Elsie Fogerty

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Elsie Fogerty
Paris Conservatoire
Occupations
  • Teacher
  • dramatist
Known forPrincipal and founder of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Anne Elizabeth "Elsie" Fogerty

Central School of Speech and Drama in London from 1906 to 1942.[1]

Early years

The daughter of engineer and architect Joseph Fogerty FRIBA (d. 1899) and his wife, Hannah Cochrane (d. 1910), both of Limerick, Fogerty was born in Sydenham, south London on 16 December 1865.[1]

An only child, she was privately educated and in 1883 trained at the

Sir Frank Benson's London School of Acting.[2] From 1901 she adapted plays for amateur performance some of which were published, illustrated by Isabel Bonus. [3]

Central School of Speech and Drama

Fogerty began teaching Saturday speech classes at the

Central School of Speech and Drama then known as the Central School of Speech-Training and Dramatic Arts at the Hall. By 1908 she had worked out a three year training course from speech trainer and drama teachers.[2] In 1923 the school was one of three educational establishments approved by the University of London to grant diplomas in dramatic art.[1] Fogerty gave university extension lectures at the Albert Hall, and for many years took evening classes for London County Council
teachers.

The School remained at the Royal Albert Hall until 1957, when it moved to its current site in Swiss Cottage, north London.

Many of Fogerty's pupils had successes in the Poetry Reading Competition at

Second World War
and many alumni went on to become teachers in speech and the management of theatres.

Whilst at the Royal Albert Hall Elsie Fogerty trained notable actors including:

Many public figures and actors consulted Fogerty on special difficulties connected with the speech side of their work including poet

T S Eliot, various pillars of Church and State, and Princess Louise, who became Patron of the School.[4]

Speech Clinic, St Thomas' Hospital

Fogerty was a pioneer in the cure of stammering and in 1912 opened a speech clinic at St Thomas' Hospital, London, of which she became superintendent, and consequently one of the first speech therapists.[1]

Honours

Fogerty was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1934 Birthday Honours for services to speech training and dramatic arts.[5]

Drama profession

Elsie Fogerty worked to secure the first recognition of drama as a diploma subject in an English university – the

British Drama League from its foundation until her death, and was a keen supporter for the establishment of the Royal National Theatre
, London.

Publications

Plays

  • Tennyson’s Princess, Elsie Fogerty (1901 Swann Sonnenschein & Co)
  • The Queen's Jest, Elsie Fogerty (1908 Swann Sonnenschein &co)
  • The Antigone of Sophocles, Elsie Fogerty (1908 Swann Sonnenschein & Co)
  • Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Elsie Fogerty (1911 Swann Sonnenschein & Co)
  • Euripide’s Alkestis, Elsie Fogerty (1924 Swann Sonnenschein & Co)

Non-fiction

  • Notes on Speech Training, Elsie Fogerty (1918)
  • The Speaking of English Verse, Elsie Fogerty (J M Dent & Sons, Limited, 1923)
  • Stammering, Elsie Fogerty (Allen & Unwin, 1930)
  • Rhythm, Elsie Fogerty (G Allen & Unwin, Limited, 1937)
  • Art of the Actor, Coquelin, trans. Elsie Fogerty (G Allen & Unwin, Limited)

Later years

Fogerty never married but devoted her entire life to her work. In 1944 her flat in

Second World War. With all of her possessions destroyed she moved into a nearby hotel. Fogerty died in 1945 in a nursing home at Leamington Spa.[1]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33187. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781135355333
    . Retrieved 9 October 2023 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Waddell, R E. "Illustrations of Isabel Bonus". Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b Elsie Fogerty Archive, THM/324 – Theatre & Performance Special Collections, V&A, London
  5. ^ "No. 34056". The London Gazette. 1 June 1934. p. 3564.

Further reading

  • The Central Book, Lolly Susi (Oberon Books, London, 2006)
  • Fogie – The Life (1865–1945) of Elsie Fogerty Pioneer of Speech Training for the Theatre and Everyday Life, Marion Cole (Peter Davis, London, 1967)
  • "Miss Elsie Fogerty – Speech Training and Dramatic Art", Obituary, The Times, London, 7 July 1945
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