11. Dorothea Frances Forster Baird 1873 [1120]

PARENT 10 Emily Jane Brinton 1830 [674]

Dorothea Frances Forster Baird

Henry Brodribb Irving

DOROTHEA FRANCES FORSTER BAIRD was born at Teddington, England on May 20th, 1875.

Her first stage appearance was with the Oxford University Dramatic Society in February 1894 when she played 'Iris' in "The Tempest". Oxford University was at the time an all-male preserve but young ladies would be invited to participate alongside male students in its stage productions. It was around this time that she first met her future husband, H. B. (Henry Brodribb) Irving, eldest son of Sir Henry Irving and a former player with the OUDS. In June of 1894 she joined Ben Greet's company performing in numerous Shakespearean roles. Her first London appearance was at the Metropole Theatre in Camberwell on 17th February 1895, as 'Hippolyta' in "A Midsummer Nights Dream".

Her major break came later that year when Beerbohm Tree engaged her to play the title role in his production of "Trilby", opposite his own portrayal of 'Svengali'. The play was written by American playright Paul Potter based on Gerald Du Mauriers novel, and Tree had immediately snapped up the British rights after seeing it performed in Philadelphia. Dorothea won the part of the title role by a stroke of good fortune. Du Maurier had seen a photograph of her as 'Rosalind' published in The Sketch and decided on the instant that she was what he wanted for 'Trilby'. When Tree and Du Maurier called upon her she was recuperating from influenza and had at first no idea what they had come about. Need less to say she snapped up the offer. The production opened at the Haymarket on 30th October 1895 and Dorothea's character, barefoot and puffing cigarettes, became an instant sensation, instantly promoting Dorothea to the best known actress in England at the time. Trilby made it acceptable for fashionable ladies to smoke cigarettes (at least in private) and her distinctive headgear was copied by hat makers, the origin of the mens 'Trilby' hat.

On the 20th July of 1896 Dorothea married Henry Brodribb (H.B) Irving, the son of the great actor-manager Sir John Henry Irving and Florence Fanny J. O'Callaghan in Middlesex. The service took place in the London district of Pancras (now St. Pancras)

Henry was born in London on the 5th August 1870.

From the time of their marriage, Dorothea's career, naturally, became inextricably entwined with that of her husband, and the couple regularly appeared together in many Shakespearean roles as well as reprising some of Sir Henry's best known plays. From December 1896 she played 'Phoebe' in Shakespeare's "As you like it" at the St James theatre in London before taking a short break for the birth of her son Laurence Henry Forster Irving in April 1897. Returning to the stage in June she again played 'Trilby' in a second run of the play of that name, this time at His Majesty's Theatre, Beerbohm Tree's own newly built playhouse which had only been made possible by the proceeds from the initial run of that play.

In the years that followed she was rarely absent from the stage appearing in such productions as "The Bells", "The Lyons Mail" and "Louis XI" (all involving her husband reprising roles made famous by his father), the popular comedies "The Happy Life", "A Court Scandal" and "The Wedding Guest", and the female leads in "The Merchant of Venice" and "A Midsummer Nights Dream". From December 1904, Dorothea created the role of 'Mrs Darling' in the first ever production of the perennial christmas favourite "Peter Pan" (with Nina Boucicault in the title role) at The Duke of York's theatre. Remarkably, the part of Captain Hook now synonymous with the play as a whole, did not appear at all in the original script but was added as a matter of convenience in staging the production. Initially the plays author, J.M. Barrie, thought to have the part played by a woman and had intended to give it to Dorothea, but Gerald Du Maurier who had been cast as 'Mr Darling' was keen to play that part also and persuaded Barrie to give him the dual role.

When the run of Pan came to an end Dorothea took another break from the stage for the birth of her second child, Elizabeth. Around this time also, Henry and Dorothea purchased an old windmill and its associated outbuildings on Borstal Hill near Whitstable as a summer and weekend retreat and place of tranquility to raise their children. The family resided in the miller's cottage where they would often entertain some of the best known stars of stage and screen. The abandoned mill became a magical playground and favourite haunt of their son Laurence as he would often recount in later years. The property was to remain in the Irving family for the next sixty years.

Sir Henry Irving, Dorothea's father-in-law, passed away in 1905, after which her husband established his own comapany and the couple spent the next seven years mostly touring in the provinces, although there were also tours of the USA in 1906 and Australia in 1911. Their repertoire continued to consist mostly of Shakespeare, particularly "Hamlet" and those plays which had been Sir Henry's greatest successes, with occasional departures such as "Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde" which enjoyed a successful run at the Queens Theatre from January 1910.

In 1911 Dorothea and her husband appeared in their first and only film together, the silent movie "Princess Clementina". Henry played 'Charles Wogan' whilst Dorothea portrayed the part of 'Jenny', reprising parts they had first performed on stage at The Queen's theatre in London the previous year. From April 1910 Dorothea appearanced as 'Portia' in "The Merchant of Venice" at His Majesty's Theatre, which was to be her last major performance in the nations capital. The next year she undertook a tour of Australia with her husband, which was followed by more work in the provinces until she retired from the stage entirely in 1913.

Henry continued to appear on stage up until the outbreak of World War One when he retired from the stage to pursue a career in Law for which he had trained at Oxford. He became reknowned for the publication of his "Book of Remarkable Criminals" in which he examined the lives, motivations and crimes of some infamous murderers. A little ironic perhaps, that he is best remembered for his work as a legal expert, a career he initially spurned in favour of the stage.

Their son Laurence was a flyer during the Great War (and again in WW2) but survived the hostilities to become a successful artist, designer and author in the post-war years, designing sets and costumes for numerous top plays. Elizabeth Irving followed in her mother's shoes to become an actress, even reprising her mother's most famous role as 'Trilby' (at Canterbury, 1921).

Dorothea was elected a member of the Poor Law Guardians of St Pancras in 1913 and devoted most of her time in retirement in charitable welfare work, particularly infant welfare - making only one breif acting comeback in 1917 to appear in her second movie, "Motherhood" (which she penned herself). She was widowed by the death of her husband in London on the 17th of October 1919 at the relatively early age of forty-nine. She continued in her charitable work until her own death in Broadstairs on 24th September, 1933, aged 60. Dorothea had been a talented actress as well as a dutiful wife and mother.

Dorothea was a beautiful and talented actress who was regarded by many to have been a more accomplished performer than her husband, who was never able to truly escape the shadow of his illustrious father. But like so many women of her era, she chose willingly to subordinate her own career to that of her husband. Had she been less selfless in the pursuit of her own career, and spent more time on the London stage where she would have found no shortage of prominent roles, she might have achieved far greater fame and fortune.

Children of HENRY & DOROTHEA IRVING

i LAURENCE HENRY FORSTER IRVING [1456] b.1897

ii DOROTHEA ELIZABETH IRVING [1455] b.1904