{{Short description|American-British music hall performer, boxing promoter and actress (1888–1967)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Bella Burge | image = Bella Burge 1910.jpg | image_size = | caption = Burge in 1910 | birth_name = Leah Belle Orchard | birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|09|29|df=yes}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1962|09|03|1877|09|29|df=yes}} | death_place = Blackfriars, London, UK | resting_place = Golders Green Crematorium | occupation = {{hlist|Actress|music hall performer|boxing promoter}} | years_active = 1888–1961 | spouse = {{marriage|Richard 'Dick' Burge |1901}} | children = }}
'''Bella Burge''' (born '''Leah Belle Orchard'''; 29 September 1877 – 3 September 1962) was an American-born British music hall performer and actress and friend and colleague of Marie Lloyd and her sisters. Later in life she was the world's first female boxing promoter<ref name=NPG/> when she rang The Ring in London's Southwark. During this period she became known as "Bella of Blackfriars".
==Early life== She was born as '''Leah Belle Orchard''' to British parents in New York in 1877. After the death of her solicitor-father in 1882 when she was 4 years old she and her mother returned to Whitechapel in London's East End where she became known as "Bella" by her schoolfriends.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
==Stage career and the Lloyds== [[File:Bella Burge NPG 1910.jpg|thumb|right|Marie Lloyd, Bella Burge and Marie Lloyd Jr.]] At an early age she determined on a career in the music halls and made her first known appearance in 1888 aged 11 at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel. Here she came to the notice of the Lloyd Sisters - Gracie and Alice - and in 1890 rented a room in the home of Marie Lloyd, at the same time acting as her theatrical dresser, touring the music halls with her. Lloyd's husband Percy Courtenay became jealous of his wife's close relationship with her young protégée, a contributing factor along with various others to the eventual breakdown of their marriage. Later, calling herself Bella Lloyd, Burge joined Marie Lloyd's sister Rosie in the act the Sisters Lloyd, while at the same time continuing to act as Marie's dresser, who was at the top of the same bill on which the Sisters Lloyd appeared. In 1889 Burge was on the same bill as Lloyd's other sisters Alice and Grace, who were starring in a Christmas pantomime at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel. In 1907 Burge was a witness at the marriage of Marie Lloyd and Percy Courtenay's daughter Marie Courtenay (Marie Lloyd Jr.). Marie Lloyd and Burge remained close until Lloyd's death in 1922.<ref name=NPG>[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp143064/bella-burge-bella-lloyd-bella-of-blackfriars-nee-leah-belle-orchard Bella Burge (Bella Lloyd) (Bella of Blackfriars) (née Leah Belle Orchard) (1877-1962), Music Hall entertainer, dresser to Marie Lloyd and boxing promoter at The Ring], National Portrait Gallery, London Collection</ref>{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
==Marriage== In June 1901 at the age of 24 she met Richard "Dick" Burge (1865—1918), a former professional boxer and English Lightweight Champion between 1891 and 1897 who had fought unsuccessfully for the World Lightweight Title in 1896 and who had also boxed for the English Middleweight and Heavyweight Crowns.<ref name=Ring/> He had retired from the ring in 1900, and after a whirlwind romance the two married in September 1901 at Brixton Register Office.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8913/images/ONS_M19014AZ-1318?pId=21402758 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 for Leah Belle Orchard, 1901, Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec: Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> Dick Burge quickly found himself in financial difficulties and to remedy this he made the mistake of joining the Liverpool Bank Fraud, a scheme which involved using the cash obtained from forged cheques to make high-stake bets at racecourses.<ref name=Cab>[https://blackcablondon.net/tag/bella-burge/ From Prayer to Palestra: The Ring at Blackfriars], Black Cab London History Page</ref><ref>[https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/liverpool-bank-worker-thomas-goudies-3357892 Liverpool bank worker, Thomas Goudie’s arrest made history], ''Liverpool Echo'' 17 December 2011</ref> The fraudulent scheme was quickly uncovered by the authorities, and having only been married for three weeks Dick Burge was arrested in October 1901 for his part in the fraud and received a sentence of 10 years with hard labour. Bella Burge returned to her former career in the music halls, appearing as Ella Lane, performing and saving as much of her salary as she could until her husband was released from prison in 1909.<ref name=NPG/>{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
