Louisa Elizabeth Babb (1861–1901), known professionally as Minnie Byron, was an English mezzo-soprano and actress best known for her character performances of Opéra bouffe in the 1880s. However successful, Byron was not a career performer, using her brief public visibility to secure a more stable and prosperous future for herself and her children, an important footnote in social history or specifically, women's history.
Byron was born in Woolwich in 1861 to Louisa Frances (née Young) and Henry Babb, a shipwright from Devon.[1] It is unknown where or how she had acquired her education, vocal training or acting skills, but at the age of nineteen, Byron made her West End debut at the Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street) in the chorus of Les Mousquetaires in 1880.[2] For the next 5 months, she honed her skills playing minor opéra bouffe roles at The Globe opposite Henry Bracy with no billing, appearing in La Belle Normande in January 1881.[3]
Byron was encouraged to take on more prominent roles at the Globe as understudy to Alice May as Simone and Madame Amadé as Triste, which got her noticed.[4] Contemporary reviews reported that she looked good on stage and acquitted herself well in singing and acting.[5] Byron was quickly talent-spotted by Charles Wyndham and Richard D'Oyly Carte who selected her to tour with H.B. Farnie’s hit production of Olivette. She returned with the production to the Strand Theatre in August 1881, before starting rehearsals in a new English adaptation of Edmond Audran's opéra comique, La mascotte by Robert Reece and H. B. Farnie.
Byron premiered as the Princess Fiametta in La Mascotte at Brighton in September 1881, previewing the grand West End opening night on October 15th, which was also the opening of the new Comedy Theatre.[6] The production was a hit with audiences,[7] which she took on tour in 1882 with Miss Kate Santley's company.[8]
Byron left Santley's company in May 1882,[9] taking up a residency at the newly opened Royal Avenue Theatre playing Isabel in Les Manteaux Noirs opposite her old friend and mentor, Henry Bracy in a star-studded cast, which included Charles Groves, Florence St. John and Louie Henri.[10] The residency allowed her to explore other genres, playing musical comedietta, one-act musical sketches such as Simpson and Delilah, and Wedded Bliss.[11] [12] In 1883, Byron once again played Bathilde in a revival of Olivette, which didn't come easily initially with mixed reviews.[13] [14] [15] Her contract with the Avenue came to an abrupt end in May 1883, when it was announced "Miss Minnie Byron, of the Avenue, has married Mr. Ferguson from China, and now dwells at a fine old manor house in Sussex."[16]
Life in the "manor house" was short lived, as it emerged that Adolphus Ferguson was experiencing financial difficulties,[17] and in February 1884, he was declared bankrupt.[18] Byron remained with her husband through his difficulties, giving birth to their daughter Ruby in early 1884, and their son Alexander late in 1885. In October 1885, a few weeks after Alexander was born, Byron's agent declared her intention to return to the stage following a break of two and a half years.[19] Within a week she was performing in Glasgow, where she remained for the duration of the pantomime season.[20] Byron played the principal boy (Ganem) in The Forty Thieves and was soon scooping up bouquets of flowers, once again, thrown at her feet on stage.[21]
In January 1886, still in Glasgow, Byron performed duets with Emily Soldene,[22] but by April, she had returned to London preparing for a new opéra bouffe, creating the role of Jacquette in the Lily of Leoville opposite Henry Bracy and Violet Melnotte.[23] [24] The show, though a qualified success playing to full houses, was never planned to run for long, closing in June after 41 performances.[25] In the meantime, Byron had got back with her friends in London, while her husband left for Canada to seek his fortune, never to return.
At the end of the summer of 1886, Byron was offered the part of Zoe in Commodore and Sir Walter Raleigh in Kenilworth to tour in America alongside her friend Violet Cameron. The producer, Lonsdale, agreed but without explanation, changed his mind just before they were due to depart.[26] [27] Assured of work on tour in America,[28] Byron missed out on the summer season, appearing in a comedy London Assurance at Crystal Palace in the autumn until the pantomime season, where she appeared as the principal boy (Robin Hood) in Babes in the Wood in Liverpool.[29] [30] [31] The season ended in January 1887, when Byron began an affaire with a man the same age as her and who was rich.
