Celebrity for the week ending
Saturday, 24 August 2002
Ellen Wallis (1856-1940)
English actress and theatrical manageress
(photo: Baurraud, London, 1888)
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‘Miss Wallis (Mrs. Lancaster) made her first appearance in 1872, a little more than fifteen years ago, at the Standard Theatre [London] on the occasion of Mr. [William] Creswick’s benefit, he playing the part of Claude Melnotte to her Pauline Deschapelles, a character that she undertook at three days’ notice, and at which time the subject of our portrait was but sixteen years old. In the following October, however, her regular dramatic career commenced, when Rosalind (As You Like It), Marguerite de Mountcalm (Mountcalm), Mildred Vaughan (Amos Clark), and her then great success as Elizabeth (Cromwell), formed her répertoire, to which was to be added in February, 1873, Marguerite, when Fauste and Marguerite was produced at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, by Mr. John Knowles. In the same year Miss Wallis achieve a triumph by her impersonation of Cleopatra at Drury Lane, and her Juliet was also greatly admired and lauded. After a provincial tour, during which she became a great favourite, the young actress fairly took the hearts of the enthusiastic Irish by storm in Dublin and Belfast, in both of which towns the horses were taken from her carriage, and she was drawn to her hotel by her ardent admirers, and even the more phlegmatic Scotchmen subsequently paid her a like compliment. An engagement at Drury Lane followed, to play lead as Amy Robsart in the drama of that name, Edith Plantagenet in Richard Coeur de Lion, Mrs. Ford in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and she herself arranged an acting version of Cymbeline, playing Imogen with marked success. In 1874 Ireland was revisited, in 1876 Scotland, and on August 17 of that year Miss Wallis became Mrs. [John] Lancaster and the wife of the proprietor of the handsome Shaftesbury Theatre. Her re-appearance at Manchester the following year was hailed with delight, and in the season of 1878 she made a most favourable impression as Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, as Juliet, Desdemona, Ophelia, and Imogen. In conjunction with Mr. Barry Sullivan and Miss Helen Faucit, Miss Wallis took her acknowledged position in the inauguration of the Shakespeare memorial at Stratford-on-Avon, and also rendered her valuable aid for Mr. Charles Calvert’s benefit, and later for that of Mr. Tom Chambers, with Mr. Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry, and Mr. Barry Sullivan. Among Miss Wallis’s most notable characters must be specially mentioned that of Ninon in W.G. Wills’s play of that name, produced at the Adelphi, February, 1880, and her Adrienne Lecourvreur, which was considered one of the best ever seen on the English boards. The talented actress also prepared a stage version of Measure for Measure, in which she appeared as Isabella. In addition to these characters unstinted praise has been awarded to her for her conception of Lady Macbeth, Constance in The Love Chase, Lady Teazle, Parthenia in Ingomar, and Bianca in Fazio. Of Miss Wallis’s latest performances at the beautiful theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, which Mr. Lancaster has erected, there is no occasion to speak - they so recently and favourably noticed.’
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(photo: Fradelle & Marshall, London, circa 1877)
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‘WALLIS, Ellen. (Mrs. Lancaster.) - Miss Wallis was born in 1856, and was educated at a boarding school, very soon after leaving which she determined to enter on a dramatic career, and her first appearance was at the Standard Theatre on the occasion of Mr. [William] Creswick’s benefit. She then made her début at the Queen’s Theatre, Long Acre, in 1872, playing Marguerite de Montcalm in Montcalm. The distinct ability she displayed led to an engagement with Mr. [F.B.] Chatterton at Drury Lane for three years, and she made a decided success as Cleopatra. This was followed by Amy Robsart in 1873, and the heroine in Richard Coeur de Lion in 1874. Miss Wallis also appeared as Juliet, Mrs. Ford, Imogen, Ophelia, and Desdemona during her stay at Drury Lane. She then determined to undergo a course of experience in the provinces, and travelled for two years through the chief cities of England, Ireland, and Scotland, playing a round of classical rôles. About this time she was married to Mr. [John] Lancaster, a gentleman then residing at Manchester. At his request she retired from the boards for twelve months, but at the end of that time again starred the Provinces, and later accepted an engagement at Drury Lane, where she appeared as Hermione in Winter’s Tale, and other principal rôles. In 1889 the Shaftesbury Theatre was opened, of which Mr. Lancaster is the proprietor, and he first undertook the management and produced As You Like It and The Lady of Lyons, in which Miss Wallis played the leads. The new theatre was then leased to Messrs. Lart and Willard, Miss Wallis adjourning to the Grand, Islington, to play in Ninon and Adrienne Lecourveur, which were followed by As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew in the provinces. It was not until October, 1890, that she was able to reappear at the Shaftesbury, where she produced The Sixth Commandment, by Robert Buchanan: but not even a bowing of the head to the Moloch of criticism, and a ruthless cutting and telescoping, could save it being broken. It was followed in the middle of November by The Pharisee, a new play written by Miss Wallis and Mr. Malcolm Watson in collaboration, which was one of the few artistically successful productions of the season.’
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© John Culme, 2002