==Boxing promoter== thumb|right|The Ring - the boxing venue opened by Dick and Bella Burge in 1910; it was destroyed by a German bomb in 1940 In May 1910 the two opened The Ring on Blackfriars Road in Southwark,<ref name=Cab/> the first boxing venue to charge prices within the pocket of the working classes. The Ring was in the by then derelict Surrey Chapel, a former chapel built in 1783 to a circular design by the Reverend Rowland Hill, who it is said chose the unusual design so that there would be no corners for the devil to hide in.<ref name=Ring>[https://www.theringboxingclub.com/history-2/ History of The Ring, Suthwark], The Ring Boxing Club website</ref> Nevertheless, the building's circular design made it ideal for a boxing venue.<ref name=Cab/> For 30 years some of the biggest names in boxing from around the world competed here. In 1912 these included the Americans Frank Moran and "Battling" Jim Johnson, both of whom boxed Jack Johnson in World Heavyweight Title fights.<ref name=Ring/> In 1914 Bella Burge became the first woman to break the taboo of women attending boxing matches and soon her friend Marie Lloyd and other actresses became regular attendees at bouts.<ref name="Another Nickel">{{cite web|title=Blackfriars Road, The Ring and the death of Al Bowlly|url=http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/06/blackfriars-road-the-ring-and-the-death-of-al-bowlly/|website=Another Nickel in the Machine|access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref>
In 1915 during World War I Dick Burge enlisted in the 1st Surrey Rifles, leaving Bella to manage their boxing business alone. He died of pneumonia in the Spanish flu epidemic on 15 March 1918,<ref name=Morton>Morton, James. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KLl9IMJk7wUC&pg=PT257 ''East End Gangland''], Hachette Digital (2009)</ref> and after his death Bella continued to manage The Ring, maintaining its reputation as London’s leading fight venue for twenty years after her husband's death. At first she worked with Ted Pritchard, her late husband’s business partner, and after his death in 1925 she appointed Dan Sullivan as general manager, a boxing promoter with links to the London-based mobster Charles Sabini. In 1928 the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VIII, requested for a boxing contest to be arranged at The Ring between Jack Hood and Len Johnson. The Prince was very interested in boxing and had a desire to visit The Ring, so the bout was specially arranged for his visit.<ref name=Ring/> Her association with Sullivan caused her great financial difficulties and brought her to the brink of bankruptcy, and after his departure she worked with Victor Berliner during the 1930s. From 1932, no longer being able to compete with the boxing promotions of Jack Solomons, Burge changed the use of The Ring into a venue for wrestling<ref>[https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/bella-burge Bella Burge], London Remembers website</ref> and live theatre.<ref name=Morton/>
==Later years== [[File:Bella Burge 1958.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Burge as the subject of ''This Is Your Life'' (1958)]] Bella Burge continued to run and manage the Ring until it was destroyed in October 1940 during the Blitz. She is believed to be the world's first female boxing promoter. As such, in 1958 Bella Burge was the subject of an episode of ''This Is Your Life'', a series hosted by Eamonn Andrews. Among the studio guests was Marie Lloyd Jr.<ref name=NPG/>{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
Her biography, ''Bella of Blackfriars'' by Leslie Bell, was published by Odhams Press, London in 1961.<ref>[http://www.womenboxing.com/bookboxing.htm ''Bella of Blackfriar'' (1961)] Women Boxing Archive Network (WBAN)</ref>
Bella Burge died in Blackfriars in London in 1962 aged 84.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7579/images/ons_d19623az-0118?pId=35790891 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 for Bella L Burge, 1962, Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep: Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium where her ashes are held in a marble urn with those of her husband.
A play based on her life, ''Bella – Queen of the Blackfriars Ring'', was performed at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool in 2014.<ref>[http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2014/02/06/bella-queen-of-the-blackfriars-ring-theatre-review-unity-theatre-liverpool/ Review of ''Bella – Queen of the Blackfriars Ring''], Liverpool: Sound and Vision website</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{IMDb name|8577448}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burge, Bella}} Category:1877 births Category:1962 deaths Category:Actresses from London Category:British boxing promoters Category:English women comedians Category:20th-century English women singers Category:Entertainers from London Category:People cremated at Golders Green Crematorium Category:American music hall performers Category:British music hall performers Category:20th-century people from New York (state) Category:People from Whitechapel Category:American vaudeville performers Category:English vaudeville performers Category:19th-century English actresses Category:Actors from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets