Doris Mary Stocker (Lady Segrave) (1886 – 16 December 1968) was a British actress and singer, especially in

Edwardian musical comedy Edwardian musical comedy is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical ...

Early life and career

She was born in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

in India in 1886, the second of three children of George Stocker (1857–1929), an engineer, and Mary Dunn ''née'' Johnston (1862–1946). While her father remained in India for work her mother returned to England with the children where they lived in London from at least 1891 to 1911. Her older sister Blanche Stocker was also a stage actress and singer. Stocker began her career as a chorus girl under

George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915) was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre ma ...

at the Gaiety Theatre in London and soon played roles in

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes"West End"in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, ...

s: Grace Hufnagle in ''Captain Kidd'' at

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c. 1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the arch ...

(1904); J. P. Wearing
''The London Stage 1910–1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''
Rowman & Littlefield (2014), Google Books Angy Loftus in ''

The Cingalee ''The Cingalee'' or ''Sunny Ceylon'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner, with music by Lionel Monckton, lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank, and additional material by Paul Rubens (composer), Paul Rubens.J. P. Wear ...

'' at

Daly's Theatre Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresa ...

(1904); Pepzi in ''

A Waltz Dream ' (''A Waltz Dream'') is an operetta by Oscar Straus (composer), Oscar Straus with a German libretto by and , based on the novella ' (''Nux, the Prince consort, Prince Consort'') by Hans Müller-Einigen from his 1905 book ' (''Book of Adventures ...

'' at Daly's (1911); Lady Diana Camden in ''

Theodore & Co ''Theodore & Co'' is an English musical comedy in two acts with a book by H. M. Harwood and George Grossmith Jr. based on the French comedy ''Théodore et Cie'' by Paul Armont and Nicolas Nancey, with music by Ivor Novello and Jerome Kern and ...

'' at the Gaiety (1912); Gipsy Dancer in '' Gipsy Love'' at Daly's (1912); and the Honorable Baby Vereker in '' To-Night's the Night'' at the Shubert Theatre in New York (1914), repeating the role in London at the Gaiety (1915).

War, marriage and death

In 1915 at the height of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

she accompanied

Sylvia Brett Sylvia Leonora, Lady Brooke, White Ratuh Consort of Sarawak (born ''The Hon. Sylvia Leonora Brett'', 25 February 1885 – 11 November 1971), was an English aristocrat who became the consort to Sir Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, the third and l ...

and

Charles Vyner Brooke Charles Vyner Brooke, (full name Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, 26 September 1874 – 9 May 1963) was the third and last White Rajah of the Raj of Sarawak. Early life Charles Vyner Brooke was the son of Charles Brooke and Margaret de Windt ( ...

, whom she hardly knew, on a Japanese steamer to

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

, Malaysia, to visit Charles Brooke, the

Rajah of Sarawak The White Rajahs of Sarawak were a hereditary monarchy of the Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak as a sovereign state, located on the northwest coast of the island of Borneo in Maritime Southeast Asia, from 1841 to 1946. Of ...

. At

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

, London, on 4 October 1917 she married Sir Henry O'Neal De Hane Segrave (1896–1930), then serving in the war as a Captain in the

Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...

and the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

. After her marriage she retired from the stage. Stocker died in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, London, in 1968, leaving £76,135 in her will.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995 for Doris Mary Segrave
1969, Ancestry.com

References

External links

Photographic portraits of Doris Stocker
–

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Stocker, Doris 1886 births 1968 deaths Actresses from Mumbai English women singers Edwardian era English stage actresses 20th-century English actresses