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Hilda Hanbury

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Photo of a white woman with red hair. She is wearing a silk beigh dress with red scarf around her waist. She is wearing gold hairband and long necklace with pearls and semi precious stones. She is wearing bangles of similar design. She has her arms under her head, in the back of her neck. She is looking at the camera. The background is dark blue. "Hilda Hanbury" is written in white cursive writing on left botton corner.
Hilda Hanbury in 1904

Hilda Louise Hanbury (née Alcock; 16 January 1875–23 December 1961) was a British actress and stage beauty. Her grandsons are Edward, James, and Robert Fox, while her great-grandchildren include Emilia, Laurence, Jack and Freddie Fox.[1]

Early life

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Hanbury was born in St Pancras, London to surveyor and estate agent Matthew Henry Alcock (1841–1911) and his wife Elisabeth née Davis (1845–1916). Her older sister Lily Hanbury (1873–1908; born Lillian Florence Alcock) was also an actress. Their mutual cousin was actress Julia Neilson.[2]

Lily and Hilda had a pet dog named "Wobbles" who died in 1900 and is buried in Hyde Park pet cemetery.[3] A report in the London journal The Wheelwoman & Society Cycling News of 14 August 1897 states that Hilda and her sister learned to ride bicycles at the Empire Cycle School in Tavistock Place, which was unusual for women of the time.[4]

Career and later life

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Hilda Hanbury commenced her stage career in various London music halls. In 1891, as a teenager, she made her stage debut as Nancy Ditch in Robert Williams Buchanan's play Miss Tomboy in London's West End.[1] She was also seen on stage as a member of Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s theatrical company, which she joined in 1892. She appeared in Fédora with the Beerbohm Tree Company at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London (1894–1895),[5] also appearing with them on an 1895 American tour in New York City[6]

Cigarette card as Mrs. Clarence in the comedy A Message from Mars (1900)

Her stage roles included the role of Mrs. Clarence in Richard Ganthony's fantastic comedy A Message from Mars, which premiered in 1899 and was very successful at the time. In August/September 1901 she appeared at the Imperial Theatre in London as Mrs. Prescott in Boyle Lawrence's military drama A Man of His Word opposite H. B. Irving.[7][8] She was also part of the American premiere cast of the play A Bunch of Violets by Sydney Grundy at Abbey's Theatre in New York in February 1895 with the role of Countess Volkker.[9] She was regarded as a 'stage beauty' and photographs, postcards and cigarette cards[10] of her were available from the late 1890s,[11] indicating her popularity. Unlike her sister Lily Hanbury, however, she mostly played small roles.[1]

She retired from the stage following her marriage to Arthur William Fox (1870–1956) on 9 February 1905 at St Giles Church in London. Fox was of independent means[1] and the couple settled down to a comfortable life in Mayfair in a 16 room house with nine servants. One of their four children was the actor and theatrical agent Robin Fox (1913–1971). Her grandsons are Edward, James, and Robert Fox. Her great-grandchildren include Emilia, Laurence, Jack and Freddie Fox.[1]

She and Arthur Fox divorced in 1923 following his adultery with an American woman, throwing Hanbury and her children into sudden financial difficulties.[12] In her later years Hanbury lived with her daughters Mary Fox (1907–after 2011) and Pam Fox (1921–after 2011) in St Austell in Cornwall, where she died in December 1961 at age 86.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Emilia Fox, Who Do You Think You Are?, BBC One, 7 September 2011, series 8, number 5
  2. ^ Julia Neilson (1868–1957) Archived 26 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Stage Beauty website
  3. ^ Inside Hyde Park's Secret Pet Cemetery Archived 17 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine in The Daily Telegraph
  4. ^ 'Society & personal' In: The Wheelwoman & Society Cycling News, London, 14 August 1897, p 7 (online page Archived 3 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine).
  5. ^ Hilda Hanbury Archived 2 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Theatricalia database
  6. ^ BEERBOHM TREE'S COMPANY; Many of Its Members Arrived Yesterday – Mr. and Mrs. Tree on the Way. New York Times, 20 January 1895 (subscription required) Archived 2 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ J. P. Wearing: The London Stage 1900–1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel Archived 2 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Scarecrow Press (2013), pp 69/70
  8. ^ Review of "A Man of His Word" Archived 3 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, "The Penny Illustrated Paper", 31 August 1901, "Stage Beauty" website
  9. ^ A Bunch of Violets Archived 14 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine History of the New York Stage, 1732–1900, Vol.3, 1903, p. 593
  10. ^ "Hilda Louise Hanbury". National Portrait Gallery. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022. bromide cigarette card, published 1900
  11. ^ Portrait of Miss Hilda Hanbury, The Sketch, 22 September 1897, p 359
  12. ^ Emilia Fox – Who Do You Think You Are? A long line of theatrical ancestors... Archived 28 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine The Genealogist, 20 September 2011
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