Ellen Terry

Posted by Barbara on June 20, 2022 in Art, Blog, Dame, Theatre review | 1 comment

The life of Dame Ellen Terry appears to encompass so much of what we at damesnet admire: individuality, creativity and an ability to create one’s own pathway . She was one of the most popular and successful stage performers of her time and it so happens there is a family connection, albeit tenuous.

Ellen Terry was born into a large theatrical family and became a child actress, encouraged by her parents. She performed in London and took part in provincial tours, but this was cut short at 16 when she married the painter George Frederick Watts, having been his artistic model. The marriage ended 10 months later, and Ellen Terry returned briefly to the stage.

Her most memorable performance at this time, in terms of her future career, was playing Katherina with Sir Henry Irving in The Taming of the Shrew. However, soon afterwards Terry met Edward Godwin, the architect and theatrical designer, and in 1868 she gave up acting to move to Hertfordshire with him. The couple lived together for six years and had two children, but when their relationship broke up Terry moved back to London and once again resumed her theatrical career.

The stage partnership with Irving resumed in 1878, and for 24 years the pair were the glittering couple of the London stage, in particular at the Lyceum Theatre, which Irving developed as a centre of excellence, renowned for its productions of Shakespeare.

During this period Terry played most of the key female roles in Shakespeare’s plays, including Ophelia, Lady Macbeth, Desdemona, Cordelia, Portia, Juliet and Beatrice. She and Irving also toured extensively in the UK and across the US. She was famous for her beauty and her acting skills, and was equally at home in comic and classical roles.

There were two more marriages, but neither of them would appear to have been significant relationships. An actor, Charles Kelly, became her second husband in 1878, but this did not last, and he died in 1885. The final marriage in 1907 was to the American actor James Carew; he was much younger, but again it ended quite quickly, although they remained friends.

Another fascinating side to Terry’s life was her friendship with George Bernard Shaw. They started corresponding in 1892, initially writing about a stage protégé of Terry, and then changing to more personal topics. The exchanges died away for a while, and were then revived by Terry in 1895. By this time Shaw was an established dramatist with an interest in writing plays with strong parts for women. From then on much of their correspondence was about the state of the theatre. Although the two lived near each other, they chose to maintain their relationship through their letters. Shaw described it as “a paper courtship, perhaps the pleasantest and most enduring of all courtships.”

In 1902, Terry’s partnership with Irving came to an end, but her theatrical career continued. It is during this period that my link with her can be claimed. My mother-in-law’s maiden name was Blascheck, and her grandfather was Joseph Blascheck, always known as J.B. He was born in London and when his father died his mother emigrated to Melbourne with her children. J.B. started a career as an elocutionist and humourist, before moving back to London around 1898 with his wife Beatrice and two children, probably to develop his career in the theatre.

Their third son Ballard was born in 1904: Ellen Terry’s maiden name was Ballard, and it is possible that this name was in honour of the friendship with Terry. Then in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War, J.B. and Ellen Terry did a three-month tour of Australia and New Zealand, with J.B. as her actor manager.

They arrived in Melbourne on May 4 1914, and John Singer Sergeant’s study in monochrome of Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth was presented to the Melbourne National Gallery. Of this particular costume Terry had written to her daughter that “it is in colour that it is so splendid. The dark red hair is fine. The whole thing is Rossetti—rich stained-glass effects.” The tour took in performances in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Wellington and Auckland before returning to England in August 2014.

In 1925 Ellen Terry was made a Dame Grand Cross of the British Empire, dying three years later at her cottage in Hythe, Kent. One further postscript on the family connection: J.B.’s son Ballard became an actor in his own right, changing his surname to Berkeley. His most famous role was the Major in Fawlty Towers. I like to think Ellen Terry would have approved.