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,"Ratton, Daisy Isabel E" in Register of Births for the Wandsworth Registration District, vol. 1d (July–September 1892), p. 690. although according to Who Was Who in the Theatre 1912–1976 she was born in Singapore in 1893.Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912–1976 vol. 1, p. 339
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,Register of Marriages for Islington Registration District, vol. 1b (1867), p. 504 and they lived at Stoke Newington, but he died in 1873, aged 35, leaving a young son and daughter."RATTON Charles George late of 24 Clissold-road Stoke Newington", in Probate Index for 1873. His widow, Daisy's grandmother, married Hassan Fareed the next year "FARREED, Hassan, & RATTON, Isabella Iphigenia", in Register of Marriages for Hackney Registration District, vol. 1b (1874), p. 699 and died in 1890, aged 42."Farreed Isabella" in Register of Deaths for Portsea Registration District, vol. 2b (1890), p. 262 In 1891, Daisy's father, Charles Morris Ratton, married Ethel Eaglesfield Griffith, the daughter of another stockbroker,"Ratton Charles Morris & Griffith Ethel Eaglesfield" in Register of Marriages for Croydon Registration District, vol. 2a (1891), p. 521 but by the end of 1892 he disappears from the records. Her grandfather, E. J. Griffith, died in 1895 as a hospital clerk at Guy’s Hospital, leaving a modest £365.”GRIFFITH Edward John” in Probate Registry Index for 1895 His widow, Matilda Catherine Lovibond Griffith, the youngest child of Dr Edward Long MRCS, died in October 1898 at Lavender Hill.Frederick George Cleeve LONG 1897 - 1920 at fadedgenes.co.uk, accessed 7 April 2020
Daisy Burrell’s mother, Ethel Ratton, was by 1898 the partner of Henry S. Burrell, licensee of the Clarence Hotel, Stoke Newington.Clarence Tavern at pubshistory.com, accessed 25 July 2016 Their son, John Griffith Burrell, was born in March 1899,”John Griffith S. Burrell” in Births for Wandsworth, vol. 1d (1899), p. 792: on 31 March 1899 and christened in August 1907;“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 their daughter Edwina Ethel was born in September 1908."Burrell, Edwina Ethel", in Index to Births for Hackney, vol. 1b (1908), p. 348: the birth was on 21 September 1908 In 1900, H. S. Burrell had the Old Star in Wapping.Post Office London Street Directory 1900, Commercial Directory p. 964 at ancestry.co.uk 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.1901 United Kingdom census return for 118, Craven Park Road, Willesden, at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 16 April 2020 In 1911, the family was in Stoke Newington, and was again called Burrell.Henry S. Burrell, 1911 United Kingdom census return for 84, Church Street, Stoke Newington, at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 7 April 2020 Later it lived mostly in Kent, at Hythe and Folkestone. H. S. Burrell was licensee of the Swan Hotel, Hythe, during the First World War.Kelly's Directory for Kent (1913 & 1918) In 1939, Henry and Ethel Burrell were living at 77, Castle Road, Hythe, with their daughter Edwina.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” Ethel Burrell died in 1944,“Burrell Ethel E, 73 6a 731” in Index of Deaths for Weobley (1944) and Henry Burrell in 1955, leaving an estate valued at £5,166.“BURRELL Henry Saunders of 4 Earlsfield-rd Hythe Kent” in Probate Index for England and Wales, 1995, accessed 7 April 2020
Charles M. Ratton had a sister, Laura Theresa Ratton, Daisy Burrell’s aunt, who lived in Worthing and died unmarried in 1944.”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
Early career
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.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)" She went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music,"The Guildhall School of Music", The Musical Times, Vol. 58, No. 890 (April 1917), p. 177 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.The Era Almanack (1910), p. 163The Playgoer and Society illustrated (1909)
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.“Cinderella at the Palladium”, Illustrated London News, Volume 58 (1910), p. 2 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,Swansea Grand Theatre Archive 1911–1925 at swanseasgrand.co.uk, accessed 22 January 2012 with the Gloucestershire Echo reporting that "Miss Daisy Burrell acts and sings delightfully Gonda Van der Loo"."The Girl in the Train" in Gloucestershire Echo (Gloucestershire, England) dated 27 October 1911
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.Who's Who in the Theatre (Pitman, 1930), p. 135 In The Marriage Market, she played a midshipman.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." In 1912, she sang the part of Juliette in a production of Franz Lehár's operetta The Count of Luxembourg,W. J. MacQueen-Pope, Shirtfronts and sables: a story of the days when money could be spent (Hale, 1953), p. 59Daisy Burrell at Scottish Theatre Archive, accessed 16 January 2012 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".Musical News and Herald, vol. 42 (1912), p. 194 The next year she appeared in his Gipsy Love.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)." The manager of the Count of Luxembourg production of 1912 was J. Garret Todd, who went on to become manager of Daly's Theatre.
Burrell played a boy, David Playne, in the original cast of Lonsdale, Unger, and Rubens's new musical Betty,W. J. MacQueen-Pope, Nights of Gladness (1956), p. 192 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.Colin Johnson, Betty Original Cast, Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 2005, accessed 31 March 2018 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".Mrs. Gossip, What Women Are Doing: Behind the Scenes With "Betty", The Daily Sketch dated 11 May 1915, p. 14, digitized by University of Pretoria, 2015. In reviewing the play, The Tatler hailed Burrell as “a Great Girl-Boy”.Ben Macpherson, Cultural Identity in British Musical Theatre, 1890–1939: Knowing One’s Place (Springer, 2018), p. 98 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.““Miss Daisy Burrell” in The Era (London) dated 2 February 1916, p. 7
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.”Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Volume 84, Part 2 (George S. Maddick, 1915), p. 525
Marriages In October 1912, under her name at birth of Daisy Ratton, Burrell married T. W. G. Carleton (1887–1957), of Stoke Newington,"Ratton, Daisy I E & Carleton, Thomas W G" in Register of Marriages for Hackney Registration District, vol. 1b (1912), p. 1,144 who was then a commercial traveller.Bowdens F179 at ancestry.com, accessed 22 July 2016 During the First World War, he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Artillery, serving with it until April 1920.The London Gazette, Supplement dated 18 January 1921, p. 539 In 1919, Burrell filed a petition for the restitution of conjugal rights,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 and in 1920 she petitioned for a divorce.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 By 1924 they were divorced, and in the spring of that year at Holborn Carleton married secondly Dorothy Knight, otherwise Hunt."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