{{Short description|English actress (1840–1904)}} {{about|the English actress|the American suffragist|Helen Valeska Bary}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Helen Barry | image = Helen Barry on Broadway.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Elizabeth Short | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1840|1|5}} | birth_place = Lee, Kent, England, U.K. | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1904|7|20|1840|1|5}} | death_place = Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S. | occupation = Actress | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Joseph Brandon|1855|1876|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Alexander Rolls|1877|1882|end=died}} * {{marriage|Harry George Bolam|1883|1883|end=died}} }} }} '''Helen Barry''' (born '''Elizabeth Short''', 5 January 1840 – 20 July 1904) was an English actress. She began her acting career at age 32 after her first marriage dissolved.
She performed leading roles in West End theatres in the 1870s in comedy, drama and Victorian burlesque and remarried in 1877 to Alexander Rolls, the former Mayor of Monmouth, briefly moving to Wales. But she was acting in London again by 1880, and her husband died in 1882. Barry soon remarried and moved to America, where she was again widowed within a year. She continued her stage career, both in New York and London, for more than a decade thereafter.
==Childhood and first marriage== Barry was born as Elizabeth Short in Lee, now a suburb of London but then a village in the county of Kent; she was the daughter of Charles Henry Short and his wife Mary.<ref name=elizabeth>{{cite web|last=Short|first=Elizabeth|title=England & Wales Christening Records, 1530–1906|publisher=Genealogical Society of Utah. British Isles Vital Records Index, 2nd Edition (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref><ref name=ebrandon>{{cite web| last=Brandon| first=Elizabeth|title=1861 England Census|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. The National Archives of the UK (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref><ref name=banns>{{cite web| last=Brandon| first=Helen Elizabeth|title=London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754–1921|publisher=Church of England Parish Registers, 1754–1921. London Metropolitan Archives, London (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Elizabeth married Joseph Brandon, a Belgian, on 3 May 1855 when she was fifteen years old. The ceremony took place at the Parish Church of Saint Luke, Charlton, Kent.<ref name=ebrandon/><ref name=allegations>{{cite web| first=Alexander|last=Rolls Esquire|title=London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597–1921| publisher= Marriage Bonds and Allegations. London Metropolitan Archives. (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last=Short| first=Elizabeth|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837–1915| publisher=General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Her daughter, Esther E. Brandon, was born in Greenwich, Kent in the second quarter of 1855, around the time of the marriage.<ref name=ebrandon/><ref>{{cite web| last=Brandon| first=Esther|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915 |publisher= General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> On 2 June 1870, the marriage was dissolved at Westminster, upon the petition of Joseph Brandon. Esther had been put out as an apprentice by 1871. The divorce was finalised on 29 February 1876.<ref name=allegations/><ref>{{cite web|last=Brandon|first=Ester|title=1871 England Census| publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. The National Archives of the UK (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref>
==Early theatrical career== Barry first appeared on stage as Princess Fortinbrasse in Dion Boucicault and James Planché's ''Babil and Bijou'' at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1872.<ref name="actress">{{cite book|last=Pascoe|first=Charles E.|title=Our Actors and Actresses, p. 34| year=1969| publisher=Ayer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQzpJnqj6mkC&pg=PA34}}</ref> She also appeared there in ''This Evening at Seven''.<ref>"Theatre Royal, Covent Garden: ''This Evening at Seven''", ''Morning Post'', 6 September 1872, p. 4</ref> She was then at the Royal Court Theatre until 1873.<ref name="actress"/> In March of that year she created the role of Selene, the fairy queen, in ''The Happy Land'', a successful Victorian burlesque by W. S. Gilbert and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett.<ref>Tomline, F. (a pseudonym for W. S. Gilbert) and Gilbert à Beckett. [https://www.gsarchive.net/gilbert/plays/happy_land/hland.txt ''The Happy Land''], prepared by Andrew Crowther for the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 1 February 2012</ref> Later that year, she took the role of Margaret Hayes in Tom Taylor's play, ''Arkwright's Wife'', at the Theatre Royal in Leeds.<ref>"Miss Helen Barry in Arkright's Wife", ''The Era'', 26 October 1873, p. 7</ref> When the piece moved to the Globe Theatre in London, Barry moved with it.<ref name="actress"/> ''The Times'' wrote that she "has all the force required by the arduous character of ''Margaret'', and she expresses the tenderer emotions with good effect".<ref>''The Times'', 8 October 1873</ref>
