The photograph above is of the very talented Ellen Maria Lingham- stage name Nelly Power.
Ellen was the third born daughter of Arthur Lingham and his wife Agnes Power. Arthur was the son of Thomas and Sarah Lingham. Thomas was a son of William Lingham and brother to George Augustus Lingham.
I have copied two stories of Nelly Power below. This first story is on The Islington Guided Walks web page. It does a great job of summarising Ellen/Nelly's life. There is also a link that is worth clicking on to hear about the popular musical show that has been developed about Nelly's life.
THE STOLEN LIFE OF NELLY POWER
8th January 2023
If you walk north along Southgate Road from the Rosemary Branch pub, you could easily miss the plaque at number 97. It marks the house where Nelly Power, once a famous 19th century music hall singer and actress, lived and died.
Lottie Walker, a member of Islington Guided Walks and herself a performer, discovered Nelly Power’s existence while researching the life of the more well-known Marie Lloyd for a Clerkenwell and Islington Guiding course project. Lottie was intrigued to discover that one of Marie Lloyd’s most famous songs, The Boy I Love Is Up The Gallery, wasn’t intended for her, but was written for Nelly. Following up this discovery, Lottie switched her focus to the lesser-known artist to uncover her story.
Nelly was born Ella Maria Lingham in 1854 in St Pancras but after the death of her father, she was despatched to live with relatives one of whom had connections with the music halls and so Ella was transformed into Nelly Power and began her career on the stage at the age of 8. From this beginning, she became an actress, appearing in burlesque, musicals and pantomime and then having made her name, she became a solo performer of comic songs. But because she worked before the age of recording or film, there’s no archival material of her performances, and, despite her fame, she, like many other fellow artists of her time, slipped into obscurity.
With help from the British Music Hall Society, Lottie found that Nelly appeared on the bill for the opening night of Collins Music Hall on Islington Green which would have been at the age of 9. Her performances mimicked the style of ‘Champagne Charlie’ George Leybourne, another Islington resident, and so she was cast in various popular comic musical productions on the London stages. She was one of the earliest male impersonators on the halls. These were the days of the music hall circuit, when performers would be appear at several halls on the same evening with horse-drawn cabs taking them from one theatre to another. They often changed their outfits en route.
Before the arrival of gramophone records and the cinema, artists and songwriters made their fortunes from the sales of sheet music. As a soloist, Nelly performed long narrative songs with many verses, often parodies of the upper class like La Di Dah with a catchy chorus that she would get her audience to join in with, and hopefully they would leave the hall humming the tune and buying the sheet music to sing at home.
In the 1880s she had the title role in a panto at Drury Lane Theatre – Sinbad the Sailor, where she was understudied by Vesta Tilley. Elsewhere she starred with Dan Leno and other big names of the music hall stage at that time.
The Rosemary Branch, the pub at the end of Southgate Road, was also a music hall in Nelly’s time and Lottie thinks she may have performed there, and would surely have been customer since it was so near her home. (Marie Lloyd certainly did – the pub now has a room named after her.) Lottie tells a story that a friend of Nelly’s, having just heard the young Marie Lloyd sing Nelly’s ‘greatest hit’ The Boy I Love, rushed round to tell her this piece of gossip. but Nelly’s reaction was ‘Oh, let her have it’, thinking that nothing would come of it – how wrong she was!
Nelly got plenty of notices for her shows, but she became a darling of the popular press – not so much for her performance as for her personal life. She had married very young and was divorced by age of 20. Her abusive ex-husband had run off with her valuables said to be worth £200,000 in today’s money. During her divorce suit she claimed the only thing her husband had given her were ‘debts and venereal disease’. He had been involved in a brawl outside her house with her lover and her brothers. She was also said to have rescued a drowning woman at Southend – all providing plenty of column inches in the newspapers of the time.
Tragically, Power died from pleurisy in 1887, aged only 32, and was buried at Abney Park cemetery in Stoke Newington – her grave is near that of George Leybourne. Her funeral attracted nearly four thousand mourners and a further great crowd at the start of the procession from her home at number 97. where a blue plaque was erected in 2017 by the Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.
After discovering Nelly, Lottie Walker devised a show based around Nelly’s life and songs, which she debuted at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe, originally as a last-minute replacement for another production, but this show proved to be very successful. It’s entitled Marie Lloyd Stole My Life – a reference to Nelly losing her ownership of her hit song to the younger woman.
Lottie found that there were few or no recordings of Nelly’s songs so decided to fill the gap with a CD of Nelly’s ‘greatest hits’. She had no idea how they were performed so set out to re-create the kind of atmosphere of a typical musical hall. Performers really had to belt out their songs in those days. Drury Lane Theatre, for example, could seat 3,000 people and there were no microphones then!
Lottie has a busy year ahead for Nelly. She will be performing at the Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall on 11 January, and then there are shows in Brighton, Ludlow, Penzance and other venues including the Edinburgh Fringe again in August. Full details and bookings at https://linktr.ee/BlueFireTheatreCo The CD Nelly Power’s Songs to the Gallery is available to buy and also on Spotify. There’s a podcast, too, at www.bluefiretheatre.co.uk/podcast
She’s also planning a revival of her Islington Music Hall walk for the future. Check the walks page on this website.
