Maud Hobson (born Jane Elizabeth Manson; 13 November 1860 – 7 January 1913) was an Australian-born English actress. Beginning in

Victorian burlesque Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as travesty or extravaganza, is a genre of theatrical entertainment that was popular in Victorian England and in the New York theatre of the mid-19th century. It is a form of parody in which a well-known oper ...

in her

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent, as well as the parent of the cousins. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an un ...

's Gaiety Theatre in London, she joined

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 ...

's company there after he took over as manager and became one of his

Gaiety Girls Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies, beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the shows produced by George Edwardes. The popularity of this genre of musical theatre depended, in part, on the beau ...

. She also played principal roles in some of his

Edwardian musical comedies 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

Hobson was born on 13 November 1860 in the suburb of

Toorak Toorak () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Toorak recorded a population of 12,817 at the 2021 census. The name ...

, near

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia, to John Manson and Eliza ''née'' Hollingshead, who emigrated to Melbourne from England separately in 1853. When Hobson was 3 month old her family returned to England.

Career

In 1880, Hobson started performing at the Gaiety Theatre where her uncle,

John Hollingshead John Hollingshead (9 September 1827 – 9 October 1904) was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. After a journalism career, Hollingshead managed the Alhambra Theatre and was later th ...

, was then the manager and suggested her stage name, Maud Hobson. The next year she got married and moved to Hawaii where she was occasionally performing. In 1886, Hobson returned to England and did not appear on the stage again until 1889. From mid-1889, Hobson reappeared on stage in London for

, who had become manager at the Gaiety Theatre, playing parts there in the

s '' Faust up to Date'' and ''

Carmen up to Data ''Carmen up to Data'' is a musical burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz. Set in Seville, the piece was a spoof of Bizet's 1875 opera ''Carmen''. The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt. After a tryout in Liverpool in ...

''. In 1893, Hobson played the part of Alma Somerset in the

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 ...

A Gaiety Girl ''A Gaiety Girl'' is an English musical comedy in two acts by a team of musical comedy neophytes: Owen Hall (book, on an outline by James T. Tanner), Harry Greenbank (lyrics) and Sidney Jones (music). It opened at Prince of Wales Theatre i ...

'' produced at the

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

. In 1894 and 1896 she reappeared as a Gaiety Girl. Hobson has also done seasons in and out of parts at New York. She appeared in ''A Gaiety Girl'' 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 ...

in New York, as well as in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, and San Francisco. By the time she was 30 Hobson had lived in Hawaii, Colorado, and London. She also visited Australia twice. Later Hobson moved to live with her uncle Hollingshead and his family 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 1900, Hobson appeared as Lady Punchestown in the musical '' The Messenger Boy'' at the Gaiety Theater.

Personal life

In 1881 Hobson married Lieutenant Andrew Burrell Hayley, an officer of the

11th Hussars The 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 10th Royal Hussars (Pri ...

. The couple moved to Honolulu where Hayley acted as Chief Minister to King Kalakaua of Hawaii. Their son William Burrell Hayley was born in early 1882. In 1887, Hayley petitioned for divorce from Hobson claiming that she repeatedly committed adultery with Captain Owen Richard Armstrong. Though Hobson and Armstrong denied the charges, a divorce was granted in 1888. Maud Hobson died on 7 January 1913 in London. She is buried in the family grave at St.John the Evangelist,

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

References

External links

Print of Hobson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Maud 1860 births 1913 deaths 20th-century English actresses Emigrants from colonial Australia to the United Kingdom 19th-century Australian actresses