1887 began with pantomime for Byron but ended in a new genre for her, headlining in Variety as a performer of Burlesque and as a serio-comic.[32] [33] 1887 also represented a deepening in her relationship with George Harold Winterbottom, an ambitious young businessman from Manchester who increasingly travelled to London from Manchester, building partnerships and expanding his growing business empire.[34] Byron and Winterbottom were living together at her flat in Kensington and had their first son, George, early in 1889.[35] By the end of the year, she was able to return to the stage with her old company at The Avenue, playing the part of Earl Darnley in Robert Brough's revival of the burlesque The Field of the Cloth of Gold, which ran until February 1890.[36] [37]
Byron had her second son with Winterbottom, Oscar, early in 1891.[38] They got married as soon as Byron's divorce came through, having a third son, Dudley, in 1892.[39] Byron and Winterbottom enjoyed the next ten years together travelling on extended holidays to Europe and especially to the US, where she was presented as "Minnie Byron, the clever and talented English actress, of charming features, handsome figure, winning ways and a host of admirers".[40] [41] [42] [43] In reality, Byron's professional days in the theatre had ceased a few years earlier in 1890 concluding a decade on stage, although she did make rare recital or guest appearances as Mrs Harold Winterbottom.[44] [45] By 1898, the couple had found their future home, Horton Hall, which Winterbottom purchased and together, set about adding a new wing,[46] and completely re-furbished the interior.[47] Minnie gave birth to a daughter, Betty, in London on March 18, 1901, but died of puerperal fever 10 days later.[48] [49]
Byron's stage career was much briefer (a decade) than many of her contemporaries like Violet Cameron who were career performers. She used her profession to win respectability (and prosperity) through marriage and like so many women in the 19th century, she died as a consequence of giving birth.
| Show | Part | Venue | Date | Perfor-mances | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Les mousquetaires | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Chorus (u/s Simone) | style='background: #f0fff0;' | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 30 Oct 1880 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 56 | |
| La Belle Normande | Chorus (u/s Triste) | Globe Theatre (Newcastle St.) | 21 Jan 1881 | 42 | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Olivette | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Bathilde | style='background: #f0fff0;' | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 08 Mar 1881 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 63 | |
| Olivette | Bathilde | 31 Aug 1881 | 4 | ||||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | La mascotte | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Fiametta | style='background: #f0fff0;' | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 20 Sep 1881 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 42 | |
| La mascotte | Fiametta | On tour | 30 Jan 1882 | ?? | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Les Manteaux Noirs | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Isabelle | style='background: #f0fff0;' | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 03 Jun 1882 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 43 | |
| Simpson and Delilah | Delilah | Avenue Theatre | 03 Jun 1882 | 40+ | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Wedded Bliss | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Louise | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Avenue Theatre | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 06 Oct 1882 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 43 |
| Les Manteaux Noirs | Isabelle | Avenue Theatre | 25 Nov 1882 | 29 | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Olivette | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Bathilde | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Avenue Theatre | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 13 Jan 1883 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 62 |
| Serio-comic | Alexandra Theatre, Hanley | 08 Sep 1883 | 4+ | ||||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | The Forty Thieves | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Ganem (principal boy) | style='background: #f0fff0;' | The Grand Theatre, Glasgow | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 12 Dec 1885 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 62 |
| Duet from Geneviève de Brabant | Genevieve | Theatre-Royal, Glasgow | 14 Jan 1886 | 1+? | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Lily of Léoville | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Jacquette | style='background: #f0fff0;' | The Comedy Theater | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 10 May 1886 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 63 |
| The Commodore | Zoe | Theatre Royal, Nottingham | 28 Aug 1886 | 1 | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | London Assurance | style='background: #f0fff0;' | style='background: #f0fff0;' | The Crystal Palace | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 02 Oct 1886 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | ?? | |
| Babes in the Wood | Robin Hood (principal boy) | Prince of Wales, Liverpool | 12 Oct 1886 | 76 | |||||
| style='background: #f0fff0;' | Field of the Cloth of Gold | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Darnley | style='background: #f0fff0;' | Avenue Theatre | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 01 Dec 1889 | style='background: #f0fff0;' | 42 |
The stage gave Byron the visibility to be remembered despite the brevity of her life, providing a testimonial to social history. One of her grand children, Gerald Case, did follow her in becoming an actor. Byron is buried alongside her second husband at Horton, Northamptonshire.[50]