{{Short description|British actress (1892–1982)}} {{Use British English|date=February 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox artist | name = Daisy Burrell | image = Daisy Burrell, Picture Show, 15 November 1919.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Daisy Burrell in 1919 | birth_name = Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Ratton | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|6|16|df=yes}} | birth_place = Wandsworth, County of London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1982|6|10|1892|6|16|df=yes}} | death_place = Chelsea, London, England | education = Guildhall School of Music }}
'''Daisy Burrell''' (born '''Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Ratton'''; 16 June 1892 – 10 June 1982) was a British stage actress and Edwardian musical comedy performer who also appeared as a leading lady in silent films and in pantomime.
In 1951 she appeared in ''The Golden Year'', the first musical comedy produced for television.
==Background== Daisy Ratton was born in Wandsworth in 1892,<ref>"Ratton, Daisy Isabel E" in ''Register of Births for the Wandsworth Registration District'', vol. 1d (July–September 1892), p. 690.</ref> although according to ''Who Was Who in the Theatre 1912–1976'' she was born in Singapore in 1893.<ref name=was>''Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912–1976'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=VYcYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22burrell,+daisy%22 vol. 1, p. 339]</ref><ref name="straits" /> <!-- No source was given for “A brother, Dudley Charles Ratton...”, and no such brother appears in an English census. -->
She had a complicated family history, marred by early deaths. Her grandfather, Charles George Ratton, was a stockbroker from an Anglo-Portuguese Roman Catholic family. In 1867 he married Isabella Iphigenia de Pavia,<ref>''Register of Marriages for Islington Registration District'', vol. 1b (1867), p. 504</ref> and they lived at Stoke Newington, but he died in 1873, aged 35, leaving a young son and daughter.<ref>"RATTON Charles George late of 24 Clissold-road Stoke Newington", in Probate Index for 1873.</ref> His widow, Daisy's grandmother, married Hassan Fareed the next year <ref>"FARREED, Hassan, & RATTON, Isabella Iphigenia", in ''Register of Marriages for Hackney Registration District'', vol. 1b (1874), p. 699</ref> and died in 1890, aged 42.<ref>"Farreed Isabella" in ''Register of Deaths for Portsea Registration District'', vol. 2b (1890), p. 262</ref> In 1891, Daisy's father, Charles Morris Ratton, married Ethel Eaglesfield Griffith, the daughter of another stockbroker,<ref>"Ratton Charles Morris & Griffith Ethel Eaglesfield" in ''Register of Marriages for Croydon Registration District'', vol. 2a (1891), p. 521</ref> but by the end of 1892 he disappears from the records.<!-- No source was given for “... he died in Singapore at the age of 24”.--> Her grandfather, E. J. Griffith, died in 1895 as a hospital clerk at Guy’s Hospital, leaving a modest £365.<ref>”GRIFFITH Edward John” in Probate Registry Index for 1895</ref> His widow, Matilda Catherine Lovibond Griffith, the youngest child of Dr Edward Long MRCS, died in October 1898 at Lavender Hill.<ref>[http://www.fadedgenes.co.uk/FrederickGeorgeCleeveLONG.html Frederick George Cleeve LONG 1897 - 1920] at fadedgenes.co.uk, accessed 7 April 2020</ref>
Daisy Burrell’s mother, Ethel Ratton, was by 1898 the partner of Henry S. Burrell, licensee of the Clarence Hotel, Stoke Newington.<ref>[http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/StokeNewington/ClarenceTavern.shtml Clarence Tavern] at pubshistory.com, accessed 25 July 2016</ref> Their son, John Griffith Burrell, was born in March 1899,<ref>”John Griffith S. Burrell” in ''Births for Wandsworth'', vol. 1d (1899), p. 792: on 31 March 1899</ref> and christened in August 1907;<ref>“Aug 21 1907 no. 1880 John Griffith [son of] Henry & Ethel Burrell” in Register of Baptisms solemnized in the parish of Stoke Newington, p. 235</ref> their daughter Edwina Ethel was born in September 1908.<ref>"Burrell, Edwina Ethel", in ''Index to Births for Hackney'', vol. 1b (1908), p. 348: the birth was on 21 September 1908</ref> In 1900, H. S. Burrell had the Old Star in Wapping.<ref>''Post Office London Street Directory 1900'', [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61265/47056_302022005560_1229-00327 Commercial Directory p. 964] at ancestry.co.uk {{subscription required}}</ref> He also had a career as a singer, using the stage name of Harry Saunders, and at the time of the 1901 census the Burrell family was in Willesden, using the name Saunders, apart from Daisy, whose name was given as Ratton.<ref>1901 United Kingdom census return for 118, Craven Park Road, Willesden, at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 16 April 2020 {{subscription required}}</ref> In 1911, the family was in Stoke Newington, and was again called Burrell.<ref>Henry S. Burrell, 1911 United Kingdom census return for 84, Church Street, Stoke Newington, at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 7 April 2020 {{subscription required}}</ref> Later it lived mostly in Kent, at Hythe and Folkestone.<ref name="herald" /> H. S. Burrell was licensee of the Swan Hotel, Hythe, during the First World War.<ref>''Kelly's Directory for Kent'' (1913 & 1918)</ref> In 1939, Henry and Ethel Burrell were living at 77, Castle Road, Hythe, with their daughter Edwina.<ref>Register for Hythe made for National Registration Act 1939: “Henry S. Burrell, b. 15 April 1863, Ethel E. Burrell, b. 5 March 1870, Edwina E. Slade, b. 21 September 1908”</ref> Ethel Burrell died in 1944,<ref>“Burrell Ethel E, 73 6a 731” in Index of Deaths for Weobley (1944)</ref> and Henry Burrell in 1955, leaving an estate valued at £5,166.<ref>[https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Burrell&yearOfDeath=1955&page=2#calendar “BURRELL Henry Saunders of 4 Earlsfield-rd Hythe Kent”] in Probate Index for England and Wales, 1995, accessed 7 April 2020</ref>
Charles M. Ratton had a sister, Laura Theresa Ratton, Daisy Burrell’s aunt, who lived in Worthing and died unmarried in 1944.<ref>”RATTON Laura Theresa of 11 Wenban-road Worthing spinster died 8 April 1944 Probate Llandudno 20 June to Claude Christina Digby spinster and Leonard Cyril Bunce estate agent. Effects £2919 11s 8d.” in ''Wills and Administrations 1944'', p. 580</ref>
==Early career== <div style="float:right;clear:right">[[File:Daisy Burrell and William Spray in Gipsy Love, 1913.png|thumb|left|220px|Daisy Burrell with William Spray in<br>Franz Lehár's ''Gipsy Love'' (1913)]]</div> Taking her step-father's surname, at least as a performer, Burrell first appeared on stage at the London Hippodrome in July 1903, playing the part of Kitty in ''The Redskins'', a water spectacular by Alicia Ramsey.<ref name=was/><ref name=pope>Walter James MacQueen-Pope, ''The melodies linger on: the story of music hall'' (1950): "''The Bandits'' was followed by ''The Redskins'' in which Indians in canoes shot rapids seventy feet high, or deep"; 'London Hippodrome', in ''Marquee'', vols. 25–26 (Theatre Historical Society, 1993): "water spectacles which made history at the Hippodrome were "Siberia," "The Bandits," "Tally Ho," "The Redskins" (in which a one-legged diver plunged into the seething waters below from a height of 30 feet)"</ref> She went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music,<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/909571 "The Guildhall School of Music"], ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 58, No. 890 (April 1917), p. 177<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --> {{subscription required}}</ref> and in 1909 played the part of Youth in ''Give Heed'', a modern morality play by Blanche G. Vulliamy, performed by students of the Guildhall School at the Court Theatre.<ref name=Era1910>''The Era Almanack'' (1910), p. 163</ref><ref>''The Playgoer and Society illustrated'' (1909)</ref>
On leaving, Burrell went into pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and in 1910 ''The Illustrated London News'' noted her appearing as Cinderella at the new Palladium.<ref>“Cinderella at the Palladium”, ''Illustrated London News'', Volume 58 (1910), p. 2</ref> She first came to wide attention the same year, appearing at the Vaudeville Theatre in ''The Girl in the Train''. After closing in London this production, starring Burrell in the title role, went on tour until 1911,<ref name=swansea>[http://www.swanseasgrand.co.uk/Swansea%20Grand%20Theatre%20Archive%201911%20-%201925.html Swansea Grand Theatre Archive 1911–1925] at swanseasgrand.co.uk, accessed 22 January 2012</ref> with the ''Gloucestershire Echo'' reporting that "Miss Daisy Burrell acts and sings delightfully Gonda Van der Loo".<ref name=echo>"The Girl in the Train" in ''Gloucestershire Echo'' (Gloucestershire, England) dated 27 October 1911</ref>
After that, Burrell was with George Edwardes's touring company for six years, appearing in the hit Edwardian musical comedies ''The Marriage Market'', ''Peggy'', ''The Sunshine Girl'' and others.<ref name=was/><ref>''Who's Who in the Theatre'' (Pitman, 1930), p. 135</ref> In ''The Marriage Market'', she played a midshipman.<ref name=rodway>Phyllis Ismay Inshaw Rodway, Lois Harford Slingsby, ''Philip Rodway and a tale of two theatres'' (1934), p. 239: "The Cinderella of the season, Daisy Burrell, had been hitherto unassociated with such a part, as her latest appearance in Birmingham had been that of a midshipman in ''The Marriage Market''."</ref> In 1912, she sang the part of Juliette in a production of Franz Lehár's operetta ''The Count of Luxembourg'',<ref name=pope2>W. J. MacQueen-Pope, ''Shirtfronts and sables: a story of the days when money could be spent'' (Hale, 1953), p. 59</ref><ref name=sta>[http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/STA/search/resultspe.cfm?NID=17287&EID=22434 Daisy Burrell] at Scottish Theatre Archive, accessed 16 January 2012</ref> as one of the five principals, together with Phyllis Le Grand, Eric Thorne, Lauri de Frece, and Robert Michaelis, who were collectively described by the ''Musical News'' as "all consummate artists in their own style".<ref>''Musical News and Herald'', vol. 42 (1912), p. 194</ref> The next year she appeared in his ''Gipsy Love''.<ref>Rodway & Slingsby (1934), p. 177: "In these months were also comprised the first visit of ''Gipsy Love'' (with Blanche Tomlin, Leonard Mackay, Daisy Burrell, Ian Colquhoun, and Billy Spray)."</ref> The manager of the ''Count of Luxembourg'' production of 1912 was J. Garret Todd, who went on to become manager of Daly's Theatre.<ref name=pope2/>
Burrell played a boy, David Playne, in the original cast of Lonsdale, Unger, and Rubens's new musical ''Betty'',<ref>W. J. MacQueen-Pope, ''Nights of Gladness'' (1956), p. 192</ref> which opened at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester on Christmas Eve, 1914, and transferred to Daly's Theatre in the West End on 24 April 1915.<ref>Colin Johnson, [http://www.gsarchive.net/british/betty/index.html Betty Original Cast], Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 2005, accessed 31 March 2018</ref> Interviewed in the ''Daily Sketch'' dated 11 May 1915, Burrell said this was the first time she had originated a part in London, and while she loved playing at Daly's, she was "tremendously envious of skirts and pretty clothes".<ref>Mrs. Gossip, ''What Women Are Doing: Behind the Scenes With "Betty"'', ''The Daily Sketch'' dated 11 May 1915, [http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/44346/028_DailySketch1915_1925.pdf?sequence=1 p. 14], digitized by University of Pretoria, 2015.</ref> In reviewing the play, ''The Tatler'' hailed Burrell as “a Great Girl-Boy”.<ref>Ben Macpherson, ''Cultural Identity in British Musical Theatre, 1890–1939: Knowing One’s Place'' (Springer, 2018), p. 98</ref> A year later, Burrell was interviewed for ''The Era'' and was asked “And those boys’ parts you have made so famous?” She replied “Merci, Monsieur. I am now coming to that.“<ref>“Miss Daisy Burrell” in The Era (London) dated 2 February 1916, p. 7</ref>
Also in 1915, Burrell played the title role of Cinderella in the pantomime, with the ''Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'' commenting that “the Cinderella of Miss Daisy Burrell contributes very much, for she is a sweet and attractive little heroine... As a spectacle, her adventures are all prettiness and daintiness.”<ref>''Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'', Volume 84, Part 2 (George S. Maddick, 1915), p. 525</ref>
==Marriages== In October 1912, under her name at birth of Daisy Ratton, Burrell married T. W. G. Carleton (1887–1957), of Stoke Newington,<ref>"Ratton, Daisy I E & Carleton, Thomas W G" in ''Register of Marriages for Hackney Registration District'', vol. 1b (1912), p. 1,144</ref> who was then a commercial traveller.<ref>[http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~haslatter/genealogy/history/bowdens/bk/f179.htm Bowdens F179] at ancestry.com, accessed 22 July 2016</ref> During the First World War, he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Artillery, serving with it until April 1920.<ref>The London Gazette, Supplement dated 18 January 1921, [https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/32197/supplement/539/data.pdf p. 539]</ref> In 1919, Burrell filed a petition for the restitution of conjugal rights,<ref>Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, File 5666. Appellant: Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Carleton. Respondent: Thomas William G Carleton. Type: Wife's petition for restitution of conjugal rights; Reference: J 77/1479/5666</ref> and in 1920 she petitioned for a divorce.<ref>Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, File 1396. Appellant: Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Carleton. Respondent: Thomas George William Carleton. Type: Wife's petition for divorce; Reference J 77/1653/1396</ref> By 1924 they were divorced, and in the spring of that year at Holborn Carleton married secondly Dorothy Knight, otherwise Hunt.<ref>"CARLETON, Thomas William George, and KNIGHT otherwise HUNT, Dorothy" in ''Register of Marriages for St. Giles in the Filelds & St. George Bloomsbury Registration District'', vol. 1b (1924), p. 1,092</ref>
In Westminster on 1 November 1924, as Daisy Carleton, Burrell married Herbert William Young, of Liverpool.<ref name=herald>''Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald'' dated Saturday 8 November 1924: “MARRIAGES ... YOUNG—CARLETON— On Nov. Ist, 1924, in London, Herbert William Young, of Liverpool, to Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Carleton (Daisy Burrell), eldest daughter of Mrs. H. S. Burrell, of 9, Langhorne Gdns, Folkestone.”</ref><ref>"Young, Herbert W., and Carleton, Daisy I. E." in ''Register of Marriages for St Martin's Registration District'', vol. 1a (Dec 1924), p. 1,236</ref> Young was a Liverpool cotton merchant who retired to live in France.<ref name=willproblem>“Home-Made Will Problem of City Merchant's Estate” in ''Liverpool Echo'' (Lancashire, England), Thursday 6 July 1961, p. 18</ref> He died in 1943, aged 81.<ref>"Young Herbert W., 81" in ''Index to Register of Deaths for Westminster Registration District'', Dec 1943</ref> At the time of his death, he was of Flat 6, 14 Pall Mall, St James's, and left an estate valued at £43,838, {{Inflation|UK|43838|1943|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}.<ref>Probate index for 1944 at probatesearch.gov.uk, accessed 31 March 2018: "YOUNG Herbert William of Flat 6 14 Pall Mall London died 20 December 1943"</ref> In his will, Young appointed his three sisters as executors and left his widow Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Young the principal of a £9,900 marriage settlement, plus one quarter of the income from a fund of £43,000. That fund was also to go to his widow if his sisters died before her. There was a dispute over the will, and in the High Court in July 1961 Mr Justice Russell was "asked to construe the home-made will of a retired Liverpool cotton-merchant".<ref name=willproblem/>
Burrell's first husband, Carleton, died at King's College Hospital in June 1957, also leaving a substantial estate for that time, £16,162.<ref>Probate index for 1957 at probatesearch.gov.uk, accessed 12 March 2019: "CARLETON Thomas William George of 4 Claremont-court Queensway London W. 2 died 8 June 1957 at Kings College Hospital Denmark-hill London... Effects £16,162 16s 6d." ({{Inflation|UK|16162|1957|fmt=eq|cursign=£}})</ref>
==Films and later career== <div style="float:right;clear:right">[[File:Daisy Burrell, 1919.png|thumb|Burrell in 1919, from the cover of<br>''Pictures and Picturegoer'' ]]</div> Burrell's start in films came from G. B. Samuelson, and she appeared in several of his early silent movies. The first of these was ''The Valley of Fear'' (1916), an early Sherlock Holmes film, in which she was the leading lady.<ref>R. Haydock, ''Deerstalker!: Holmes and Watson on screen'' (1978), p. 38</ref> She was offered the part after Samuelson saw her playing ''Cinderella'' at the London Palladium,<ref name=straits>''The Straits Times'', 2 November 1920, p. 8</ref> in a production by his brother Julian Wylie, who was also Burrell’s agent. Wylie boasted in ''The Stage Year Book'': "During 1916 I made Contracts for the following Artistes: Bairnsfather's "Fragments from France", Daisy Burrell, Gladys Cooper, Phyllis Dare, ... Mabel Love ... Vesta Tilley, Madge Titheradge &c. &c."<ref>''The Stage Year Book'' (1917), p. xv</ref> Several other film roles followed. In her second film, ''Just a Girl'' (1916), Burrell played the Australian heiress Esmeralda, who spurns an English lord (played by Owen Nares) to marry a miner.<ref name=RBC132>Connelly (1988), p. 132: "''Just a Girl''** (1916, Brit.) 7 reels Samuelson/Moss bw Owen Nares (Lord Trafford), Daisy Burrell (Esmeralda), J. Hastings Batson (The Duke), Minna Grey (The Duchess), Paul England (The Miner). In another of those British social-class soap operas, an Australian heiress rejects an impoverished lord to marry the miner she really loves. d, Alexander Butler; w, Harry Engholm (based on the novel by Charles Garvice)."</ref>
In ''Little Women'' (1917), directed by Alexander Butler, Burrell played Amy, the youngest of the four girls.<ref>Connie J. Billips, Arthur Pierce, ''Lux Presents Hollywood: A Show-by-show History of the Lux Radio Theatre and the Lux Video Theatre, 1934-1957'' (McFarland & Company, 1995), p. 88</ref> In 1919, she had leading roles in ''The Bridal Chair'',<ref name=RBC>Robert B. Connelly, ''The silents: silent feature films, 1910–36'', vol. 40 (December Press, 1998), p. 35</ref> ''Convict 99'',<ref name="Connelly 1998, p. 334">Connelly (1998), p. 334</ref> and ''The Artistic Temperament'', and in May 1919 she was the cover girl for an issue of the magazine ''Pictures and Picturegoer''.<ref>''Pictures and Picturegoer'' magazine, 10–17 May 1919 (cover, illustrated)</ref> In April 1920, a theatrical gossip column in New Zealand described Burrell as "Miss Daisy Burrell, the well-known musical comedy star",<ref>Fra Diavolo, 'Theatre Gossip' in ''Marlborough Express'' (New Zealand), 3 April 1920, [http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=MEX19200403.2.46&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0-- p. 6]</ref> while later the same year ''The Straits Times'' of Singapore called her "Daisy Burrell, the golden-haired film star".<ref name=straits/> In ''The Last Rose of Summer'' (1920), "a melodramatic tale of a spinster betrayed for the sake of a valuable tea set", she again had a leading role.<ref>Kenton Bamford, ''Distorted images: British national identity and film in the 1920s'' (1999), p. 8</ref> In December 1920 she received good reviews for her part in ''The Pride of the Fancy'', a silent film about a champion boxer who woos her successfully,<ref>"The Film World", ''The Times'', issue 42598, 20 December 1920, p. 8, col. C; "Films of the Week", ''The Times'', issue 42968, 1 March 1922, p. 8, col. C</ref> although ''Variety'' commented that "Daisy Burrell is a charming Kitty, although she is rather inclined to overact."<ref>''Variety Film Reviews 1921-1925'' (1983), p. 32</ref>
During her years on the silver screen, Burrell continued to appear on stage. On 23 November 1916 she took part in the first-ever performance at the new St Martin's Theatre, the first night of Fred Thompson's extravaganza ''Houp La!'', playing Aggie,<ref name="Wearing542">J. P. Wearing, ''The London stage, 1910–1919: a calendar of plays and players'', vol. 1 (Scarecrow Press, 1982), p. 542; Lionel Carson, ''The Stage Year Book'' (Stage Offices, 1917), p. 125</ref> and this production ran until late February 1917.<ref name=theatres>"Theatres" in ''The Times'' dated 24 February 1917, p. 8</ref> In April 1917 she opened in a revue called ''£150'' at the Ambassadors Theatre.<ref name=newrevues>"Theatrical Plans: Last Performances and New Revues", ''The Times'', issue 41453 dated 16 April 1917, p. 11, col. E</ref> In September 1918 she took the leading role of Desirée in Emmerich Kálmán's operetta ''Soldier Boy'' at the Apollo Theatre, succeeding Vera Wilkinson.<ref name=everyweek>Caption to quarter-page photograph in ''Everyweek'' magazine dated 12 September 1918: "Miss Daisy Burrell, who is appearing in "Soldier Boy" at the Apollo"</ref><ref name=witness>''Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'', vol. 89 (1918), p. 725: "...the next witness, who was MISS DAISY BURRELL, who is now appearing as Desirée, in succession to Miss Vera Wilkinson, in “Soldier Boy” at the Apollo Theatre..."</ref> In July and August 1919 she played Mollie Maybud in ''Nobody's Boy'' at the Garrick Theatre.<ref name=oldmogul>"The 'Old Mogul' in New Guise Mr. Huntley Wright's Return"' ''The Times'', issue 42088 dated 1 May 1919, p. 15, col. D; ''The Times'', issue 42147, 9 July 1919, p. 12, col. F</ref><ref name=wearing/>
In November 1919, Burrell wrote an article for the weekly ''The Picture Show'', in which she gave "a few hints for cinema stars". She advised that to work in films, an actor should be able to ride a horse, swim, shoot, fake a drowning, and play billiards, cards, and the piano. She noted her own aim that "In every film, I should finish as a bride" and warned that:<ref name=TPS>"Daisy Burrell: Heroine of Filmland Gives a Few Hints to Would-be Cinema Stars", ''The Picture Show'', Vol. 2, no. 29, Monday 15 November 1919</ref> {{Blockquote|"The most trying moment in your cinema experience is the day on which you first see the film with yourself in it. You think you ought to have done everything so much better..."<ref name=TPS/>}}