Barry next took on the role of Edith Dombey in a play called ''Heart's Delight'', adapted from ''Dombey and Son''. She played at the Gaiety Theatre, London, as Armande in ''Led Astray'' by Boucicault, in 1874, before touring outside London briefly.<ref name=Pascoe>Pascoe, Charles Eyre. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2d09AQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Helen+Barry%22+theatre&pg=PA25 "Barry, Helen"], ''The dramatic list: a record of the principal performances of living actors and actresses of the British stage'', pp. 25–26, Roberts Brothers, 1879, accessed 1 February 2012</ref> She next took the lead in ''Around the World in 80 days'' at the Princess's Theatre in 1875.<ref name="actress"/> She played the leading role in ''Heartsease'', a bowdlerized adaptation of Alexander Dumas ''fils''''<nowiki/>'s'' ''The Lady of the Camellias'' by James Mortimer, at the same theatre in 1875. In 1876, she appeared adaptations of two French plays at the Haymarket Theatre and the Standard Theatre, and in ''Lady Clancarty'' by Tom Taylor, and the next year she played in ''The Lady of Lyons'' and ''The School for Scandal''. Other important roles in the 1870s included Lady Macbeth and Lady Teazle, both at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh.<ref name=Pascoe/> She appeared in the breeches role of Abdallah in ''The Forty Thieves'', a burlesque at the Gaiety Theatre, in 1878.<ref>Hollingshead, John. ''Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance'', pp. 39–41 (1903) London: Gaity Theatre Co</ref>
==Second marriage== The actress married widower Alexander Rolls, a man more than 20 years her elder,<ref>{{cite book|last=Nicholas| first=Thomas| title=Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales| pages=784–86| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQ6wkDw8DnUC&pg=PA784|isbn=978-0-8063-1314-6|year=2000| publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com}}</ref><ref name=harrow>{{cite book|title=The Harrow School register, 1801-1900|year=1901|publisher=Longmans, Green|url=https://archive.org/details/harrowschoolreg00welcgoog| author=Harrow School, M. G. Daughlish|edition=2|editor=Reginald Courtenay Welch|accessdate=26 June 2012|page=[https://archive.org/details/harrowschoolreg00welcgoog/page/n149 134]}}</ref> on 1 September 1877 at the Parish Church of St Mark at Regent's Park in Middlesex.<ref name=banns/> The day prior to the ceremony, Rolls appeared before diocesan officials to sign an affidavit disclosing the details of Barry's prior marriage and divorce.<ref name=allegations/> The second son of John and Martha Rolls,<ref>Rolls was the brother of John Etherington Welch Rolls.</ref> Alexander Rolls was a Deputy Lieutenant of Monmouthshire,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-D5EAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA4612 ''The London Gazette''], 20 August 1867, accessed 22 June 2012</ref> and had been elected to four terms as Mayor of Monmouth.<ref name=wmwarlow>{{cite book|title=A history of the charities of William Jones (founder of the "Golden lectureship" in London), at Monmouth & Newland|year=1899|publisher=W. Bennett|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNo8l9bYMHkC&pg=PA332|author=William Meyler Warlow|accessdate=26 June 2012|page=332}}</ref> As a young man, he had purchased his commission in the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards,<ref>{{cite news |title=War Office, 30th March 1838 |url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/19602/pages/783 |work=The London Gazette | page=783| date=30 March 1838 |accessdate=26 June 2012}}</ref> eventually reaching the rank of Major.<ref name=harrow/> Rolls's residence was Croft-y-bwla northwest of Monmouth, a house designed by the architect George Vaughan Maddox, where Rolls had lived with his first wife.<ref>Newman, John. ''The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire'', Penguin Books, 2000, p. 410 {{ISBN|0-14-071053-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=1871 Wales Census| publisher= Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. The National Archives of the UK (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Rolls and Barry lived together for a relatively short time at Croft-y-bwla, and he declared bankruptcy less than two years after their marriage.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Bankruptcy Act 1869. ... In the matter of a Bankruptcy Petition against Alexander Rolls... |url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/24708/pages/2818 |work=The London Gazette |page=2818 |date=11 April 1879 |accessdate=26 June 2012}}</ref> By 1881, he was living at Hanover Square, London, and she is not shown as residing with him in the 1881 census.<ref>{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=1881 England Census| publisher= Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881. The National Archives of the UK (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref>
In 1880, Barry appeared in ''The World'' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and as Mrs. Arabella Buster in ''Forbidden Fruits'' at the Adelphi Theatre.<ref>[http://www.remainstobeseen.com/index-i-1101-category-Cabinet-Card.htm "Miss Barry Cabinet Card"], ''Remains to Be Seen'', accessed 2 February 2012</ref>
==New York== Rolls died in London on 22 April 1882. Within one year of her husband's death, Barry was remarried and widowed again: by early 1883, she married Harry George Bolam, a land agent and mining engineer.<ref>{{cite book|title=Transactions, Volume 15|year=1883|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSU1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA450|author=Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors|accessdate=26 June 2012|page=450|chapter=Appendix to Vol. XV – Obituary}}</ref> The couple moved to New York where Bolam died suddenly of pneumonia on 23 March 1883.<ref>Obituary of H. S. Bolam (sic), ''The New York Times'', 24 March 1883</ref> Barry made her first New York stage appearance two months later, reprising her role as Margaret in ''Arkwright's Wife''.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/05/15/102820620.pdf "Amusements: Miss Helen Barry"], ''The New York Times'', 15 May 1883</ref> By 1886 she was in London, producing and acting in new plays such as ''The Esmondes of Virginia'' at the Royalty Theatre.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Esmondes of Virginia, review p. 21|url=http://footlightnotes.tripod.com/20040814home.html|accessdate=30 January 2012|newspaper=News of the World|date=23 May 1886}}</ref><ref>"Miss Helen Barry in Esmondes of Virginia", ''The Era'', 5 June 1886, p. 16</ref> In 1888, she appeared in ''A Woman of the World'', an adaptation by B. C. Stephenson of ''Der Probpnfeil'' by Oscar Blumenthal, at the Haymarket Theatre, starring alongside Herbert Beerbohm Tree.<ref>''Le Follet: Journal du Grand Monde'', 1 February 1886, p. 16.</ref>
In 1889 Barry returned to New York, where she appeared in ''Love and Liberty'' at the Union Square Theatre.<ref>[http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=708151&imageID=834078&total=2&num=0&word=Grimm%2C%20Constantin%20de&s=3¬word=&d=&c=&f=4&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&imgs=20&pos=1&e=w#_seemore Helen Barry in ''Life and Love''], NYPL Digital Gallery, accessed 1 February 2012</ref><ref>"Miss Helen Barry in America", ''The Era'', 19 January 1889, p. 12</ref> In 1891, she starred in and produced ''A Night's Frolic'', by Augustus Thomas, at the Park Theatre in New York City. In 1892, she sued Rose Coghlan in New York State court for copyright infringement, claiming that Coghlan's play ''Dorothy's Dilemma'' appropriated whole scenes from her production.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/01/26/104116560.pdf "In and About the City: Rose Coughlin Must Answer"], ''The New York Times'', 26 January 1892, accessed 26 June 2012</ref> She was also involved in a court case in London that year but was acting in America in 1895.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} <!--WHAT PLAY WAS SHE ACTING IN? In WHAT THEATRE? --> Barry died on 20 July 1904 in the US in Norwalk, Connecticut, and her estate went to probate on 24 April 1906 in London.<ref name=probate>{{cite web|last=Rolls Bolam|first=Helen|title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966| publisher=Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England (reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Helen}} Category:1840 births Category:1904 deaths Category:English stage actresses Category:19th-century English actresses Category:People from Lee, London Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Actors from the London Borough of Lewisham