Lena Ashwell
Lena Ashwell, Lady Simson | |
---|---|
Born | Lena Margaret Pocock 28 September 1872 |
Died | 13 March 1957 | (aged 84)
Resting place | Dean Cemetery |
Nationality | British |
Education | Royal Academy of Music |
Occupation | Actress |
Spouses |
Lena Margaret Ashwell, Lady Simson
Biography
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2022) |
She was born Lena Margaret Pocock'[1] on the Wellesley while anchored in the River Tyne at North Shields, at the time under her father's 'command' as a home for “boys 'unconvicted of crime' but under suspicion”. Ashwell's father was Commander Charles Ashwell Boteler Pocock, Royal Navy (March 1829–February 1899), a nephew of Nicholas Pocock, and her mother was Sarah Margaret Stevens (December 1839–May 1887), who died as a result of an accident in Canada. Lena, the second youngest of seven siblings, had two brothers and four sisters. One of her siblings died as a child while the family was in New Zealand.
She grew up in Canada, and studied music in both
In 1906, Ashwell starred in The Shulamite, a melodrama about a South African woman in an unhappy marriage who falls in love with a visiting Englishman.[3] The show ran for 45 performances at the Savoy Theatre between 12 May and 26 June 1906.[4]
Ashwell took the play to the US, where it ran for just 25 performances at the
Beginning in 1906, Ashwell took up theatre management, initially at the Savoy Theatre, then in 1907 she established her own theatre known as the Kingsway.
In February 1914, Ashwell was one of the founder members of the new
World War One
During
After the war
After the war Ashwell sought funding from the Carnegie Trust and the British Drama League. After some years the trustees allowed her a £500 grant for capital outlay after get good results of a survey of local councils. The aim was to bring theatre to London, but some areas such as Canning Town were thought to be a very likely loss maker. The Drama League agreed to underwrite up to £100 of losses there. By 1923 there was a "Friends of the Players" with members receiving the "Lena Ashley Players Magazine". Ashwell formed the Lena Ashwell Players Ltd in April 1923. The directors were Ashwell, Esme Church, Marion Fawcett and Cicely Hamilton. The first three of these were to be the company's theatre managers and Fawcett was also the first manager of the new company.[13]
The players continued to appear throughout London and of whom
In her last years, she embraced the Moral Re-Armament movement.[16]
Her ashes are buried with her husband in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. The grave lies in the Victorian north extension on a north-south path north of the main path close to Elsie Maud Inglis.
Family
She married actor Arthur Playfair in 1896. He was an alcoholic, committed adultery, domestic violence and passed on venereal disease.[2] He began divorce proceedings in 1903 following her adultery with Robert Taber, the former husband of actress Julia Marlowe. Playfair and Ashwell finally divorced in 1908.[17]
She married the royal obstetrician Sir
Writing
Ashwell wrote four books:[16]
- Modern Troubadours (London, Gyldendal, 1922), which is an account of the work of her Concert parties during the First World War
- Reflections from Shakespeare (London, Hutchinson & Co., 1926), edited from a series of lectures she gave to raise money for the Lena Ashwell Players
- The Stage (London, Geoffrey Bles, 1929), her thoughts on the state of the theatre and role of the actor
- An autobiography, Myself A Player (London, Michael Joseph, 1936)[19]
Notes
- ^ "Lena Ashwell (née Lena Margaret Pocock, later Lady Simson) - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ a b Broadbent, Lizzie (25 May 2021). "Lena Ashwell (1869-1957)". Women Who Meant Business. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-907396-75-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-9294-1.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-9045-5.
- OCLC 1016848621.
- ISBN 978-1-84142-031-8.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link - ^ Telegraph (newspaper) 10 June 2018, article by Kate adie
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 - World War One: The Cultural Front, Series 2, War on the Mind". BBC. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ "Music & Morale - Lena Ashwell and the healing power of concerts at the front". Picturing the Great WarThe First World War Blog from Mary Evans Picture Library. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ Adie, Kate (11 April 2014). "Lena Ashwell: the woman who brought music to WW1 trenches". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ Smurthwaite, Nick (23 November 2018). "'A tonic for troops': What British theatre did in the First World War | Features". The Stage.
- ISBN 978-1-907396-64-9.
- ^ "The Twentieth Century Theatre, 21 Archer Street, Bayswater, London (Now 291 Westbourne Grove)". www.arthurlloyd.co.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ Hartnoll, Phyllis (1967). Oxford Companion to the Theatre (Third ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 48.
- ^ a b Leask, Margaret, Doctoral thesis on the life and work of Lena Ashwell, University of Sydney (2000)
- ^ "Arthur Playfair Seeks Divorce; Actor Involves Robert Taber, Former Husband of Julia Marlowe". The New York Times. 13 September 1903.
- ^ "Inspiring Physicians | RCP Museum".
- OCLC 614472751.
References
- Lena Ashwell (1936). Myself a Player. London: Michael Joseph Ltd. OCLC 614472751.
- Maggie Barbara Gale and Vivien Gardner, Auto/biography and Identity: Women, Theatre and Performance, Manchester University Press, 2004;
- Margaret Leask (1 July 2012). Lena Ashwell: Actress, Patriot, Pioneer. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN 978-1-907396-75-5.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. .
Further reading
- Holledge, J. (1981). Innocent flowers : women in the Edwardian theatre. London: Virago. p. 97–101. Further information about Ashwell's work in entertaining WW1 troops.
External links
- Ashwell biodata, with photos
- Works by Lena Ashwell at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Lena Ashwell at Internet Archive
- Lena Ashwell papers , Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester