Nelly PowerWhile her name is given variously as Nellie or Nelly in contemporary press reports and in advertisements for her appearances, Nelly is the name on her gravestone. (10 April 1854 – 19 January 1887) was the stage name of Ellen Maria Lingham, an English singer, actress and popular performer in

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

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 ...

and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

.'' The Era'', 22 January 1887 "Death of Miss Nelly Power" Her funeral attracted three to four thousand spectators at Abney Park Cemetery and a further great crowd at the start of the procession from her home.''The Era'', 29 January 1887 "Funeral of Miss Nelly Power"

Early life

Power was born on 10 April 1854 in St Pancras, the youngest daughter of Arthur Lingham and Agnes Lingham (née Power). Her father, a railway clerk, died less than a month before her birth. She had two older sisters who both died in childhood: Alice Sarah Adelaide (1850–1853) and Agnes (1852–1854). Power grew up with her mother, who reverted to the name Power, and a boarder, Thomas Sheppard James, who would become her mother's second husband in 1887.

Career

Power was a performer in

from the age of 8 when, as a pupil of Mrs J W Gordon, she appeared, singing two comic songs, at Gordon's Music Hall in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

.London Music Hall Database
/ref> She continued to sing and also performed impersonations and developed a comic style mimicking that of

George Leybourne George Leybourne (17 March 1842 – 15 September 1884) was a singer and '' Lion comique'' style entertainer in British music halls during the 19th century who, for much of his career, was known by the title of one of his songs, " Champagne Char ...

, which brought her fame by the age of 15.Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 24 January 1887 Death of Miss Nelly Power She made her first appearance on the legitimate London stage in 1868 in the

version of ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...

'' at the Surrey Theatre."Gleanings", ''Birmingham Daily Post'', 25 January 1887 She then moved to the

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...

performing as principal "boy" in a number of

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

plays by Robert Reece and Henry J. Byron: ''Don Carlos, Elizabeth Camaralzaman, The Orange Tree and the Bumble Bee, The Very Last Days of Pompeii'', and ''Romulus and Remus''. This was followed by a further spell in pantomime at the Surrey Theatre and the Drury Lane Theatre where, in 1881, she had the title role in the pantomime ''Sindbad the Sailor'', with

Vesta Tilley Matilda Alice Powles, Lady de Frece (13May 186416September 1952) was an English music hall performer. She adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley and became one of the best-known male impersonators of her era. Her career lasted from 1869 until 19 ...

as Captain Tralala.Pantomimes at Drury Lane
/ref> She achieved national fame in the music halls with an act in which she caricatured dandies with comic songs such as "La-di-la". She was the original singer of " The Boy I Love Is Up in the Gallery", which was written for her by songwriter/composer George Ware. Nelly Power Abney Park Cemetery 2020

Power died from

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (Pulmonary pleurae, pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant d ...

in 1887, aged 32, and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery in London. A commemorative

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

was erected in 2017 at her former home, 97 Southgate Road,

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, by the theatre charity The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America."Nelly Power is Commemorated"
The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America, accessed 14 August 2017

References

External links

FootlightNotes (includes picture and obituaries) {{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Nelly 1854 births 1887 deaths Burials at Abney Park Cemetery 19th-century English women singers British music hall performers Singers from London English vaudeville performers