In 1920 Burrell returned to pantomime in the title role of Julian Wylie and James W. Tate's ''Cinderella'' at the Empire Theatre, Sheffield, continued in 1921 at the Empire, Cardiff, with Stanley Lupino.<ref name=wylietate>[http://www.its-behind-you.com/wylietate.html "The Impresarios: Wylie-Tate"] at Its-behind-you.com, accessed 15 January 2012</ref> From December 1922 to March 1923 she appeared again as Cinderella for Wylie & Tate at the London Hippodrome, opposite Clarice Mayne as Prince Charming and Lupino as Buttons, this production running to 176 performances.<ref name=cin8>'Cinderella. Hippodrome Theatre, London', in [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cinder/cin8.htm cin8] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226084623/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cinder/cin8.htm |date=26 February 2011 }} at lib.rochester.edu, accessed 16 January 2012: "Opened 21 December 1922 to March 1923. 176 performances... Cast: Daisy Burrell (Cinderella)..."</ref> ''The Times'' said of Burrell's Cinderella "She sings, dances and acts with equal ease."<ref name=slipper>'Cinderella's Slipper. New Pantomime Incident at the Hippodrome' in ''The Times'', issue 43221, dated 22 December 1922, p. 8, col. A</ref> <div style="float:right;clear:right"> thumb|Burrell, about 1920</div> In October 1920 the ''Leeds Mercury'' reported that "Miss Daisy Burrell... is said to possess the tiniest feet in film-land",<ref>"Daisy Burrell's Feet" in ''Leeds Mercury'' dated 22 October 1920</ref> and in 1922 came to a report that a London theatre was offering a prize for “the lady who can wear the Cinderella slipper of Miss Daisy Burrell”.<ref>“Prize being offered at a London theatre” in ''Birmingham Daily Gazette'' (Warwickshire) dated 31 October 1922, p. 3</ref> In May 1924 Burrell entered a competition promoted by the sculptor and Royal Academician F. W. Pomeroy (1856–1924), who had offered a prize "for the most perfect pair of feet". She tied with the dancer Margery Prince for the first prize of £50, and ''The Miami News'' reported that Burrell had been chosen eight times to play Cinderella on account of the daintiness of her feet.<ref>''The Miami News'' dated 29 May 1924, [https://archive.today/20120713231351/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19240529&id=8G0uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h9gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2578,5325222 p. 9, col. 2]</ref> Pomeroy died on 26 May.<ref>'POMEROY, F. W., RA 1917 (ARA 1906)' in ''Who Was Who 1916–1928'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1992 reprint; {{ISBN|0-7136-3143-0}}): "died 26 May 1924"</ref>
In July 1924 Burrell joined a touring company for George M. Cohan's musical ''Little Nellie Kelly'',<ref name=was/> playing the lead part of Nellie. In late August, she was taken ill and Patrina Carlyon stepped into the role.<ref>"LOCAL AMUSEMENTS" in ''Nottingham Evening Post'' dated Tuesday 26 August 1924: “Miss Patrina Carlyon plays Nellie attractively in the absence through indisposition of Miss Daisy Burrell... ”</ref> By this point in her stage career she was represented by the Akerman May Agency, of 16 Green Street, London WC2.<ref name=was/> ''Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912–1976'' records no performances for Burrell after 1924,<ref name=was/> which was the year of her second marriage, but until February 1925 ''The Stage'' continued to carry a notice that she was disengaged.<ref>''The Stage'' dated Thursday 19 February 1925, p. 1</ref> Palmer's ''British Film Actors' Credits, 1895–1987'' identifies her with Daisy Burrell who played two minor parts in the British films ''Woman to Woman'' (1947) and ''Green Fingers'' (1947), as does the online database of the British Film Institute.<ref name=bfac/> She later appeared on BBC Television in ''The Perfect Alibi'' (1949)<ref name=genome>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141019093546/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctv/1949-08-06 BBC tv listings for 6 August 1949] at bbc.co.uk, accessed 7 May 2020</ref> and in ''The Golden Year'' (1951), the first musical comedy produced for television,<ref name=AR193>''The Annual Register of World Events: A Review of the Year'', Volume 193 (Longmans, Green, 1952), p. 400</ref> and disappeared from the performing record again after that.
==Final years== <div style="float:right;clear:right">thumb|120px|Nell Gwynn House</div> At the time of the High Court challenge to her second husband’s will in 1961, Burrell was living at the De Vere Court Hotel, 32 De Vere Gardens, Kensington.<ref name=willproblem/> She ended her long life living at Flat 203, Nell Gwynn House, Sloane Avenue, London SW3.<ref name=probate1982>[https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Young&yearOfDeath=1982&page=4#calendar Young, Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Ratton] in Probate Index for England and Wales, 1982, at probatesearch.gov.uk, accessed 22 July 2016: “Young, Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield Ratton otherwise Daisy Isobel Eaglesfield of 203 Nell Gwynn House Sloane Av London SW3 died 10 June 1982 Probate London 8 September £66170 820015182A"</ref> The building had a restaurant, a bar, a hairdressing salon, reception rooms, its own live music club, and other notable residents.<ref>[https://www.nellgwynnchelsea.london Nell Gwynn Chelsea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114021849/https://www.nellgwynnchelsea.london/ |date=14 January 2018 }} homepage, accessed 25 July 2016</ref> She died on 10 June 1982, six days short of her 90th birthday, leaving an estate of £66,170.<ref name=probate1982/>
Burrell’s half-sister, Edwina Ethel Slade, of The Keep, Kings Road, Kingston upon Thames, died in July 1987, leaving an estate of £48,795.<ref>[https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Slade&yearOfDeath=1987&page=1#calendar SLADE Edwina Ethel... died 12 July 1987] in Probate Index for England and Wales, 1987, at probatesearch.gov.uk, accessed 16 April 2020.</ref>
==Portraits== The National Portrait Gallery in London has fourteen portrait photographs of Burrell by Bassano, dated between 1919 and 1922. Several of these are in ''Cinderella'' costumes, and four include Clarice Mayne.<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp63170/daisy-burrell Daisy Burrell portraits] at npg.org.uk; accessed 15 January 2012</ref>
==Filmography== Burrell appeared in the following films: <ref name=bfac>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090528075427/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/22720?view=credit Daisy Burrell] at bfi.org.uk, accessed 19 January 2012; Scott Palmer, ''British Film Actors' Credits, 1895–1987'' (McFarland, 1988), p. 102</ref> * ''The Valley of Fear'' (1916) – Ettie Shafter<ref>Scott Allen Nollen, ''Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Cinema'' (1996), p. 255</ref> * ''Just a Girl'' (1916) – Esmeralda<ref name=RBC132/> * ''It's Always the Woman'' (1916) – Mrs Sterrington * ''Little Women'' (1917) – Amy March * ''The Bridal Chair'' (1919) – Jill Hargreaves<ref name=RBC/> * ''Convict 99'' (1919) – Geraldine Lucas<ref name="Connelly 1998, p. 334"/> * ''The Artistic Temperament'' (1919) * ''The Pride of the Fancy'' (1920) – Kitty Ruston<ref>Connelly (1998), p. 219</ref> * ''The Last Rose of Summer'' (1920) – Lotus Devine<ref>Jay Robert Nash, Robert Connelly, Stanley Ralph Ross, ''Motion Picture Guide Silent Film 1910-1936'' (1988), p. 145</ref> * ''Woman to Woman'' (1947) – Stage Box Committee<ref name=bfac/> * ''Green Fingers'' (1947) – Stone's receptionist<ref name=bfac/> * ''The Perfect Alibi'' (1949 BBC TV movie) – Mrs Fulverton-Fane<ref name=genome/> * ''The Golden Year'' (1951) – Lady Grenleigh<ref name=AR193/>
==Musical theatre appearances== <div style="float:right;clear:right">thumb|150px|Burrell in ''Gipsy Love''</div> :''This list is not complete''
*''The Redskins'', by Alicia Ramsey (1903), as Kitty<ref name=was/><ref name=pope/> *''Give Heed: a Modern Morality'' by Blanche G. Vulliamy, Court Theatre (1909), as Youth<ref name=Era1910/> *Drury Lane pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (1910) *''The Girl in the Train'', Vaudeville Theatre and tour (1910–1911),<ref name=swansea/> on the tour starring as Gonda van der Loo<ref name=echo/> *''Peggy'', George Edwardes's touring company (1911)<ref name="was" /> *''The Count of Luxembourg'' by Franz Lehár, Edinburgh (1912), as Juliette<ref name="pope2" /><ref name=sta/> *''The Sunshine Girl'', George Edwardes's touring company<ref name=was/> *''Gipsy Love'', by Franz Lehár (touring production, 1913) *''Cinderella'' (1913), as Cinderella<ref name=rodway/> *''The Marriage Market'', George Edwardes's touring company (1913), as Midshipman<ref name=rodway/> *''Betty'', Prince's Theatre, Manchester (1914) and Daly's Theatre (1915), as David Playne<ref>"Plays of the Year" in ''The Stage Year Book'', p. 86</ref> *''Cinderella'' at the London Palladium, 1916, as Cinderella<ref name=straits/> *''Houp La!'', by Fred Thompson (St Martin's Theatre, November 1916 — February 1917), as Aggie<ref name=Wearing542/><ref name=theatres/> *''£150'' (Ambassadors Theatre, April 1917)<ref name=newrevues/> *''Cinderella'' (Theatre Royal, Birmingham, Christmas 1917), as Cinderella<ref name=who1922>"Burrell, Daisy" in ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' (1922), p. 112</ref> *''Soldier Boy'' by Emmerich Kálmán (Apollo Theatre, September 1918), as Desirée<ref name=everyweek/><ref name=witness/> *''Nobody's Boy'' (Garrick Theatre, July/August 1919), as Mollie Maybud<ref name=wearing>J. P. Wearing, ''The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel'' (London: Scarecrow Press, 1982), p. 872</ref> repeated at Empire Theatre, Sheffield, at Christmas 1920<ref name=who1922/> *''Cinderella'' (1920 and 1921), as Cinderella (Wylie & Tate, Empire Theatre, Sheffield, and Empire Theatre, Cardiff)<ref name=wylietate/> *''Cinderella'' (December 1922 — March 1923) as Cinderella (Wylie & Tate, London Hippodrome)<ref name=cin8/><ref name=slipper/>
==Notes== {{reflist|colwidth=33em}}
==References== *Robert Connelly, ed., ''Motion Picture Guide Silent Film 1910–1936'' (Cinebooks, 1988) {{ISBN|978-0933997103}} *''Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912–1976: a biographical dictionary of actors, actresses, directors, playwrights, and producers of the English-speaking theatre'', vol. 1 (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1978)
==External links== {{Commons category|Daisy Burrell}} *{{IMDb name|0123054}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20180202232359/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fb10856 Daisy Burrell] at BFI Film & TV Database * [http://www.citwf.com/detailPerson.asp?personID=113759 Daisy Burrell] at citwf.com (Complete Index to World Film) * [http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/STA/search/resultspe.cfm?NID=17287&EID=22434 Daisy Burrell] at Scottish Theatre Archive * [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp63170/daisy-burrell Daisy Burrell portraits] at npg.org.uk (National Portrait Gallery, London)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrell, Daisy}} Category:1892 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Category:English silent film actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:English musical theatre actresses Category:English television actresses Category:Actors from the London Borough of Wandsworth Category:20th-century English actresses Category:20th-century English women singers Category:20th-century English singers Category:People from Wandsworth