Adeline Bourne (January 1873 - 8 February 1965) was an Anglo-Indian actress, suffragette and charity worker.'Miss Adeline Bourne: Actress and suffragette', '' The Times'', 10 February 1965

Life

Adeline Bourne was born in India on 8 January 1873. She was sent to private schools in Eastbourne and

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

, though after expulsion from three schools was educated by a governess. She studied drama under Sarah Thorne, becoming a member of Thorne's company before leaving to tour America with Mrs Patrick Campbell. She then worked for

J. E. Vedrenne John Eugene Vedrenne (July 13, 1867-February 12, 1930), often known as J. E. Vedrenne, was a West End theatre producer who co-managed the Savoy Theatre with Harley Granville-Barker, and then (from 1904 to 1907, also with Granville-Barker) the R ...

and Harley Granville-Barker at the

Court Theatre A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordanc ...

, and for

Olga Nethersole Olga Isabella Nethersole, CBE, RRC (18 January 1866 – 9 January 1951) was an English actress, theatre producer, and wartime nurse and health educator. Career Olga Isabella Nethersole was born in London, of Spanish descent on her mother's side ...

. At the start of the twentieth century she appeared in avant-garde and feminist plays. In 1908 she helped found the Actresses' Franchise League, and served as its Joint Secretary. She set up the New Players Society in 1911. In 1915 she founded the British Women's Hospital, which raised £150,000 to establish the

Royal Star and Garter Home The Royal Star and Garter Home on Richmond Hill, in Richmond, London, was built between 1921 and 1924 to a design by Sir Edwin Cooper, based on a plan produced by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1915, to provide accommodation and nursing facilitie ...

for disabled soldiers. During World War I she served abroad as an officer in Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps. Between 1915 and 1963 Bourne raised over £750,000 for different causes. For example, she raised £37,500 for the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital. In 1928 she was Vice President of the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene's Josephine Butler Appeal Fund. After World War II she started a women's employment organization to help women return to civilian jobs. In the mid-1950s she established the Wayfarers' Trust, a nursing home and hospital for older people. After Bourne's death in 1965 a fire destroyed her home in

Thurston, Suffolk Thurston is a village and a parish in Suffolk situated about east of Bury St Edmunds and west of Stowmarket. In mid-2005, Thurston's estimated population was 3,260, making it one of the larger communities in the area, falling slightly to 3,232 ...

. Though her papers were rescued from the fire, they were subsequently destroyed in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Adeline 1873 births 1965 deaths British people in colonial India British actresses British suffragists British philanthropists