Post by John Finn
Here are some additional images of Nelly.
Below is a further summary of Nelly's life. It contains reference to Nelly working at her uncle's music hall in Southhampton in 1863. The uncle mentioned in this article was Joseph (Joey) William Gordon. He was married to Juliet Ann Power a cousin to Nelly's mother Agnes Power. Juliet was a burlesque dancer and her father Henry Power was a comedian. Her husband Joey had been a comedian before opening his own theatre.
Merry Nelly Power was born in 1854 and according to an article in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News started out on stage in 1863 at the Southampton Music Hall which was owned by her uncle. Her charm and vivacity carried her to success in the provinces and London, where she entertained in pantomime and burlesque. In those days burlesque was a drama, usually with song and dance, which spoofed serious productions and made fun of the politics of the day. The topical references would often change from one performance to another and there were often exchanges between the actors and the audience. The risqué element was provided by women playing the part of men, dressed in tights and short trousers and sometimes smoking. The costumes were embellished with feathers, silks and fringes.
In 1867 Nelly was appearing at the London Metropolitan Music Hall in the Edgware Road with no star billing but by 1870 she was in the Four-Leaved Shamrock at the Canterbury Hall in London. The advertisement in The Sportsman tells us she is appearing every evening in the Grand Ballet, as Dermot, as the Pet Jockey and as Apollo. She also gave her celebrated imitations of the most popular songs of the day. She is obviously a big draw as the management is keen to point out prices will not rise during the engagement of this charming burlesque actress and the advertisement is devoted solely to Nelly.
Augustus Harris engaged her as principal boy in pantomime and the up and coming Vesta Tilley had her nose put slightly out of joint when she realised she was to play second fiddle to Nelly and also to be her understudy. In her recollections, Vesta makes the best of it, commanding a high salary and having a scene to herself to sing one of her popular songs. She points out, ‘It was the one and only time I had played second fiddle’ while acknowledging Nelly Power was a great star in those days.
In 1874 Nelly married Israel Barnett who seems to have been an unscrupulous character and the marriage was not a happy one. In 1875 Nelly’s admirer, Frederick Hobson, was charged with assaulting Barnett who was by now living at an hotel in Covent Garden while Nelly lived with her mother in Islington. Nelly was filing for a divorce but Barnett hoped for a reconciliation and was upset to find Nelly in Hobson’s company on several occasions. From the reports of the trial we find out that Barnett had been involved in dodgy financial dealings and had spent a brief time in prison. He was unable to remember if there were any charges of fraud against him but did remember he was a bankrupt. Nelly gave a strange statement in which she said since she had known Barnett all her jewellery had been ‘swept away’ . Hobson was bound over to be of good behaviour for six months on a bond of £50. Nelly’s statement made more sense when I came across a report of a theft of jewellery from her home to the value of £1,500 in 1874. There was no evidence of a break-in and the theft was described as mysterious.
La-di-dah!
Nelly made a name for herself as an early male impersonator wearing tights, spangles and a curly-brimmed hat. She had a great hit with a song entitled La-di-dah which made fun of the swells of the day.
Ee is something in an office, lardy dah!
And he quite the city toff is, lardy dah!
It seems that females didn’t wear authentic male attire in the early days of male impersonation and Nelly may have been adapting a burlesque costume.
She faded for a while, suffering ill health, but in 1885 was appearing at three London music halls nightly and was said to retain all her old go. She died two years later, performing to the end, but there was no money to pay for the funeral. A subscription was got up to pay the undertaker but in the following year her agent, George Ware, was sued for £18 19s 6d as the full funeral costs had not been met. Not long after Nelly’s death her mother Agnes was taken to court by a draper who claimed £4 4s 3d for various articles supplied to the deceased in 1885 and 1886. These included bonnets, underclothing, gloves, fancy aprons, dress materials etc. The judge remarked that there was no money even to pay for the funeral and found for Mrs Power. Nelly’s greatest hit was ‘The Boy in the Gallery’ adopted cheekily and successfully by rising star Marie Lloyd.
Nelly Power was buried in Abney Park Cemetery in north London and her funeral procession was attended by at least three thousand people. The British Music Hall Society restored her neglected grave in 2001 and the inscription reminds us she was only thirty-two when she died.
Here is a newspaper account of the robbery of some of Nelly's jewellery.
Here is a copy of an advertisement for a show in which Nelly appeared in November of 1863
She would then have been age 9!
I have extracted the comments below from a newspaper article published in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News on 29 August 1874. The article raised questions about the general quality of rowdy music hall shows but concluded with this favourable section regarding Nelly.
Below is an advertisement for Gordon's New Music Hall. This appeared on 25 June 1864 in The Hampshire Independent.
By 1882 J.W. (Joey) Gordon was the leasee of the Hippodrome Theatre (previously the Prince of Wales Theatre) in Ogle Road Southampton and also managed the adjoining Rainbow Music Hall. He died in 1894.
This map is a bit hard to read but will give you an idea of just how many Music Halls and similar theatres existed in London in this period.
The other talented Linghams
Alongside Nelly another group of Linghams were performing on the stage as actors, comedians, singers as musicians. These were Randle Hopley Lingham and his wife Jane and their children and their partners.
Randle was a son of George Augustus Lingham. The family tree below was put together by cousin Andrew Millie. It shows those family members who have been identified as performers. It also clarifies the line of descent down to me and to Andrew.
Note the tree does not show all family members. It has been focused on the artists, musicians and other performers.
Randle Hopley Lingham was the fifth born child of George and Mary. He was born 13 February 1821 at Crutched Friars, London.
I have often wondered how Randle acquired what seems like a quite unusual name. This puzzle was recently solved when I came across mention of a business associate of Randle's father George. This was a gentleman named Randle Hopley. The naming of one of his sons after Randle suggests that this was a very good friend as well as a business associate.
Below is the Baptism record for Randle . He was baptised at Saint Olave, Hart St, London on 14 March 1821.
Randle married Jane Dawson on 27 May 1848 at St Matthews Church, Manchester, Lancaster. It is at this time we see that Randle's profession is Comedian. His wife Jane is an Actress. Jane's father James Dawson lists Artist as his profession. He was in fact also an actor.
Jane's outstanding abilities as an actress are indicated in the wonderful obituary posted on her death. I have included that later in this blog.
At this time Randle's parents are no longer living together. George is living with his new partner Mary Patwell and his mother Mary is living with her daughters Ellen, Frances and Juliana.
The 1851 Census shown below is the earliest I have so far found as a listing for Randle and Jane. It is for an address of 17 Warren St, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. It appears that Randle and his family are lodgers along with others in what I assume to be a large house with rooms to rent.
Randle is age 30, Jane is age 26 and their daughter Mary is age 2.
Randle and Jane had 7 children. They were:
Mary Louisa Teale born 26 March 1849, Ellen Maria born 4 July 1851, Jeannie born 11 February 1853 but sadly died 29 November 1857, Ada Fleming born 1 November 1854, Randle Augustus born 2 July 1857, Frederick Teale born 10 February 1859 and Emma Florence born 11 September 1860.
James Dawson- Jane's father
The obituaries below tell us of amazing the talents of Jane's father.
The 1800s was the period during which Victorian Theatre developed. There was a great array of opportunities for performers across the country and in London in particular. In following the career of Randle Lingham we see he is first recorded as a comedian in a census record dated May 1848. It is as late as April 1891, age 70, that he states his profession as a "retired comedian".
In researching Victorian theatres I came across a searchable record for performers who had appeared at The Adelphi Theatre. This showed that both Randle and his son Frederick had performed at this theatre. Below is the extract from this list recording that F.T. (Frederick) had performed in the show The White Rose as Ezekial Robins and his father Randall H had performed as Tarter Chief in Michael Strogoff.
Below is the census record for 1901which shows Randall and his wife Jane living with their daughter Ellen and her husband James Carter-Edwards, Actor. Randall is age 80 and Jane age 77. The location is 7 Hornburton Road, Lambeth, London.
Note: Randle seems to have adopted the alternative spelling Randall as his name at some stage. Randall is the spelling in most of the theatre advertisements.
Randall died on 26 February 1907 age 86. Jane died 2 October 1909 age 85. In both cases their last address was as recorded below with daughter Ellen and her husband.
Below is the wonderful obituary published on the death of Randle's wife Jane.
Below is a tribute written on the death of Randle Hopley Lingham. It is apparent that he also had great acting talent. This was in addition to his stage management expertise.
Following in his father's footsteps was Frederick Teale Lingham. Frederick did act but in time he made his mark as the manager of the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. He had a total career of some 40 years in the theatre of which 22 years was as manager at the Theatre Royal. A long article about him appeared in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of 26 February 1919. I have copied this below. It is in sections and I have edited it for length. The last couple of sentences pay great tribute to Frederick's involvement in his community, in particular in raising funds as part of the war effort. Also note that Frederick toured to India, Australia and New Zealand.
The above story of our Lingham family shows an amazing amount of talent within our ancestors. In my view this helps to explain the significant number of our Hardy family members who have been or are musicians, singers or artists. It is in the DNA!
When researching this I was particularly mindful of my uncle David Hardy and his self taught abilities as a professional drummer and cornet player. I was so very lucky to have him as my trumpet teacher and inspiration. Also my mother Jean Hardy who sang and danced and ensured my sister Carol and I had music in our lives. I dedicate this blog to them and to all the other talented Hardy family members out there.
To complete this blog I feel I should add the photo below. This is my Pop Arthur Austen in his clown costume. Arthur was a professional entertainer. A song and dance man and comedian. He would have also identified with the Lingham/Hardy entertainers.
Comments