Fawdon Vokes (1844 – 1904) was a British music hall,

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

and burlesque actor and dancer who performed as a member of the

Vokes Family The Vokes family were three sisters, one brother and an actor (Walter Fawdon, who changed his name to Vokes) who were popular in the pantomime theatres of 1870s London and in the United States. Their father, Frederick Strafford Thwaites Vokes (1 ...

of entertainers popular in the 1870s in Great Britain and the USA. For more than ten years they were the central attraction at the annual pantomime at the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

from 1868 to 1879 when their popularity began to wane. He was born as Walter Fawdon in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

in London and on joining the Vokes Family troupe changed his name to Walter Vokes, being billed as the "foster brother" of

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

, Jessie, Rosina and Victoria Vokes. In the 1871 Census he was living with the Vokes' above the family business at 19 Henrietta Street in Covent Garden in London on which he was listed as "no relation".

The Vokes Family

With the

he performed at music halls and at

s both for British and American theatre-goers. They made their début on Christmas night in 1861 at Howard's Operetta House in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Thomas Allston Brown
''A History of the New York stage from the First Performance in 1732 to 1901''
Dodd, Mead and Company, New York (1903) - Google Books pg. 146 and made their London début at the Alhambra Theatre in 1862 when they were billed as 'The Five Little Vokes'. They appeared at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 26 December 26, 1868 in

Edward Litt Laman Blanchard Edward Litt Leman Blanchard, often referred to as E. L. Blanchard (11 December 1820 – 4 September 1889), was an English writer who is best known for his contributions to the Drury Lane pantomime. He began writing plays and other literature to ...

's pantomime ''Humpty Dumpty''. Early in their career, at the Lyceum Theatre in London, they danced in

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

's pantomime ''

Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren ''Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren; or, Fortunatus and the Water of Life, the Three Bears, the Three Gifts, the Three Wishes, and the Little Man who Woo'd the Little Maid'' was a pantomime written by W. S. Gilbert. As with many pantomimes of ...

''.John Joseph Knight
Fawdon Vokes in: Frederick Mortimer Vokes
- '' Dictionary of National Biography'' (DNB), 1885-1900, Volume 58 With the Vokes Family he first appeared as Wiggins in the popular ''The Belles of the Kitchen'' on 27 February 1869 at the Standard Theatre in London. Their success was pronounced and continuous.Jessie Vokes (1851-1884) - Footlight Notes website
/ref> They made their Paris debut in August 1870 at the

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

where they were an immediate success, but with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War it became unsafe to remain and they left the city with just a few hours notice.'The Late Miss Rosina Vokes' - ''The Sketch'', 7 February 1894 pg. 62 Back in London he appeared with the rest of the Vokes Family in ''Tom Thumb the Great; or, Harlequin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'' in their début performance at the

in Christmas 1871.

Theatrical career

The piece that most successfully carried an audience by storm was ''The Belles of the Kitchen''Jeffrey Richards
''The Golden Age of Pantomime: Slapstick, Spectacle and Subversion in Victorian England''
I. B. Tauris (2015) - Google Books pg. 301 in which the

made its debut in the United States at the

Union Square Theatre Union Square Theatre was the name of two different theatres near Union Square, Manhattan, New York City. The first was a Broadway theatre that opened in 1870, was converted into a cinema in 1921 and closed in 1936.(8 October 1921)Two landmarks to ...

in New York on 15 April 1872. The family then embarked on a six-month tour of the United States before returning to Britain where in October 1872 they performed ''Fun in a Fog''. They returned to New York in April 1873 at

Niblo's Garden Niblo's Garden was a theater on Broadway and Crosby Street, near Prince Street, in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the ''Sans Souci'' and was later the property of ...

and remained in America for the next year and nine months before returning to England. Their next season in America was at the

Fifth Avenue Theatre Fifth Avenue Theatre was a Broadway theatre in New York City in the United States located at 31 West 28th Street and Broadway (1185 Broadway). It was demolished in 1939. Built in 1868, it was managed by Augustin Daly in the mid-1870s. In 1877, ...

in New York where they remained for three months. The

returned to the USA (without

Rosina Vokes Rosina Vokes (18 October 1854 – 27 January 1894) was a British music hall, pantomime and burlesque actress and dancer and a member of the Vokes Family troupe of entertainers before having a successful career in her own right in North Ameri ...

