{{Short description|English actress (1886–1956)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = May Leslie Stuart | image = MayLeslieStuart1910.jpg | alt = Head and shoulders of a woman with dark hair, wearing a draped dress and flat hat | caption = May Leslie Stuart, photographed by Lallie Charles (c. 1910) | birth_name = Mary Catherine Barrett | birth_date = January 1887 | birth_place = Salford, Lancashire, England | death_date = 20 June 1956 (aged 69) | death_place = Richmond, London, England | occupation = Actress, singer | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Cecil Cameron|1911|1916|reason=div.}} * {{Marriage|James Mayhew Balls|1917}} }} | children = Four }}
'''May Leslie Stuart''' (born '''Mary Catherine Barrett''', January 1887<ref name=GRO /> – 20 June 1956) was an English actress and singer in operetta and Edwardian musical comedy from 1909 to 1915. She also sang on the music hall circuit, performing with her father, the composer Leslie Stuart.
== Early life == Stuart was born in Salford, Lancashire (now in Greater Manchester),<ref name=GRO>General Record Office Births, Year 1887, Quarter 1, District – Salford, vol. 8D, p. 19</ref> the elder daughter of the composer Leslie Stuart (born Thomas Augustine Barrett) and his wife, Katherine Mary, ''née'' Fox.<ref name=Lamb1>Lamb, pp. 29, 36, 56–58</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=24 October 1906|title=Miss May Leslie Stuart, daughter of Mr. Leslie Stuart| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34E4AQAAMAAJ&q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22&pg=PA58|journal=The Sketch|volume=56|pages=58}}</ref>{{refn|Her younger sister Constance ("Lola") married an American banker and, while living in Maine, taught a young George H. W. Bush to play tennis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31859075/constance_lola_stuart_hine_1988| title=Lola Stuart-Hine|date=7 October 1988|work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=23 May 2019|page=33|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>|group=n}} Her father's song "Sweetheart May" was written about Stuart when she was a girl.<ref name=Lamb1/> alt= Head and shoulders of a woman with long dark hair, wearing a draped costume and an ivy wreath in her hair|thumb|upright|Stuart, photographed by Lallie Charles, from a 1906 publication
== Career == Stuart acted and sang on the London stage, with roles in ''Pinkie and the Fairies'' (as "Beauty", 1909),<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31854254/may_leslie_stuart_1909| title=Pinkie and the Fairies| date=19 December 1909| work=The Observer|access-date=23 May 2019|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''Sunlight and Shadow'' (1910),<ref name=Wearing>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KMFnAgAAQBAJ&q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22&pg=PT73|title=The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel| author=Wearing, J. P.| date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810893009}}</ref> ''The Slim Princess'' (1910),<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31815903/may_leslie_stuart_1910/|title=Will Appear in Father's Play in America|last=Bull|first=George|date=6 March 1910|work=Detroit Free Press|access-date=22 May 2019| page=52| via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''The Count of Luxembourg'' (1911), ''The Hope'' (1911), ''The Crown of India'' (as "Delhi", 1912),<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31854333/may_leslie_stuart_1912| title=Untitled item|date=10 March 1912|work=The Observer|access-date=23 May 2019|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}; {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/stageyearbook1913londuoft| title=The Stage year book|publisher=London Carson & Comerford|others=Robarts – University of Toronto|year=1913|page=[https://archive.org/details/stageyearbook1913londuoft/page/140 140]|via=Internet Archive}}; and {{Cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31816047/may_leslie_stuart_1912| title=Sir Edward Elgar's Masque| date=12 March 1912| work=The Guardian|access-date=22 May 2019| page=14| via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>{{refn|This was a masque, with music by Edward Elgar, marking the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India, for their coronation as Emperor and Empress of India.<ref>{{cite book | last = Reed | first = W. H. | author-link = William Henry Reed| title = Elgar|location = London|publisher = Dent|year = 1946|oclc = 8858707|page = 107 }} </ref>|group = n}} an adaptation of ''Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford'' (1913),<ref name=Wearing/> ''The Girl Next Door'' (1915),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/stageyearbo1916londuoft|title=The Stage Year Book|publisher=London Carson & Comerford|others=Robarts – University of Toronto| year=1916|pages=[https://archive.org/details/stageyearbo1916londuoft/page/97 97]}}</ref> ''Florodora'' (as "Lady Holyrood" in the 1915 revival)<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/song-dance/item/213-florodora| title=Theatre Heritage Australia – Florodora|website=theatreheritage.org.au| date=25 June 2015|access-date=22 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31854392/may_leslie_stuart_1915| title=Florodora Reviva| date=21 February 1915| work=The Observer|access-date=23 May 2019|page=11|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and ''The Case of Lady Camber'' (title role, 1915).<ref>{{Cite journal|date=October 1915|title=Savoy Show Finally On| url=https://archive.org/details/variety40-1915-10/page/n189?q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22| journal=Variety|pages=4|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> A reviewer mentioned her "brilliant" acting in creating the role of Lady Camber as a highlight of the last work.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31853981/may_leslie_stuart_1915 |title=Well-Made Tragedy|date=18 October 1915| work=The Guardian|access-date=23 May 2019|page=8|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Stuart appeared in one British silent film, ''The Second Mrs. Tanqueray'' (1916), in the role of Lady Orreyd.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Picture Theatres|date=7 June 1916|work=Sheffield Independent| page=4}}</ref> She appeared on the music hall stage<ref>{{Cite news|title=British Composer, Leslie Stuart, Dies|date=28 March 1928|work=The New York Times| page=27|id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here -->}} }}</ref> and made some recordings as a singer in 1915, in both settings accompanied by her father on piano, and singing his songs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/smor.18991111| title=Florodora| website=Library of Congress|access-date=22 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist0428uvic_6/page/n35?q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22| title=Musical Comedy Composer Dies|date=8 April 1928|work=The Daily Colonist|access-date=22 May 2019|pages=36|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
In 1910 she was the subject of a photograph in Lallie Charles's exhibit, "Five Hundred Fair Women".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/playgoersocietyi02londuoft/page/224?q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22 "Miss May Leslie Stuart, in the Exhibition of 'Five Hundred Fair Women'"], ''The Playgoer and Society Illustrated'' (1910): 224.</ref> After her father's death, she formed and conducted a small touring orchestra to present his works.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Sings Father's Songs|date=13 March 1937|work=The Daily Herald|page=13}}</ref> Her obituaries in ''Variety'' and ''The Stage'' record that she and her husband were involved in theatrical production after her father's death.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/variety203-1956-06/page/n269?q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22|title=May Leslie-Stuart|date=27 June 1956|work=Variety|access-date=22 May 2019|page=63|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=stage>{{Cite news |title=Death of May Leslie-Stuart|date=28 June 1956|work=The Stage|page=5}}</ref> Later in life she wrote radio scripts and was an on-air presenter for the BBC.<ref name=Lamb1/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a39ffbaf24be4feb9d991010149d9e44|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125070312/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a39ffbaf24be4feb9d991010149d9e44|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 January 2025|title=The Life of Leslie Stuart|date=24 November 1950|work=The Radio Times|access-date=22 May 2019|issue=1411|pages=18| issn=0033-8060}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/d3fef66fa4d04a0d9e8a408b89f3c940|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125070212/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/d3fef66fa4d04a0d9e8a408b89f3c940|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 January 2025|title=A Leslie Stuart Programme|date=31 March 1930|work=The Radio Times|access-date=22 May 2019|issue=331|pages=48| issn=0033-8060}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 1911 she married a fellow actor, Cecil Cameron, son of the actress Violet Cameron.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31853874/may_leslie_stuart_and_cecil_cameron_1911| title=A Drury Lane Romance|date=7 October 1911|work=The Guardian|access-date=23 May 2019| page=8|via=Newspapers.com}}; and {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qyk_AQAAMAAJ|quote=May Leslie Stuart.|title=Who's who in the Theatre| date=1922| publisher=Pitman|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qyk_AQAAMAAJ/page/n1053 1002]}}</ref> They divorced in 1916.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/variety43-1916-07/page/n43?q=%22May+Leslie+Stuart%22|title=Cecil Cameron Divorced|date=14 July 1916| work=Variety|access-date=22 May 2019|page=4|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> She married again in 1917, to James Mayhew Balls, an auctioneer. There was some opposition from Stuart's family to the second marriage on the grounds that Balls was five years her junior and a Protestant, whereas the Stuarts were staunchly Roman Catholic. Stuart's pregnancy with the first of the couple's four children effectively ended the family's opposition.<ref>Lamb, pp. 253–255</ref>{{refn|In 1923 the family, which by then included four children, changed its surname name by deed poll from Balls to Mayhew.<ref>Lamb, p. 255</ref>|group=n}} In her last years Stuart lived in Twickenham, a London suburb; she died in 1956, in Richmond, London.<ref name=stage/>
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=n}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CA4HEAAAQBAJ|title=Leslie Stuart: The Man Who Composed Florodora| last=Lamb| first=Andrew| authorlink=Andrew Lamb (writer) |year=2002|location=London| publisher=Routledge| isbn=0-415-93747-7}}
== External links == * {{IMDB name|1138280}} * [http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1318757/the-hope-photograph-unknown/ A photograph of May Leslie Stuart in a scene from ''The Hope'' (1911)], in the Gabrielle Enthoven Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, May Leslie}} Category:1887 births Category:1956 deaths Category:20th-century English actresses Category:20th-century English women opera singers Category:Actresses from Salford Category:English musical theatre actresses Category:British music hall performers