional leisure pursuit.

Even if there seems to be no theatrical ancestor in your family tree so far, it would be well worth investing a little time in exploring the fields of theatre and the performing arts. Many family history researchers have been surprised to discover that their ancestors, never known to have had any interest whatsoever in the theatre, unexpectedly surface in theatre records.

Why this book is for you

This book is designed for three different but productively overlapping groups. It is intended to be used as a practical guide for family history researchers new to theatre history. It is also relevant for museum and library professionals and academics who want to explore the public engagement and research impact dimensions of the family history research perspective.

These three diverse groups collectively have access to a rich and unique resource of experiences which could be shared very productively. Family history researchers have stories to tell about things they have discovered first-hand in the process of family history research. Museum and library professional experts have examples from their experience of working with readers and visitors who have used their resources. Academics working in literary studies, theatre history, history and law provide unusual examples from our research, relevant for the field of family history.

How this book developed

Many serendipitous discoveries have resulted from the increasing volume of digitised archives and online catalogues. This was the starting point for this book. My academic research project, the AHRC Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Database catalogue, contains descriptions of each of the 20,000 documents in this National Trust-owned theatre archive.1 Since the database was launched online in 2008, it has been used extensively by the intended academic and cultural heritage sector user groups. In addition, an unforeseen number of family history researchers who have discovered their ancestor’s name or a relevant clue to further details about their family have found the records very useful.

There is a surprisingly wide range of material in this archive. Beyond the predictable collection of correspondence, photographs and documents relating to theatre productions, the archive covers very broadly its owners’ experiences in an international cultural and theatre context. These are the actor Ellen Terry (1847–1928) and her daughter Edith Craig (1869–1947) who was a theatre director, costumier and actor as well as a key figure in the women’s suffrage movement.

Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Database. (University of Essex: www.ellenterryarchive.essex.ac.uk/star)

Both women were actively involved in theatre productions during the flourishing period of commercial theatre in Britain spanning the 1860s to 1930s when theatregoing was a principal form of entertainment and when improved transport by train, tram and ship made theatrical tours feasible. Some productions were associated with charity work of various kinds and notably fundraising during the First World War. Other productions were related to political campaigns including women’s suffrage, animal protection, stage censorship and divorce reform. Theatre was the site of political protest. Movements in many countries supported a ‘free’ theatre and freedom of speech. Challenging ideas could be disseminated through live performance to a wide audience. Ellen Terry toured the UK, USA and Canada many times. Just before the outbreak of the First World War and when in her late sixties, she embarked on an arduous tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Ellen Terry’s archive is particularly varied and rich.2 She lived eighty-one very active years and her career was enthusiastically supported by leading artists and authors. Her audiences were made up of aristocrats and middle-class professionals as well as working-class folk whose devotion she greatly respected. Oscar Wilde was a fan. She had a long, private correspondence with George Bernard Shaw. Many of these individuals, together with her friends and acquaintances, were keen correspondents. Her career developed from experiences as a child actor in low-budget touring theatre with her family to her leading roles as an adult in productions at the most prestigious theatres in the UK, USA and Canada. Towards the end of her career, she made the transition to silent film. In 1922, she had a cameo role in a very successful film with the popular star, Ivor Novello. She toured her Shakespeare lectures and a repertoire of recitals and memorable scenes from her popular performances in Shakespeare and other drama. Although she always dreaded performing in music halls, she did perform occasionally at the Coliseum, London, on one occasion with Vesta Tilley in a morale-boosting wartime performance.

Edith Craig’s archive is also a rich resource, encompassing her varied career from theatre work to political activism in the British women’s suffrage movement but is very limited in the personal papers that have survived.3 Her training as an actor began with the support of her mother and was followed by her own costume design business. Subsequently she chose the field of theatre directing and producing. She was always working on something but usually on single productions, which were artistically challenging but commercially limited. In the 1920s, she was a leader of the British Drama League and Little Theatre movement mainly in the south of England and in Yorkshire, in Leeds and York. She was involved in some pivotal productions. In 1921, she directed a season of plays by George Bernard Shaw for the Everyman Theatre Hampstead which rehabilitated his reputation after his widely unpopular pacifist stance on the First World War. Craig adjudicated at many theatre and elocution competitions for branches of the Women’s Institute in this inter-war period, when amateur theatre was embedded in the rebuilding of community spirit and underpinned by the values of collective enterprise.

It may seem obvious but for family history research