Gabrielle Enthoven (born Augusta Gabrielle Eden Romaine, 12 January 1868 – 18 August 1950) was an English playwright, amateur actress, theatre archivist, and prolific collector of theatrical
ephemera relating to the London stage. In 1911, Enthoven began campaigning for the establishment of a theatrical section in one of the British museums. In 1924, the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
accepted her private collection, at this time containing over 80,000 theatrical
playbills
''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...
and programmes. The material became the founding collection of the museum's theatre and performance archives. Enthoven's unparalleled knowledge of the London stage and its history earned her the sobriquet "the theatrical encyclopaedia".
Early life
Gabrielle Enthoven was born at 21 New Street, Spring Gardens,
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
, London to William Govett Romaine (1815–1893) and Frances Pheobe Romaine, née Tennant (1822/3-1909). Enthoven's year of birth was incorrectly listed in the family Bible as 1870, a fact which Enthoven did not discover until her sixtieth birthday. On finding this out, Enthoven remarked: "Such a shock darling. I was giving a lovely party and
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...
and everybody was coming, and suddenly I discovered that I was not sixty at all, but sixty-two. Wasn't it awful?"
[Barbara Vereker, "Gabrielle Enthoven", ''The Queen'', 25 February 1942.]
Her father was Judge Advocate General in the Crimea and India, Legal Advisor to the Board of Admiralty, and Minister in Egypt.
[''The Sphere'', 30 April 1927.] Much of Enthoven's childhood was spent abroad as she accompanied her father on trips to various postings in both India and the Middle East. In Egypt, Enthoven used to ride in her own carriage during state occasions and rode in the desert with
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon CB (28 January 1833 – 26 January 1885), also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British Army officer and administrator. He saw action in the Crimean War as an officer in ...
On her father's retirement in 1879, the family returned to England, settling in a house named "The Old Priory" just outside
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...
where Enthoven lived until her father's death in 1893. Enthoven had never been educated at school, nor had she been tutored by a governess. As a result, she was fifteen years old before she could either read or write. She could, however, as a result of her travels abroad, speak fluent Egyptian Arabic, Turkish, two Hindustani dialects, French, Italian, Spanish, and some German.
There were occasions when a carriage was sent from nearby
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
to collect Enthoven and her friends to play with the young Princess Mary of Teck, later to become
Queen Mary of Teck. Enthoven recalled slapping the young princess across the face on one occasion, an incident which the two women would recall in later years when the Queen visited Enthoven at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
[Gabrielle Enthoven Biographical File, