Embedded Files
Updated 9.10.2021
There is overwhelming evidence that Mary Verité (or Verity) Ward who was left £4,000 in Bertie Fenwick’s will was recognised by Bertie as being his daughter and that her mother was Mabel Love. Put in context, he died in 1937 leaving £24,524 gross, £7,166 net (his will is linked here) or see Wills etc page on the Harding of Packington site.
The will was signed in 1925.
It was always said that Bertie had a daughter whose mother was a Gaiety girl who was not Connie - the Gaiety girl he married after he was divorced by Violet (nee Perkins, later Mrs Robert Clayton Swan). Mabel Love was a well-known actress and at one time a Gaiety girl. When Mabel died, the name reported and for which probate was given, was Mabel Love Ward. In internet correspondence, there is a Mary Verity Ward described as being the daughter of Mabel Love. Rachel Harding (Bertie and Violet’s daughter) kept a press cutting about the death of Mabel Love in 1952 and noted on it that she was the mother of Bertie’s daughter.
The existence of an “illegitimate” daughter was very likely as this legacy was to someone who would have been a minor when the will was signed on 8.10.1925. Mabel Love’s daughter was born in 1913 (the same year as Rachel, Bertie’s other daughter) so she would have been 12 in 1925.
A considerable amount of information has been sent to us in May 2015 by David Railton. On a brief perusal, there is nothing that challenges our contention that Bertie Fenwick believed (rightly or wrongly!), that Mary Verité Ward was his daughter and that the mother was Mabel Love
There remain some questions to which we (see Home page) would welcome answers such as-
- Who was the Major Edward Ward who was one of Bertie’s executors? The other executor was Sir Arthur Nicholas Lindsay Wood. One possibility is Sir Edward Simons Ward Bt b. 1882, killed in the much reported Meopham plane crash in 1930. Probate for Bertie's will was granted to Sir Arthur Wood only which suggests that the other executor had died before Bertie (1937). And was it co-incidental that the executor's name was Ward?
- If, as seems certain, Mary Ward was Mabel Love’s daughter, where did her surname Ward come from? When her marriage to Capt. Lorraine was registered in Montreal she described herself as the only daughter of George Ward and Mrs Mabel Love Ward. As stated earlier, Ward was added to Mabel Love's name at the time of her death and the National Probate Register records her as Mabel Ward. It seems possible that George Ward did not exist but was invented in order to disguise Mary's illegitimacy.
- Was it part of Bertie’s legacy that his daughter still had when she died and why didn’t she know she had the bonds?
- Mary is said to have adopted her grandfather’s name “Grant”. As Mabel’s birth name was Watson and Bertie was the other albeit putative grandfather, who was Grant?
- Did Hoopers International Probate Genealogists who discovered the existence of the unclaimed legacy contact any Fenwicks?
- Did Mary Verity Ward work for the Special Operations Executive during WWII or was she a fantasist?
- Would Denis Chesters or his firm in Brighton have any further information – see the 1973 press cutting?
Timeline
1864 Vesta Tilley, friend of Mabel Love who lived in the same hotel towards the end of their lives, born.
1870 Bertie Fenwick born (he died 1937)
1874 Mabel Love born (she died 1952 or 1953). Surname originally Watson
1882 Richard Thomas, Mary’s first husband, born
1912 Mabel Love said to have retired from stage to look after her daughter
1913 Mary Verity Ward said to have been born
1913 Rachel Harding born (she died 2006)
1925 Bertie Fenwick’s Will signed
1934 Bertie Fenwick's Will Codicil signed
1935 Mary Verity Ward married Richard Emrys Thomas, Dep Dir of Egyptian State Railways. He was 53
1935 Richard David Thomas born a year after the marriage when Mary was 21.
1937 Bertie Fenwick died. Left £4,000 to Mary Verity Ward who would be about 23.
1938 Mabel Love returned to the stage
1939 Richard Thomas became Chief Inspection Engineer in London to the Egyptian govt
1948 Mary Verity Thomas nee Ward remarried. To Anthony Lorraine, a BOAC pilot, in Montreal
1952 Mabel Love died (born 1874). Left £2,600 in govt bonds to Mary Verity Thomas nee Ward
Press cutting saved by Rachel Harding
Vesta Tilley died
1953 November. Mary Verity Lorraine nee Ward and husband Anthony Lorraine reported in press to have been burgled
1973 September. Mary Grant nee Love, then Thomas, (then Lorraine – Grant was said to be her grandfather’s name) died in house fire
2001 Richard David Thomas died
2006 Rachel Harding died
2009 Report in (Brighton) Argus referring to a BBC1 programme “Heir Hunters” in which Mabel’s previously unclaimed legacy to Mary was featured
2022 Nov. Guy Harding died
Other Information, press, internet conversations etc
According to a press cutting at time of her death, Mabel Love retired from the stage in 1912 to look after her daughter, Mary. Returned to stage in 1938. Her last years were spent in a Surrey hotel with her friend Vesta Tilley (1864-1952) – a stage beauty who married an MP. Vesta Tilley also had a Gaiety Theatre background. She was famous for singing Burlington Bertie which was written in 1900 (when Bertie Fenwick was 30 but it has never been suggested that he was connected in any way with the song...)
Mary's (as far as we know, only child) Richard David Thomas died in 2001 when living in The Old Rectory, West Quantoxhead, Somerset. He was said by the "bounty hunters" to have been born with severe learning difficulties. On a visit in 2015 to West Quantoxhead, we were told that for some time The Old Rectory was somewhere where someone fitting that description might live (and presumably, be looked after). The Old Rectory was a school earlier and is now used to accommodate guests at weddings in St Audries Park.
Capt Anthony Lorraine (Mary's 2nd husband) was the pilot who flew Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to Canada on her Commonwealth tour in 1953 (a year after she ascended the throne). Publicity was given to there being a break-in at their home and to Billy Butlin sending them a cheque. Mary's heroic status may have suffered later from being said by a judge to have "transparently inflated" a claim for furs when suing the company that installed the burglar alarm in their Chelsea flat.
This is the gist of the posting on 6.3.2011 on War and Military Records site and subsequent correspondence:
From the (Brighton+ Hove) Evening Argus 0f Tuesday, September 11, 1973:
"Mrs Mary Grant, who died when fire swept through her Sussex Square flat last week, was a prominent member of the Resistance movement on the Continent during the last world war, it was revealed today. Her Brighton solicitor said her real name was Mrs Mary Lorraine but for some reason she preferred the name Grant. She had been married twice and was divorced from her last husband. Denis Chesters said: "I think the public should know something more of this courageous woman other than that disclosed at and arising from her recent premature and tragic death. She was a distinguished member of the Resistance movement during the last war, operating on the Continent mostly in Belgium and Holland. "Her associates, many of whom are still alive, her experiences, many of which must continue to remain untold, and the number of times she closely evaded capture, would fill a book. She carried the physical scars of war and was a brave woman. On many occasions she would disappear for long periods, reappearing at times and in places where she was least expected. She spoke five languages fluently and was closely associated with the Dutch royal family"
Does anyone know anything about her activities in Europe between 1939 and 1945 or can direct me to any source of information. I have asked Professor M R D Foot about her and also the relevant people in Belgium and Holland but none of them know of her".
An authoritative posting found on the internet says-
“... I think that I have just about all there is available on the life of Mary Grant. She was born in 1914 the daughter of the actress and dancer, Mabel Love. In 1935 she married Richard Emrys Thomas, the Deputy Director of Egyptian State Railways at Cairo. Mary was 20 and Richard was 53. They later divorced. In 1948 Mary remarried to Anthony Christopher Loraine, a prominent senior BOAC pilot. Anthony had previously married to Mildred Maisie Procter in 1932. This marriage ended in divorce as did his marriage to Mary. Anthony then married again in 1972 to Joanna Marie Rankin. By that time Mary had become an alcoholic and a year later she died when her house caught fire probably as a result of a candle setting fire to her mattress. David.”
News Story in the Argus (of Brighton) 8.8.2009 - this was the subject of Heir Hunters BBC1 TV programme first broadcast 30.7.2009 and repeated 2012.
Mystery of the Brighton recluse who left £100k
1:00pm Saturday 8th August 2009 in News By Emily-Ann Elliott
“When recluse Mary Loraine died in a fire in 1973 she was about to be evicted from her Brighton flat because she could not afford to pay her £55 rent. But more than 30 years later shocked members of her distant family have shared her £100,000 fortune. Now some of the secrets of her mysterious life have been untangled by a probate research company. Despite dying in poverty Ms Loraine was unknowingly in possession of £2,600 worth of British government bonds that her mother, who died in 1953, had left for her.
By the time Hoopers International Probate Genealogists investigated the case their value had soared to more than £100,000. After months of work the team discovered that Ms Loraine had only one son called Richard Thomas, who had been born in Cairo a year after her first marriage in 1935 at the age of 21 to 53-year-old Welsh-born Richard Emrys Thomas who was the general manager of the Egyptian State Railways. Unfortunately Richard Thomas had died by the time the researchers identified him. So instead they turned to his father’s birthplace near Pontypool, Gwent. Using documents from 1901 they traced his legal heirs, his five cousins.
The family were shocked to hear the news, which was filmed for the Heir Hunters programme which is shown on BBC One. One member of the family Paul Thomas said: “I’m sorry that we came into this money at our cousin Richard’s expense. It would have made quite a difference to his life.”
Most of Ms Loraine’s life remains a mystery. It is known that her mother was Mabel Love, one of Edwardian London’s most beautiful and highest-paid stars. Even the young Winston Churchill wrote to her for a signed photograph. After divorcing her first husband Ms Loraine married Anthony Loraine in Montreal, Canada, in 1948.
Between the two weddings she served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), working with World War Two Belgian and Dutch resistance fighters. It is believed that like many other SOE operatives she found civilian life difficult after what had been an exciting and practically criminal life. Michael Tringham, chairman of Hoopers, said: “This was an unusual and tragic case.”
The work carried out by Hoopers (the "heir-hunters") involved Kevin Edmonson, the chief executive, Michael Tringham. See linked file "Welsh Family's £100,000 windfall" for the story about the five cousins who were the eventual beneficiaries of Hooper's research.
This is some other information or speculation that was previously only on a private web page but which can now be added to this publicly available page. Some is duplication though where easily done, duplications have been omitted. References to Guy are to Andrew Guy Harding, Rachel Harding nee Fenwick's son. He is usually referred to by me, his brother, Nick Harding who is largely the author of this website as Guy.
I can vaguely recall Rachel saying that she had been contacted by some such organisation and had refused to respond.
Who is Dave Railton whose internet postings are so valuable to this research?
Who is Helena MacLean described as gt gt granddaughter of Mabel Love – see extract from Guy’s recent email below?
1989 Press cutting from 1952 given by Rachel to her nephew
2 postcards of Mabel Love postmarked 1904 and1906 are now shown on the end of this page. They were found with Rachel Harding's papers. On one of these Rachel noted "her daughter said to be a bastard Fenwick! I.e Mabel Love." Not known how they came into her possession. [Rachel would have used the word "bastard" in humour rather than as it may sound as being offensive!]
Guy wrote a note in July 2001 of a comment made some 18 years earlier by Mrs David Fenwick that it was believed by some that Bertie may have been duped in this respect and that Mabel Love's daughter was believed by others to have been sired by the Aga Khan !
The various links I sent you seem to establish beyond little if any doubt that she was the daughter of Mabel Love and was born within months of Mummy's birth.
That she was married twice ...... First to Mr Thomas, head of Egyptian railways , by whom she had one son, and then to the BOAC pilot who flew the Queen to Jamaica, at a time when she was twice burgled and Billy Butlin contributed to recompensing her loss.
Bertie is not mentioned in any of the links I sent, but nor do they attempt to suggest or surmise who was Mary Ward's father.
Her 2nd forename is spelt Verite in one of the most useful links rather than Verity in Your H of P transcript . But then she seems to have used other surnames as well and her reportedly distinguished career in wartime resistance may be questionable.
15.7.2014 Guy sent 24.11.53 cutting from Canadian paper about Mary Loraine and husband Anthony who was QE2’s pilot.
15.7.14 from Guy
“This one fits in with my recollection of Mummy mentioning something about her marrying a pilot ....I'd assumed she was referring to a first and possibly only marriage , whereas it was obviously the 2nd one to the Canadian?”
Posted 6.3.2011 on War and Military Records site.
From the (Brighton+ Hove) Evening Argus 0f Tuesday, September 11, 1973:
"Mrs Mary Grant, who died when fire swept through her Sussex Square flat last week, was a prominent member of the Resistance movement on the Continent during the last world war, it was revealed today. Her Brighton solicitor said her real name was Mrs Mary Lorraine but for some reason she preferred the name Grant. She had been married twice and was divorced from her last husband. Denis Chesters said: "I think the public should know something more of this courageous woman other than that disclosed at and arising from her recent premature and tragic death. "She was a distinguished member of the Resistance movement during the last war, operating on the Continent mostly in Belgium and Holland. "Her associates, many of whom are still alive, her experiences, many of which must continue to remain untold, and the number of times she closely evaded capture, would fill a book. "She carried the physical scars of war and was a brave woman.
"On many occasions she would disappear for long periods, reappearing at times and in places where she was least expected. "She spoke five languages fluently and was closely associated with the Dutch royal family." “
I know something of this lady but nothing about her activities in the resistance. She was Mary Verite Loraine formerly Thomas nee Ward who sometime used her grandfather's surname of Grant. I can find nothing in published material about her WWII activities and wonder if her story may have been a fabrication.
Does anyone know anything about her activities in Europe between 1939 and 1945 or can direct me to any source of information. I have asked Professor M R D Foot about her and also the relevant people in Belgium and Holland but non of them know of her.
Later on this thread from David who did the original posting:
Tom,
I think that I have just about all there is available on the life of Mary Grant. She was born in 1914 the daughter of the actress and dancer, Mabel Love. In 1935 she married Richard Emrys Thomas, the Deputy Director of Egyptian State Railways at Cairo. Mary was 20 and Richard was 53. They later divorced. In 1948 Mary remarried to Anthony Christopher Loraine, a prominent senior BOAC pilot. Anthony had previously married to Mildred Maisie Procter in 1932. This marriage ended in divorce as did his marriage to Mary. Anthony then married again in 1972 to Joanna Marie Rankin. By that time Mary had become an alcoholic and a year later she died when her house caught fire probably as a result of a candle setting fire to her matress.
David
This involves David Railton as does one above
From: "Dave Railton" <david@railtond.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: RE: [THEATRE-UK] Mary Verite Grant WARD
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 09:30:51 -0000
In-Reply-To: <002f01c4059c$0858f060$03bfe150@tinyjyuaxzlq>
Thanks Neal. I already have the Who's Who entry. See: http://mabellove.topcities.com/index.htm (this link fails in 2022. However, this one (and others may be worth finding.
for an interesting website about
Mabel.
David
-----Original Message-----
From: Neal Dench [mailto:ndench@tinyworld.co.uk]
Sent: 09 March 2004 05:55
To: THEATRE-UK-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: [THEATRE-UK] Mary Verite Grant WARD
Hello David
Nothing on Mary Ward, but the 1930 Who's Who in the Theatre has an entry for
Mabel Love. I'll happily type it up for you if you're interested -- just let
me know.
Best
--
Neal
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Railton" <david@railtond.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <THEATRE-UK-L@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 10:57 AM
Subject: [THEATRE-UK] Mary Verite Grant WARD
> Mary was the daughter of the actress/dancer Mabel Love (real name Mabel Watson). She was supposedly an actress herself. Does anyone know of her?
>
> David Railton
And another from David Railton
From: "David Railton" <david@railtond.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Richard Emrys THOMAS
Date: Sun, 2 May 2004 13:23:01 +0100
Richard Emrys THOMAS was appointed Deputy General Manager of the Egyptian State Railways, Telegraphs and Telephones in 1930. He married Mary Verite Ward, the daughter of the actress Mabel Love, in Cairo, in 1935. In 1939 he became Chief Inspecting Engineer in London to the Egyptian Government. Richard was born in about 1882.
Can anyone tell me any more about Richard or Mary?
David Railton
Extract from the Argus (of Brighton)
Mystery of the Brighton recluse who left £100k
1:00pm Saturday 8th August 2009 in News by Emily-Ann Elliott
Mary Loraine's mother Mabel Love. Picture: Jennifer Carnell
When recluse Mary Loraine died in a fire in 1973 she was about to be evicted from her Brighton flat because she could not afford to pay her £55 rent.
But more than 30 years later shocked members of her distant family have shared her £100,000 fortune.
Now some of the secrets of her mysterious life have been untangled by a probate research company.
Despite dying in poverty Ms Loraine was unknowingly in possession of £2,600 worth of British government bonds that her mother, who died in 1953, had left for her.
By the time Hoopers International Probate Genealogists investigated the case their value had soared to more than £100,000.
After months of work the team discovered that Ms Loraine had only one son called Richard Thomas, who had been born in Cairo a year after her first marriage in 1935 at the age of 21 to 53-year-old Welsh-born Richard Emrys Thomas who was the general manager of the Egyptian State Railways.
Unfortunately Richard Thomas had died by the time the researchers identified him.
So instead they turned to his father’s birthplace near Pontypool, Gwent.
Using documents from 1901 they traced his legal heirs, his five cousins.
The family were shocked to hear the news, which was filmed for the Heir Hunters programme which is shown on BBC One.
One member of the family Paul Thomas said: “I’m sorry that we came into this money at our cousin Richard’s expense. It would have made quite a difference to his life.”
Most of Ms Loraine’s life remains a mystery. It is known that her mother was Mabel Love, one of Edwardian London’s most beautiful and highest-paid stars. Even the young Winston Churchill wrote to her for a signed photograph.
After divorcing her first husband Ms Loraine married Anthony Loraine in Montreal, Canada, in 1948.
Between the two weddings she served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), working with World War Two Belgian and Dutch resistance fighters.
It is believed that like many other SOE operatives she found civilian life difficult after what had been an exciting and practically criminal life.
Michael Tringham, chairman of Hoopers, said: “This was an unusual and tragic case.”
Recent email from Guy
Have now turned up a site section of The Golden Age of British Theatre section about Mabel Love. No reference there to her daughter Mary Verity or any other offspring . But the author Sydney Higgins I think gives thanks there to David Railton (who appears in other sites as interested ....due to theatre interest or maybe an ancestor searcher I wonder ., but thanks also to Helena MacLean described as gt granddaughter of Mabel Love, which seems a confusing number of generations.
Mabel Love seems to have been born within a month or so of Granny Vi .
I’m wondering if it is a POSSIBLE that Mabel Love had a child (by Bertie ....or for that matter Edward Seventh as Prince of Wales in days before he and Vi were married ....such as maybe the time when Mabel Love disappeared contemplating suicide in1889) , who in c. ..1913 had her own child .
IN other words Mary Verity Ward would have been granddaughter of Mabel Love ...and of Bertie if he sire to the intervening son or daughter. (And a niece of the half blood of mummy if Bertie was the father?!.?).
Postcards of Mabel Love dated 1904 and 1906? below
Added December 2022
Added December 2022
Learn with Lorna 129 - Mabel Love, Actress
Learn with Lorna 129 - Mabel Love, Actress
High Life Highland YouTube
Learn with Lorna 129 - Mabel Love, Actress
High Life Highland YouTube
https://youtu.be/uluiPYOND1o
So welcome to “Learn with Lorna”. My name is Lorna Steele McGinn. I'm the community engagement officer with the Highland Archives.
Highland Archive Service looks after historic documents from the Highlands of Scotland over covering at the moment the last 700 years or so in our four centres in Inverness, Wick, Port William and Portray. This series is brought to you by Highlife Highland at no cost.
The viewer High Life Highland is a charity registered in Scotland. There's no payment or subscription required to take part in this series of events. If you're able to donate towards our work then we're very grateful. Thank you. And I know that people have this week because I've had some messages saying so, so thank you very much. This is the last “Learn with Lorna” before Christmas and so always an opportunity to take a moment and say thank you for your company this year. But also thank you for all your lovely cards and emails, presents and messages and all sorts of things. It's very very much appreciated. So thank you. It's just so nice to know that we're having a connection across the void of the internet, thank you so much and thank you as I say for all your lovely messages throughout the year. Really really appreciated. This is live obviously but the next two will be pre-recorded. So please remember to come onto whichever Facebook page you watch us on of the four centres and find the film there because it will go out slightly differently because it's pre-recorded.
This month we are focusing on the subject of arts and entertainment. Last week were on art and artists and I hope you liked looking at the pictures that I uploaded afterwards. A lot of a lot of responses to those so that's great. And next week I'll be looking at music, dance and drama in the collections.
But this week we're looking at the story of one particular actress Mabel Love. Using the collection of her papers that we hold and also using newspaper articles from the British newspaper archives. I am entirely prepared to overrun today so sorry for everyone but particularly sorry for those on the other side of the world who will have to stay up later. I think this will go on a little bit.
Mabel Love’s papers aren't a stand-alone collection. They're part of a collection within a larger collection. So they are part of D522 Duncan and Duncan solicitors. Now Duncan Duncan
Solicitors was a is a large collection. They were a solicitors based in Dingle. And like all solicitors past and present they had a huge number and huge variety of clients. And so when solicitors collections come to us they often have a huge variety of kind of sub little collections within them. And a huge amount of information. Because they're split by the different individuals or different organisations or businesses who have used their services. And Duncan and Duncan is just like this. There are papers of hotels within it. There are papers of the Highland Squirrel Club which I have to tell you is not the same as the Tufty Club. It's much grimmer. And many other collections including the papers of Mabel Love.
Now Mabel Love was one of the most celebrated actresses of her generation. If you have a minute either while I'm talking or afterwards then do go and type her into a search engine and you'll see a picture of her. She looks exactly like our image of a Victorian Edwardian actress. She was a famous performer as the actress, a dancer and also a very famous beauty. She was known as the Pretty Girl of the Postcard. And she was based in London and was absolutely at the centre of that kind of theatrical, dramatic, artistic, photographed world
So how did the collection find its way to a Dingwall solicitor? I had something for for a long time we've been unsure about. Why did this collection come to us? Because she lived her whole life in the South of England. Yes Jen she is absolutely gorgeous. She's got a really beautiful face. So I've done
a bit of digging with my colleague Anne Fraser who some of you will know is a family historian. And we've made some interesting connections. I pencilled down some thoughts that I had about Mabel and her family. I took them to Anne who within 10 minutes produced this family tree for me. Classic Anne. Anyone will say who don't who knows her. So we discovered that Mabel Love was born Mabel Francis Watson on the 16th of October 1873 in Folkestone in Kent. Her parents were Kate Love and Lewis Grant Watson. So you're seeing some Scottish names coming in. Kate Love Mabel's mother was an actress as well. She was born in Dublin in Ireland. And her father Mabel's grandfather William Edward Love was a noted lecturer and ventriloquist and performer. And when he died in 1867 the newspaper described him as a most successful amuser of the public. Which I'm thinking I might get put on my grave. A most successful amuser of the public. before health had led to a decline in his career. So it's clear that the acting and performing gene came from her mother's side with her mother being an actress and her grandfather being a performer as well. Mabel's father Lewis Grant Watson was not in the theatrical world. He was recorded in the census as a wine merchant. And what Lewis gives us is a connection to Scotland. Not quite highland but just over the border in Murray. He was born in Forrest in 1839 and lived there in the high throughout his childhood. And it's by going back in his tree Mabel's father's tree that we find the connection to the highlands.
Lewis's mother Mabel's grandmother was from Cromdale and her father was the Reverend Gregor Grant, Minister of Kilmure Easter near Tane. And this family as is often the way goes back in a line of ministers. In Crumdale, in Kirkmichael, on the Black Isle and elsewhere. It also links in to the Cuthbert of Castle Hill family which is a prominent family in Inverness. So there is a long connection. Albeit a couple of generations back. And this might be the reason that Mabel's papers are held by Duncan and Duncan. also it just as as an assignment incidental that although the acting clearly came from her mother's side her father's side have a huge number of ministers and although that's obviously not acting there are public speaking skills, confidence, communication skills and ability to tell stories that are required in any good minister. As you'll probably see at this time of year at some point. And I wonder if perhaps Mabel placed I I don't know the answer to this but my feeling is perhaps maybe seek sought to her papers, her private correspondence with a solicitor in an area that she had a connection with but which was far away from where she lived her everyday life in London. Perhaps for privacy as we'll see as we go on. Mabel had several siblings including a sister Blanche, Annie Watson, who was also an actor. And you really get a sense through this collection and you'll know me by now that I really do try not to put any or too much interpretation or weighting or bias on anything I talk about. I try very hard to do that but you certainly get a sense of what we call the artistic temperament through this collection.
Now Mabel lived in various London addresses through her early years including Arundel Street and Buckingham Palace Road and I know the area quite well. My family at the same time that Mabel lived in Arundel Street lived one mile away in Central London. If you know at all Arundel Street is just off the Strand not at all far from Covent Garden. So absolutely central. Buckingham Palace Road where she also lived is in Victoria. So just round the corner from Victoria Coach Station. Victoria tube station. So Central London. Central Westminster. Right in the heart of the city. Mabel's debut performance was at the age of 12 where she performed in the Prince of Wales Theatre where she played the Rose in Alice in Wonderland. And by the age of about 14 she was performing in Covent Garden and her career had taken off. As this extract from the era of 1899 reveals and I will warn you my first couple of things I'm going to read to you. First three or four are quite lengthy newspaper articles. But I wanted to share them with you just so you really get a sense of her. So this is from a newspaper in 1899. Miss Mabel Love made her debut as a child in the original production of Alice in Wonderland at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Christmas 1886- 87. Playing the part of the Rose and Understudy in Alice. Then followed an engagement with Miss Kate Bond to play one of the triplet children in masks and faces in the Opera Comic.
At Christmas 1887-88 Miss Mabel Love played the elf, Sunbeam in the pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk at Covent Garden Theatre. And in the ensuing year appeared at the little in Faust up to date at the Gaiety. This ran about a year and at Christmas 1890 she appeared at the Prince's in Manchester in the pantomime Babes in the Wood. In the spring following she played Polly in the Harbour Lights with Mister William Terraffs in which she introduced her first dance. A country dance which was most enthusiastically received. In the autumn of 1890 came a 15 month engagement to dance in La Sigal.
It was Lyric Theatre Christmas 1992, found her engaged at by Sir Augustus Harris, as principal dancer at Drury Lane, in the pantomime of Humpty Dumpty, and as the under study for the Principal Girl. It goes on to describe how she then went to work, play the principal girl at the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle.
In the meantime, she appeared as the Asianu Clementina, under Mister Tom Thorn, Thorn's management at the Vaudeville Theatre. Further productions at Covent Garden. She is each of her solo dances that she did in a modern Don Coyote where it uncord every night. It goes on to describe various different parts that she took in it just lists one after the other after the other. As soon as a performance is finished she goes somewhere else. She goes to Manchester. She goes to Newcastle. She goes to lots of the London theatres. At the Christmas of eighty-nine ninety eighteen ninety-four she played Principal Girl Maid Marion at the Prince of Wales Theatre Liverpool. She then engaged fulfilled a three month engagement to dance in Paris and then that year went to America with Mr George Edwards' his excellency company. In this that she was so successful that although she had only originally been engaged for a month he made special arrangements for her to stay over there nearly five months longer.
The article I am only reading small snippets of. goes on and on and on to talk about her prolific career and as I say back to back performances. And at the time that's written she's still what will she be? She was born in seventy-three. That was written in ninety-nine. So she's in her 20s at the time that that's written. So she's clearly a very talented performer from a young age. And as I say almost constantly in work from that very first day at the age of twelve. If you have looked her up and Jenny see that you you said you have you'll see she's incredibly beautiful.
Postcard of the era.
And so you might imagine that her life is all going very smoothly and that things were great for her. Because she looks like she has that picture postcard.
Glamorous life.
That's not quite the full story. In 1889 at the age of 14 Mabel went missing. The police reported that perhaps she had been abducted. Although they then said that they thought that wasn't likely but it was initially the first thought.
it seems clear through the collection that she had quite a strained relationship with her mother. And as I said you get an impression of big personalities in this collection. Of big egos. And that kind of the theatrics that run through the family. For instance there's a letter from her mother accusing her of breaking her heart and not knowing the amount of pain she's causing her. And so on. So Mabel has gone missing in March 1889. Incidentally it was reported as far afield as Canada that she had gone missing. This an extract from the Saint James' Gazette that reveals what happened.
Missing Actress found. Miss Mabel Love. Remember she's 14 at this point. Miss Mabel Love the Missing Actress has been recovered. The clue obtained by Mister Mosser Astemis Love's movements on Saturday last has been followed up with success.
Late last night a brief communication was received from Dublin to the effect that Miss Mabel was safe in that city.
This announcement was afterwards followed by a second message from a distinct and independent source in the city conveying intelligence to the same effect. The Press Association says although the intelligence of her safety conveys no details the theory on which Mister Moser has been working with such favourable results is pretty clearly substantiated. It was supposed that after visiting the treasury of the gaiety on Saturday so she went to get her wages at the Gaitie Theatre. She started off on a sudden impulse produced through peak, on the difference with her mother on the preceding day. Out of spite to her parents for Ireland to
Ireland she went with the intention of proceeding further but her limited funds about three pounds and some valuable jewellery happily precluded her from going further than the Irish capital where her circumstances betrayed her. Mr and Mrs Love are confident that their daughter has no other intention and that her flight was the outcome of peak. This belief is apparently borne out by the fact that she left London and crossed the Irish Channel entirely by herself. Miss is making
arrangements for her rest restoration. Now it's quite
interesting. There are a huge number of different articles about this and about what happened. Some say that her mother had been giving her some kindly advice and she had gone out in assault basically. When Mabel herself speaks she said that she received such a severe abrading from her mother that she couldn't stay. So as I say take on take from that what you will. But what I found very interesting was another article that I discovered in the Irish Society. Which doesn't so much detail the disappearance of Mabel Love but delves deeper into the reason for it. And it feels like its very interesting considering it was written a 140 years ago. It feels quite modern. So they have written. The adventures of Miss Mabel Love formed one of the most interesting and exciting of social episodes during the present week. Her professional beauty, her demonstration of womanly intellect and developed character strangely allied with the years of a child present a psychological problem well worthy of consideration. Our readers are familiar with her flight to Dublin. The quarrel with her mother. The clever discovery of her whereabouts by the unaided efforts of a reporter on the staff of a newspaper. Her explorations of the local sites of interest and her return home. Willingly or unwillingly Mabel Love has laid the basis of a pecuniary fortune. Her salary will doubt suddenly rise at the London Gaiety as she will be the centre of interest for theatrical audiences for some time. And she will be given a more prominent part on the boards.
She may develop into one of the world's great actresses. A future which we hope awaits her and which she is a child of pronounced and superior individuality. Undoubtedly deserves. So they're talking there about the possibility of press coming from this. But we wish to draw attention to the ethical problems presented by the events which so suddenly appeared around the personality of this young girl. She was earning her own livelihood at an arduous profession. The manager of the theatre considered her an unusually self-respecting girl. And in the midst of the tainted atmosphere which surrounds the theatrical world she insidiously, severely and ardently strove towards the realization of a worthy intellectual ambition. This type of character is rare at any time and in any circumstances. But more particularly so in a child of only 14 years. Now so they're saying she seems to be a a very strong and respectable character with a real sense of self-respect. It goes on to say there is unfortunately no law in the statute book which gives this girl a right to act independently in the affairs of her social life. We believe that the duty of her mother when rightly considered was to encourage Mabel's self-respect and not to attempt to undermine it. Now this is the great lesson which arises from what appears perhaps a a surface level incident of everyday life. Girls do not run away from home, from mere wilfulness. The fault in such instances, seldom lies at the door of the runaway. Every thoughtful observer of the conditions of domestic life at the present day is conscious of the alarmingly large percentage of parents who are incapable of rearing their children. There is under these circumstances an imperative need for a law which will deprive unsatisfactory parents of the custody of their children. So really interesting that they have taken the line that she is in here and that the parents are at fault and that she should be allowed to live freely of them even at the age of fourteen. There were reports that there was accusations of it being a publicity stunt or at least having resulting publicity. And when she returned there were 200 people waiting crowding on Euston Station waiting for her to get off the train. But because she had suspected that might happen she got off the train a stop early, because she didn't want to be in the crowd.
The final newspaper article I want to share from with you goes on to tell us that rather than improving, Mabel's life took a turn for the worse later that year. Because this is from the Preston Chronicle and the Lancashire Advertiser of July eighty-nine. “Attempted suicide of Miss Mabel Love”. At half past four o'clock on Monday morning the pilots of one of the fire floats on the Thames picked up the apparently lifeless body of a girl off Whitehall steps. The girl was taken ashore and handed over to the Thames police. She soon regained consciousness and it then appeared that she was Miss Mabel Love of the Gaiety Theatre who it will be remembered a short time ago indulged in the strange freak of suddenly disappearing and making a purposeless journey to Dublin.
In answer to the police she said she had made an attempt on her life because she was miserable. She added that she left her home in Arundel Street Strand at 3 o'clock on Monday morning and threw herself into the River at Whitehall steps when all were asleep. Being weak and exhausted she was taken to Saint Giles Infirmary and subsequently to the Bow Street Police Court. So she gets taken in in front of the court because committing suicide is a crime or attempting suicide is a crime. And so gets taken into the court and they describe what she's wearing with her Auburn hair. They'd always talk about her blonde and auburn hair with huge curls and flowing curls. It always gets mentioned in everything. So she stands up in front of the court and says that she felt miserable and so overworked. Mrs Love, the mother of the prisoner, entered the witness box and said that when her daughter finished her engagement at the Gaiety, she would take her to Scotland. And the magistrate says basically, I don't, I'm not sending her back to go back to work. She needs to be given a rest right now. And he says at the end to her, I'm very sorry for you.
It's a great pity that you should excite yourself in the way that you've done. I would advise you not to look at another book or study until your health is restored. Unless you take my advice it's impossible to see what may happen. I will hand you over to your mother and she will send you to Scotland or some other place. The prisoner was then discharged. An interesting insight although we know about it but to see her described as a prisoner when she's clearly struggling. So 1889 clearly was a very difficult year for Mabel and again you think she's had this huge huge success but also this huge difficulty and she's only fourteen. But Mabel continued to pursue her career.
And as that first newspaper article showed that I read to you. She went on to have great success. She joined the Folie Bergere in Paris and she spent months on the stage in New York as well. She also appeared in adverts so there are some great newspaper adverts for her for Odal toothpaste and different things. And she became friends with a wide range of contemporaries. So for instance the famous male impersonator Vesta Tilly was a friend of hers. And she became the face of hundreds of photo postcards and seeing there that there's links being put into to have a look at that and she is the face of so many of them. And we have dozens and dozens of those postcards and photographs in our collection. She received a lot of spam letters as you might expect including apparently one from Churchill requesting an autograph. There are letters in the collection where people are writing saying we think our daughter looks like you. Do you think she'll get work? Do you think she could be an actress? People who say I used to be your dresser when you were 12 years old and I can't believe you've become so successful, all these sorts of things. Quite interesting how much of this feels like it hasn't really changed the way that actresses are treated.
Mabel as you might expect had no shortage of suitors and this collection contains dozens and dozens of love letters. Maybe hundreds of love letters. But I wanted to touch on two relationships in particular and that's why I'm saying I'm well aware I'm going to go over time today but hopefully you'll all forgive me. It's striking to read these letters. And again see perhaps some of the contemporary parallels with actresses experiences over the years. There are numerous letters in the collections between Francis and Mabel. So I'm going to tell you about two of the relationships. Frank Francis Burdette, Thomas Money-Coutts. And he would go on later in 1912 to become Lord Latimer when he successfully brought a case to the committee of privileges at the House of Lords to claim that he was the a rightful heir to that title. Interestingly the Duke of Athol was another potential but he claimed that he should be the next Lord Latimer through the fourth Lord Latimer who had died in 1577. So he's worked back. And he was granted that title. Francis was a barrister by training but he was also a poet, a man of letters, a playwright and also the head of the famous Coutts Bank on the Strand. And Coutts Bank is still on the Strand although in a different building now. The Strand as you might remember being just round the corner from Arendall Street. He was called the banker poet.
And this letter illustrates his range of skills as well as his tumultuous relationship with Mabel.
Dear Mabel, I was more glad than you know to get your letter. First glad that you'd not forgotten me and glad also that you're succeeding and reaping the reward of your perseverance. I only wish I could come and see you. I really think if I were not tied and bound by the chains of my duties and responsibilities, I should come over and surprise you. I have over and over again at all times and seasons thought of you during the last month's past. You were a gleam of sunshine which died out as all gleams seemed to. Of course I work very hard. A volume of my poems comes out in February published by Jay Lane. My second opera of music by Albianth comes out at Barcelona on December the 15th and at Madrid a few days later. And the third Libretto is ready for the Little Maestro.
Tomorrow night a one act piece of mine is to be produced at the Royalty and I'm writing a three act comedy for the same company. So I keep my hands full and what's better, my mind, giving it no time to think of the sunshine departed. However Golden Head Except my dearest wishes for your happiness both at Christmas and ever after. Ever your affectionate Frank.
Frank incidentally was also connected to the finances at the Prince of Wales Theatre where Mabel started out. And the Lyric theatre where she also worked. Frank was also married with children. The relationship with Frank was clearly very close. There are many letters between the two including some that indicate that her mother didn't approve of Frank. In one he says to her even your mother can't begrudge me wishing you a happy Christmas. There's a big age difference between Frank and Mabel. He was 21 years older. And of course there was that life and children. But the letters are passionate and emotional. Very much like young lovers. You get a feeling of people in their teens writing to each other and that sort of desperation to be the centre of the other person's world. He regales her beauty. He talks about how beautiful she is. Accuses her of not writing often enough. Comments about it all being impossible. He says at one point unless you want to kill me. Come at once. For God's sake come. And he says in another You can't know what misery you're causing me.
If you listen to this letter that he wrote to Mabel in 1901 when he was nearly 50 and she was 28.
“Dearest Mabel, there's still no letter from you and I feel in myself that all has ended. I only wish that when you came to me that wonderful afternoon, I had said, now let us spend this one afternoon just as if it were 10 years ago and you were still the girl you were then. And tomorrow we can have a long day together and you can tell me all about yourself and I can tell you all about myself. Then tomorrow had come I should have told you plainly about my life and its complications and how after all the pain I had suffered I could no longer at my age do without a home. You see, like all the rest of the world, simply because one is supposed to be fabulously rich, you fancied that life to me must be all roses. It was not to comfort me that you came, but to satisfy yourself. But I was in misery and needed comfort much more than you did. In a word, 10 years had changed me from a young man, content with life. a middle-aged one longing for peace. I've had no fixed homes since my mother died. No spot where anyone lived who loved me and was satisfied so to live in love. Remember and take this lesson to heart. Riches can buy nothing. They cannot buy love or peace of mind or companionship. Rather the contrary. They repel them. May God bless you. Goodbye”.
So you get that feeling as I'm saying of someone much younger than 50 and I don't say that lightly. I'm not implying that people of fifty don't have feelings but there's something very young and dramatic and passionate about that writing.
This is one he writes later in that year.
“Dear Mabel
I only got your letter after I had sent you mine. It's quite impossible for me to understand how you can really love me if you're willing to postpone our future to the Adelphi engagements. Eastbourne was bad enough you evidently only have the faintest conception of what our future means to me. If you did truly love me your one idea would be that you could come to me when you could. I hope I will see you tomorrow. I am in no mood to be shilly-shallied with”.
It's interesting there and as I say I will try not to cast any opinions on it but it's interesting that
comment there about “you know you're not taking our future seriously enough”. when he is married at this point. If you're interested in finding out more about Frank then he as
I say he's had a long and complicated name with different titles and he changed his name from Frank France's Money to France's Money Coutts and then to Coutts and then to Coutts Neville. So there's all sorts of reasons for that but the relationship with Frank seems to have ended in around 1904.
And in one letter Frank says to her “your mother has got what she wanted to separate us forever. I doubt very much whether I could have ever made you happy”. And Frank died in 1923, but not before leaving Mabel £300 per year.
One of the things that comes up in Frank's letters a lot is a fear that the pair are being talked about and that it will damage her reputation. He talks about being very careful. And at one point he books them a room somewhere under the name of Mr and Mrs Watson.
And that's something that's in common with the other relationship I wanted to talk about. Which is Mabel's relationship with Bertie Fenwick. Herbert George Fenwick. Bertie was again a wealthy married man who had married his wife Violet Edith Perkins in 1901. Although he had known and loved Mabel prior to that. I think his wife had a substantial amount of money. She was involved in a important family in the North of England. And they and the Fenwicks had houses in Berkeley, in Northumberland and also in Hitchen in Hertfordshire.
There's a similar sense in Bertie's lessons of a grown man behaving like a teenager. In early letters Bertie describes them as just friends. We're just friends. He says that a lot but It seems very clear to me as I was reading them and sort of uncovering the story. It seemed very clear that it was unlikely to remain that that way.
Whether he's thought so or not at the time of writing. Bertie also seems to have been on the end of threats and warnings from Mabel's mother. And he writes of his outrage that her mother could think so little of her daughter. In one letter he tells Mabel that he had chatted to his wife about Mabel because Mabel's mother had called and he'd been put in a situation where he needed to explain it. And he said my wife agrees with me that it's absolutely laughable. And she said she doesn't mind our friendship at all and our constant letter writing. As long as we don't get ourselves talked about. I can't tell you what anyone was thinking or what was happening. But I I know that if I was with somebody and I read this letter that they had written to them I would feel quite uncomfortable. Let me know what you think. So this is a letter written by Bertie to Mabel at the point that he's still saying that they are not in any kind of relationship other than friendship. My dearest Mabel. I expect you will think me mad writing at this time of the morning but I can't sleep. I've been dreaming on and off all night about you. Such queer muddled up dreams. I can't tell you little girl how I loved seeing you last night but it was wrong with me to let you sit up so late. You look so tired dear when I left. Do stay in bed for hours this morning and get a really good rest. I was very good and went straight to bed when I left you. No gambling. I told the cab to go to Whites first but then I changed my mind and thought I would just go home and dream of you. Mabel dearest you were looking too sweet for words last night. It is the nicest thing in the world knowing that you're my real friend and that I can tell you everything. And I like to know that although my little girl never wants anything that I am always ready here to look after her. Mabel you won't ever stop seeing me or writing will you? I don't know what I should do. I should worry incessantly about you. It's such a horrid feeling when I'm not sure if you're well or happy or not. I should never forgive myself if I found out that you had any troubles and I hadn't been there to straighten them out. No dearest. Let's go on writing letters to each other. Let no dearest. Let's go on seeing each other like we do just now. Just for a treat occasionally. And in the in-between times let's just have our letters the same as usual. Then I shall know all about how the little girl that I think is sweetest and best in all the world is. And I shall teach you to ever be sensible and to not worry a bit. For though it would be the nicest thing in the world to be able to be together always. We must be sensible and just make the best of our half loaf. There can be no harm in two people being friends and fond of each other like that. And I know you and myself well enough to know that no other harm can come of our friendship. I wouldn't have it spoilt for anything. And I always feel if I hadn't got a clear conscience it would be.
But there you are always to be just the very dearest friend I have in the world. And I'm always going to watch over you and never let you have a minute's unhappiness. Now dear it's nearly eight o'clock. must send this off. Or you will be out of bed. And I want you to get this in bed. And to go fast asleep after you've read it until one o'clock. And then you won't be a bit tired when I come to see you again this evening. I'll be there at 10.50 exactly. Try and be punctual dear. I'm always so shy hanging around the stage door. Poor shy little thing aren't I? I'm going to send you some fruit as soon as I'm up because I know you like it. I wish I could think of something else to please you. Your Birtie. What a horrid long time it is before 10.50 yeah I think absolutely not saying anything but I I think I would find that quite uncomfortable if I had come across that. Not to mention the fact that he says burn all my letters in case they fall into the wrong hands.
Whatever the case was at that point the pair certainly did become lovers as seemed to me quite inevitable. And despite some receipts and adverts for some interesting contraception in this collection with instructions that I can never unsee. Mabel pregnant with a baby. In the same year that Bertie's wife did.
Mabel seems to have had quite a difficult pregnancy. She became ill and exhausted but she gave birth to a daughter called Mary Verity Grant in January 1914. And the relationship continued and there are numerous letters from Bertie promising to look after her, to provide for her and to do anything for her. And Mabel seems to have really believed that he would have married would marry her in the end. He doesn't seem to have had much compassion for his children, legitimate or illegitimate. In one letter he described his newborn daughter like this to Mabel who was pregnant at the time. The daughter and he gives the daughter's name and he says I don't really know what it's like. I forgot to look at it last time I was there. It was hideous but perhaps it will improve with age. It's not got curly hair which someone else will have. Bright gold curls too. Although I should point out that that daughter I have found some memories and reminiscences of hers online. And she described although she didn't see her father hugely often she described him being compassionate when she did see him.
In another letter Mabel describes how many how Mary keeps asking for him the baby but he's only come three times. And then during one of those times he described the baby Mary as quite the ugliest thing he'd ever seen.
Bertie's wife, Violet, took him to court in 1916 with a petition for judicial separation on the grounds of multiple adultery. The case was dismissed and she applied again in March 1917 for the restitution of conjugal rights and then for divorce on the grounds of adultery and desertion which was granted in 1918. By this time Mabel's daughter Mary was about four or five and there are letters in the collection revealing Mabel's attempts to find a school for her and a place for her to stay through the summer. And all the letter coming in from different people offering to take her in for the summer. There are still letters from Bertie but they become a bit more distant. And the collection includes letters by Mabel recording her desperation that he's no longer paying to help with Mary's upkeep. And not keeping the promises that he had made to her. And I think she realises he is not going to marry her. The backs of the envelopes have Mabel's notes on them showing where she's noted promises within those letters presumably to show the lawyers the things that Bertie had said to her.
Here are two extracts.
One written by Mabel Tiberty and then the second one written by Mabel to a lawyer. So this is her writing to Bertie.
“For the last few days I've been reading your letters - there appear to be hundreds of them. Loving letters, passionate letters, friendly letters and callous letters. And through all I have loved you from the bottom of my soul and being faithful and loyal all the time. Don't you think you might let me count for something now? And make some little sacrifice for all that you have made me suffer in the past. I'm tired of being patient and nice to you. It's your turn to show some nice feeling. If I had been a horrid self-seeking mercenary creature, I should have made a scene at the time of your divorce. But instead of this, I did everything in my power to protect you, thinking that you loved me enough to do the right thing in the end. But look at the years that have gone by since then. Have you offered me one atom of love or comradeship or protection? Will I have letters to prove that you owe me everything a man can owe to a woman who is ruined in the name of love? I can't change as you have changed. I love you, it says all.
And although light lately I have thought your behaviour to me. And behaviour to me too brutal for words. Yet the soft moments come when I see little Mary asleep. Or I'm putting her to bed when I can no more help loving you than I can help loving her. Even when she's been naughty and worried me to death I forgive her the next minute.
The financial question I suppose the lawyers must fight out. But my only hope of happiness lies in your hands. No matter what they settle or say. For months have gone by since you promised to make life pleasant for me. But during the whole of that time you have never asked me to your home or made yourself at home and mine. Nor have you seen me except I have begged and prayed to see you. Do you think you're playing the game? You who talk of honour and say that you can never expect to find it in a woman”.
And then this letter that she wrote to a lawyer.
“I have read most carefully Counsel's opinion of my case and I'm very sorry that it's not more favourable. Still in some respects it seems hopeful.
Personally. I have great faith in the law and in an Englishman's sense of justice. The law exists largely to protect the weak, the wronged and the unprotected. And I do not feel that any judge could hear my case without thinking that Mr Fenwick must be made to fulfil his promise to make proper provision for me and for his child for life. About the time that Mister was divorced I sent for him and told him it was impossible for me to carry on my profession and give the child the attention she needed. And he made me the following statement. That through his divorce he had lost his job ie his post as manager of his wife's collieries for which he had been paid £2000 a year. That he had had to relinquish the money. £50, 000 which she had settled on him. And that in the future he would have to live on money that had been left to him by his mother.
He said he regretted intensely that he had not do anything for me but that he would settle £200 a year on his child for life so that I need have no anxiety for her future. He suggested that he might be able to better help me at some future date. My reply was that he must marry me. But the most he would do was to promise to marry no one else and to always befriend me. Later I called on his lawyer Mr Poole feeling that as Mr Fenwick had asked me to marry him when he was a young man and free in 1894. But now he was once more free. There was no more obstacle to him marrying me. Especially as his divorce had in no way been brought about by his connection with me. So I asked Mr Poole to advise Mr Fenwick to do so if only for the sake of his child. Mr Pool said he did not think that Mr Fenwick would be happily married to anyone and therefore he would not advise him to marry. But with regard to the child he would personally see that Mr Fenwick carried out his promise of settling £200 a year on her for life. Since then, £200 a year has been paid into my bank and as late as last September Mr Fenwick stated that this would be paid to me until my child was 21 and then it would be paid to her. Since Mr Fenwick's statement as to the smallness of his means I have never once asked him for a penny. And although he continued to visit me on lover like terms for some years I never once received the smallest present of any kind. But I now maintain that he wilfully deceived me as to his means. And there's every reason that he should assist in maintaining me now in a proper manner according to his means. And that he is under an absolute obligation to fulfil his definite and specific promise. Approved of by the verbally by his lawyers of settling £200 pa on his child for life.
There is no doubt I should not have obeyed his repeated instruction to keep the name of the child's father a secret from the whole world if it had not been for the latter pledge which I quite thought had been carried out. And for the fact that he often said we were sure to finish our lives together. Which statement I took to mean that he would eventually marry me. He repeatedly told me not to worry about the future. That he would always see that my child and I were provided forward the best of everything. And it was only when he told me of the smallness of his means that I had any idea. He did not intend to make good his is. It's a sad sequence of letters and as I say there's who knows what the right and wrong of the situation was. The lawyers make it clear that Bertie owes her nothing although the letters do also show that he did make a regular contribution at least during Mary's childhood years.
Interestingly in 1918 Mary Mabel changed her name to Missus Mabel Ward with Mary's father's name being given hereafter as George Ward. I can't find a of such a marriage and so it looks like it might have been something created to give Mary a bit of respectability. Perhaps when she realised that Bertie had no intention of marrying her. Mabel retired from the stage to look after her daughter in around 1918. She went on to open up a school of dance and dramatic arts in 1926 in London. And only returned in 1938 to the stage to play the character Mary Goss in profit and loss.
Bertie died in 1937 and apparently, he left his estate to a wife that he had married after his divorce from Violet, another gaiety girl actress called Constance. He also apparently left a legacy to his legitimate daughter but also a legacy to his illegitimate daughter of £4,000.
And as I say if you're interested in finding out more about the family there's an extraordinary amount of work being done on a website online which if you just look up the family you'll find them including some memories of the legitimate daughter.
Mary the baby went on to marry twice. First Richard Thomas and then Captain Anthony Lorraine, who was a pilot who flew the Queen and Prince Philip on their 1953 tour of the Commonwealth. And apparently she's time in the cockpit with him. And we hold some of their letters as well.
Mabel retired in her later years to Weybridge interestingly where Frank also had gone but he had of course died by then.
She lived in a hotel in her later years along with the male impersonator Vesta Tilly. The pair are recorded in a 1948 newspaper talking about their heyday and the fact that in their sixties and 70s at that point they're now spending their time knitting socks for the forces because we're just out the war.
Diving, dancing, swimming, playing golf and growing vegetables. article says anything less like our idea of Victorians would be difficult to imagine.
Mabel Love died in 1953 and she is recorded as a spinster which again makes me think that that George Ward marriage did not happen. She left a legacy to her daughter but it seems that Mary was unaware of it because she died apparently in some poverty and she died in a fire in her house in 1973.
So it's a story of extreme highs of career and extreme lows. A lot of big personalities in it. A lot of power struggles. Perhaps something that we would still associate with the world of Stage and Screen.
I am very sorry I've gone over by 15 minutes but it was such an interesting story
Reminder that the series is brought to you by Highlife Highland at no cost to the viewer. Highlife Highland is a charity registered in Scotland and there's no payment or subscription required to take part in this series of events. If you're able to donate then we're very grateful. Thank you.
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