Life edit
Broughton was born in 90 Hercules Buildings on Hercules Road in Lambeth. Her parents were Emily Charlotte, (born Jecks) and William Wright and she was the first of their four children. Her career was an unusual choice for a girl from a good family. Her father was a clerk to an architect in the 1870s and she was training to dance at the Neville Dramatic School and studying ballet. She adopted the name Phyllis Broughton when she made her debut at the Canterbury Music Hall in London in March 1877.[1]
The manager of the Gaiety Theatre John Hollingshead employed her as part of his company in 1880. The theatre was known for its chorus of girls, daring ad-libs (that avoided censorship) and the costumes that the girls wore. The Gaiety had a quartet of leading actors Nellie Farren, Kate Vaughan, Edward O'Connor Terry, and E. W. Royce. Kate Vaughan made her last appearance at the Gaiety in 1883, before she married, and soon gave up dancing.[2] This allowed Broughton to take over her roles. In 1884 she was promoted from the chorus to play roles in the theatre's adaptions of stories from One Thousand and One Nights. She gathered her own following and her own skirts for the skirt-dance as she appeared in Whittington and His Cat, Aladdin, Little Robin Hood, Blue Beard (1883), and Camaralzaman in 1884.[1] She became a "Gaiety Girl" who made a fortune from her success.[1] Her name was associated with that term after she played Lady Virginia in A Gaiety Girl in 1893.
Her father died in 1883 and her mother gave birth to another child name Haidee. Her mother would later marry Haidee's father in 1888 and General Coote Synge-Hutchinson became her step father. He brought the police to her aid when she began to receive threats amongst her fan mail.
In 1888 she sued Viscount Dangan for breach of promise. He had asked her to marry him and then he changed his mind. His lawyers agreed damages of £2,500[3] and they made assurances that the break up was not a reflection on her character. Dargan went on to marry another in 1889.
References edit
- ^ a b c Innes, Eilidh (2023-11-09), "Broughton [real name Phyllis Harriet Wright; married name Thomson], Phyllis (1860–1926), dancer and actress", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.62580, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 2024-02-10
- ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23), "Kate Vaughan", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36634, retrieved 2024-02-10
- ^ paperspast.natlib.govt.nz https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19131011.2.2.1. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
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