Adelaide Helen Calvert (née Biddles; baptised 1836 – 20 September 1921) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

playwright and actress who achieved a 68-year career.

Life

Calvert was born as Adelaide Helen Biddles in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

and she appeared on stage as "child prodigy". She went to school but was recalled to acting by her parents. Her father was selling tobacco but he aspired to acting. She and her sister, Clara, appeared in minor roles. They were friends with Mary Braddon before her interest turned to writing novels. She and her Clara would be invited to tea on Sundays and another invitee was Charles Calvert. In 1851 ''Amy Lawrence: a Tale of an Old Man's Love'' a play she had adapted from a book was performed with Adelaide as Amy Lawrence. The play was performed at the ''Bower Saloon'' in Westminster which was managed by her father James Biddles. She married the leading actor

Charles Alexander Calvert Charles Alexander Calvert (28 February 1828 – 12 June 1879) was a British actor and theatre manager known for arranging new productions of the Shakespearean canon featuring elaborate staging and what were considered historically accurate set ...

on 31 August 1856. In 1859 her husband became stage-manager/actor of the

Theatre Royal, Manchester The Theatre Royal in Manchester, England, opened in 1845. Situated next to the Free Trade Hall, it is the oldest surviving theatre in Manchester. It was commissioned by Mancunian businessman John Knowles who wanted a theatre venue in the city. T ...

and five years later he was the manager of the newly built

Prince's Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

reviving

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. Meanwhile, went on to continue her stage success in her own right as "Adelaide Calvert". They had eight children, of whom five (three sons and two daughters) followed their parents' profession, including

Louis Calvert Louis James Calvert (25 November 1859 – 18 July 1923) was a British stage and early film actor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and an actor-manager. He is perhaps best remembered today for having created roles in plays by George ...

, their third son.Richard Foulkes
Calvert, Charles Alexander (1828–1879)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008; accessed 8 May 2017. Charles died in 1879 and it was said that 50,000 people watched his funeral. Adelaide was left with two daughters and five sons. In October

Helen Faucit Helena Saville Faucit, Lady Martin (11 October 1817 – 31 October 1898) was an English actress. Early life Born in London, she was the daughter of actors John Saville Faucit and Harriet Elizabeth Savill. Her parents separated when she was a g ...

appeared as Rosalind in two benefit performances for Charles' family. Adelaide went off to the US with

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatri ...

in 1879 and she took various minor roles in the UK and the USA. Her career was revived when she took a part in

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's ''

Arms and the Man ''Arms and the Man'' is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', in Latin: ''Arma virumque cano'' ("Of arms and the man I sing"). The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Aven ...

''. She worked steadily in better roles for the next fifteen years. She played the old woman in the 1911 British silent movie '' Henry III''.

Death

Calvert died in

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

on 20 September 1921, after a career of 68 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvert, Adelaide British stage actresses 19th-century British actresses 20th-century British actresses 1836 births 1921 deaths Date of birth unknown People from Loughborough