who had married in 1877) in April 1881 when they appeared at the Globe Theatre in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and returned to England in June 1882 but without Fred Vokes; the family returned to the US in autumn 1882. They made their last appearance in New York at the Mount Morris Theatre in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

in January 1883, returning to England (again without Fred) in June 1883. Jessie Vokes's clever recitations and dancing were appreciated, but she was not so prominent in the cast as her siblings

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and Fred, who were especially happy in their rendering of the tower scene from ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

'', or as

, who was regarded by the young men as the flower of the family.'JESSIE VOKES DEAD. THE FIRST ONE TO DIE OF THE FAMOUS FAMILY OF COMEDIANS'
- ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', New York, Friday, 8 August 1884, p. 5b Fawdon Vokes 1872

For about ten years (with the exception of 1873, when they were touring abroad) they were regulars in the annual Christmas

at Drury Lane, including ''Humpty Dumpty'' (1868); ''Beauty and the Beast! or, Harlequin and Old Mother Bunch'' (1869); ''The Dragon of Wantley; or, Harlequin or Old Mother Shipton'' (1870); the Jester in ''Tom Thumb: or, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'' (1871); Geoffrey Nimble Legs in ''Children in the Wood'' (1872); Karzac in ''Aladdin or Harlequin and the Wonderful Lamp'' (1874) in which he never spoke but was "thoroughly efficient" in all he did; ''Dick Whittington'' (1875); ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'' (1876); ''The White Cat'' (1877); Kobold in ''Cinderella'' (1878) in which he was "remarkable for his activity. He spared himself not a jot to add to the fun. The critics were not kind concerning the contribution of the Vokes Family to ''Cinderella'', making such comments as: "They were on stage far too long", "They are sublimely indifferent as to whether the story of Cinderella be a Sanskrit myth or a Greek fable", "If they want to retain their hold on the public, they should get someone to concoct for them new modes". Not being the draw they had once been, the Vokes Family discovered the pantomime was in debt and refused to drop their salaries which F. B. Chatterton the manager could not meet, and the production closed owing £36,000 in February 1879 putting all involved out of work. The family returned to Drury Lane in 1879 in the pantomime ''Bluebeard'' in which Fawdon Vokes was Shacabac. This was to be their last

at Drury Lane as by now the public were wearying of the Vokes Family who had dominated the pantomime at Drury Lane for more than a decade but who had never updated their routines. The new manager

Augustus Harris Sir Augustus Henry Glossop Harris (18 March 1852 – 22 June 1896) was a British actor, impresario, and dramatist, a dominant figure in the West End theatre, West End theatre of the 1880s and 1890s. Born into a theatrical family, Harris briefl ...

found the Vokes Family to be too demanding, while they considered him a tyrant. For Christmas 1880 the family were at Covent Garden in ''Valentine and Orson; or, Harlequin and the Magic Shield'' written by F. C. Burnand. In a review of ''Tom Thumb'' at Drury Lane in 1871 the critic of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' wrote:

" red Vokeswas well assisted by Mr. Fawdon Vokes as the court fool who had apparently danced himself out of his mind in his infancy and had lived on tarantula spiders ever since. All the Misses Vokes (Victoria, Jessie and Rosina), fascinated in their attire, ravishing as to their back hair and amazing in their agility, were fully equal to the occasion. When they didn’t dance they sang and danced simultaneously and then all the Vokeses jumped on one another's backs and careered – so it seemed - into immeasurable space.’

In 1891 he played Bobbins opposite Victoria Vokes in ''Hubby'' at the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was ...

in London.

Later years

In 1901 Walter Fawdon Vokes was "living on isown means" at 3 Mintholme Road in Battersea with his wife Ann Vokes and children Herbert Walter Henry Fawdon Vokes (1888-1957) and Irene Eugénie Fawdon Vokes (1893-1971). Dying in 1904, he outlived the rest of the

.Richards, pg. 179

References

External links

Walter Fawdon Vokes (né Walter Fawdon) (1844-1904), Actor
- National Portrait Gallery, London website {{DEFAULTSORT:Vokes, Fawdon 1844 births 1904 deaths People from Soho English male stage actors English male dancers English male musical theatre actors Male actors from London 19th-century English male actors Music hall performers Vaudeville performers 19th-century dancers 19th-century British dancers Vokes family 19th-century British male musicians

The Vokes Family

Theatrical career

Later years

See also

References

External links