{{Short description|English actress and singer (1867–1929)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|right|Maud Boyd as Prince Charming in ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (1893) '''Maud Rachel Boyd''' (1 February 1867 – 23 February 1929) was an English actress and singer known for musical theatre and principal boy roles in pantomime.
==Life and career== Boyd was born in 1867 at Chorlton-on-Medlock in Manchester, the daughter of James Boyd (1840–1870) and Elizabeth Montgomery ''née'' Hodgson (1834–1921). In 1881 aged 13 she was a boarder at Adelphi House Convent, a Catholic girls' school in Salford in Greater Manchester that was run by nuns. On the curriculum was music.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7572/LANRG11_3956_3960-0296/10562898?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/14472779/person/18294216235/facts/citation/32980789956/edit/record "Maude Boyd"], 1881 England Census, Lancashire, Salford, Greengate via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}</ref>
[[File:Cast of The Belle of Brittany 1908.jpg|thumb|left|Lawrence Rea (left), Walter Passmore, Ruth Vincent and Boyd (right) in Leedham Bantock's ''The Belle of Brittany'' (1908)]] As a pantomime principal boy she played Prince Charming in ''Little Red Riding Hood'' at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in December 1893,<ref>''The Sketch'', 27 December 1893</ref> the title role in the panto ''Robin Hood'',<ref>[https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-story-of-pantomime "The Story of Pantomime"], Victoria and Albert Museum, accessed 24 April 2020</ref><ref>''The Sketch'', 27 December 1893</ref> while over Christmas 1894 she was in ''Babes in the Wood'' in Liverpool.<ref>R. J. Broadbent, [https://books.google.com/books?id=czJmlUfBzNQC&pg=PA291 ''Annals of the Liverpool Stage: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time ''], Benjamin Blom (1969), p. 291 via Google Books</ref> Christmas 1895 found her in pantomime at the Theatre Royal in Hull<ref>[http://library.hull.ac.uk/search~S3?/cPN+2596+H9+T3%281891%2F03%2F30%29/cpn+2596+h9+t3+1891+03+30/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CE/frameset&FF=cpn+2596+h9+t3+1895+10+21&1%2C1%2C "A Pantomime Rehearsal"], University of Hull, accessed 24 April 2020</ref> From December 1897 she played Alice in ''Dick Whittington'' at the Alexandra Theatre in Stoke Newington.<ref>[http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/AlexandraTheatreStokeNewington.htm "The Alexandra Theatre and Opera House, Stoke Newington"], Arthur Lloyd.co.uk – The Music Hall and Theatre History Site, accessed 24 April 2020</ref> In Dublin in 1899 she recorded "The Golden Isle" from ''A Greek Slave'' for the Gramophone Company, but it was not released.<ref>[https://soundofthehound.com/2013/09/19/gaisbergs-travels-4 "Miss Maud Boyd"], Sound of the Hound, accessed 24 April 2020</ref> In Manchester in February 1900 she appeared in ''The Forty Thieves'' at the Theatre Royal.<ref>''Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser '', 1 February 1900, p. 1</ref>
She was Sir Peterborough Court in ''Cinder Ellen up too Late'' at the Gaiety Theatre (1891),<ref>Wearing, J. P., [https://books.google.com/books?id=nF8pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 ''The London Stage 1890–1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''], Rowman & Littlefield (2014), p. 98 via Google Books</ref> Kitt in ''Kitty Grey'' at the Apollo Theatre (1901),<ref>[http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/ApolloTheatre.htm "The Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London"], Arthur Lloyd.co.uk – The Music Hall and Theatre History Site, accessed 24 April 2020</ref><ref>Viv Gardner and Diane Atkinson (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=mnS5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT196 ''Kitty Marion: Actor and Activist''], Manchester University Press (2019), p. 196 via Google Books</ref> Lady Chaldicott in ''The Belle of Mayfair'' at the Vaudeville Theatre (1906),<ref>Gillan, Don. [http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/produce/bellm/th-bellm.html Cast of ''The Belle of Mayfair''], Stage Beauty, accessed 24 April 2020</ref> Madame Poquelin in ''The Belle of Brittany'' at the Queen's Theatre (1908), and Friedrike in ''A Waltz Dream'' at Hicks Theatre (1908).<ref>Wearing, J. P., [https://books.google.com/books?id=o5JWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA399 ''The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''], Rowman & Littlefield (2014), p. 399 via Google Books</ref>
Boyd died in a nursing home in Manchester in 1929 aged 61.<ref>Obituary for Miss Maud Boyd, ''The Stage'', 28 February 1929, p. 15</ref> She was buried in the Southern Cemetery in Manchester.<ref>[https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9041&h=1573963&ssrc=pt&tid=14472779&pid=18294216235&usePUB=true "Maud Rachel Boyd"], England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers, 1800–2016 via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}</ref> She never married, and in her will she left £302 7s 8d to her half brother.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/31874_223142-00397/3894546?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/14472779/person/18294216235/facts/citation/32980779511/edit/record "Maud Boyd"], England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995, 1929 via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Maud}} Category:1867 births Category:1929 deaths Category:Actresses from Manchester Category:English women singers Category:People from Chorlton-on-Medlock Category:Women of the Victorian era Category:English stage actresses Category:19th-century English actresses Category:20th-century English actresses Category:Burials at Southern Cemetery, Manchester