Actresses’ Franchise League [AFL] (act. 1908–1958) was formed in 1908 as ‘a bond of union between all women in the Theatrical profession who are in sympathy with the Woman’s Franchise Movement’. The organization was itself ‘strictly neutral in regard to Suffrage Tactics’ and membership was open to women who were or had been ‘connected with the Theatrical profession in any of its branches’. The constitution of the league declared its objectives as being to convince members of the theatrical profession of the necessity of extending the franchise to women on the same terms as men. It would campaign by using what it called ‘educational methods’ including propaganda meetings, and plays, sale of literature, and lectures (...
Article
Actresses’ Franchise League
Naomi Paxton
Article
Atkyns [née Walpole], Charlotte (c. 1758–1836), actress and political activist
Adrienne Scullion
Atkyns [née Walpole], Charlotte (c. 1758–1836), actress and political activist, was probably born in co. Westmeath, Ireland about 1758, according to her later biographers Frédéric Barbey and E. E. P. Tisdall. She was the youngest of three daughters of Robert Walpole (...
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Blythe, Ernest (1889–1975)
Maker: unknown photographer
In
Ernest Blythe (1889–1975) by unknown photographer, 1922 Getty Images
Article
Blythe, Ernest [Earnán de Blaghd] (1889–1975), politician and theatre director
Brian Maye
Blythe, Ernest [Earnán de Blaghd] (1889–1975), politician and theatre director, was born on 13 April 1889 in Magheragall, Lisburn, co. Antrim, the eldest child of James and Agnes Blythe. He came from a Church of Ireland and staunchly Orange background and was a most unlikely convert to Irish nationalism. Educated at the local ...
Article
Bonnor, Charles (bap. 1752, d. 1831), actor and civil servant
Joseph Knight
revised by Nilanjana Banerji
Bonnor, Charles (bap. 1752, d. 1831), actor and civil servant, was baptized at St Thomas’s, Bristol, on 12 March 1752, the son of Charles Bonnor (or Bonner), a distiller in Bristol, and his wife, Mary, née Goodin. After commencing his working life as apprentice to a coachmaker, he was recorded as a coachmaker in ...
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Chambers, Sir Edmund Kerchever (1866–1954)
Maker: Sir William Rothenstein
In
Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers (1866–1954) by Sir William Rothenstein, 1924 © Estate of Sir William Rothenstein / National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Chambers, Sir Edmund Kerchever (1866–1954), theatre historian and civil servant
F. P. Wilson
revised by Nilanjana Banerji
Chambers, Sir Edmund Kerchever (1866–1954), theatre historian and civil servant, was born at West Ilsley, Berkshire, on 16 March 1866. He was the son of the Revd William Chambers (b. 1826/7), curate, and fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and his wife, Anna Heathcote...
Article
Clarke, John Smith (1885–1959), politician, lion-tamer, and newspaper editor
Raymond Challinor
Clarke, John Smith (1885–1959), politician, lion-tamer, and newspaper editor, was born on 4 February 1885 at 66 Albert Street, Jarrow, co. Durham, the thirteenth child of John Smith Clarke (1844–1906), circus entertainer, and his wife, Sarah Ann (Sally) Chiswell (1844–1918...
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Collins, Patrick (1859–1943), showman and politician
Vanessa Toulmin
Collins, Patrick (1859–1943), showman and politician, was born on 12 May 1859 at 58 Broughton, Chester, the son of John Collins, agricultural labourer (later, general dealer), and his wife, Annoia McDermott. One of five children, he attended St Wedburgh's School in Chester, but left at the age of ten and travelled ...
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Collins, Patrick (1859–1943)
Maker: unknown photographer
In
Patrick Collins (1859–1943) by unknown photographer with the permission of the National Fairground Archive, the University of Sheffield
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Coppin, George Selth (1819–1906)
Maker: Falk Studios
In
George Selth Coppin (1819–1906) by Falk Studios, c. 1905 La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria
Article
Coppin, George Selth (1819–1906), actor and politician
[Anon.]
revised by Nilanjana Banerji
Coppin, George Selth (1819–1906), actor and politician, born at Steyning, Sussex, on 8 April 1819, was the only child of George Selth Coppin (1794–1854) and his wife, Elizabeth Jane Jackson (1789–1869). His father, of a Norwich family, gave up medical practice for the stage and became a theatrical manager....
Article
Crawley, Aidan Merivale (1908–1993), politician and television executive
Matthew Parris
Crawley, Aidan Merivale (1908–1993), politician and television executive, was born on 10 April 1908 at the vicarage, Benenden, near Cranbrook, Kent, the third of the five children of Arthur Stafford Crawley, vicar of Benenden (later canon of Windsor), and his wife, Anstice Katharine, ...
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Crawley, Aidan Merivale (1908–1993)
Maker: Elliott & Fry
In
Aidan Merivale Crawley (1908–1993) by Elliott & Fry, 1950 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Crockford, Susan Rosalind [Sue] (1943–2019), film-maker and community activist
Anna Davin
Crockford, Susan Rosalind [Sue] (1943–2019), film-maker and community activist, was born at St Mary’s Maternity Hospital, Croydon, on 20 February 1943, the eldest child of Herbert Edward Crockford (1913–1997), a sergeant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps who worked for the ...
Article
Donne, William Bodham (1807–1882), essayist and examiner of plays
Ruth Burridge Lindemann
Donne, William Bodham (1807–1882), essayist and examiner of plays, was born on 29 July 1807 at Mattishall, near East Dereham, Norfolk, the only child of Edward Charles Donne (1777–1819), physician, and his cousin Anne Vertue Donne (1781–1859). His grandfather William Donne was an eminent ...
Article
Duma, Dervish (1908–1998), diplomatist and leader of the Albanian community in Britain
Robert Elsie and Bejtullah D. Destani
Duma, Dervish (1908–1998), diplomatist and leader of the Albanian community in Britain, was born on 4 July 1908 in Borsh on the southern coast of Albania, then still part of the Ottoman empire, the son of Emin Duma (d. 1922), from a local landowning family. In 1914 the village of ...
Article
Evans, Meredydd (Merȇd) (1919–2015), writer, broadcaster, and political activist
Geraint H. Jenkins
Evans, Meredydd (Merȇd) (1919–2015), writer, broadcaster, and political activist, was born on 9 December 1919 at Top Pentre, Llanegryn, Merioneth, the youngest of eleven children of Richard Evans, motor driver, later quarryman, and his wife Charlotte, née Pugh. His Christian name was given on his birth certificate as ...
Article
Francis, Sir Richard Trevor Langford (1934–1992), broadcasting executive and public servant
Robert Rowland
Francis, Sir Richard Trevor Langford (1934–1992), broadcasting executive and public servant, was born at the Imperial Nursing Home, Harrogate, Yorkshire, on 10 March 1934, the son of Eric Roland Francis (1902–1987), production engineer, and his wife, Esther Joy Todd (1906–1999). He was educated at ...
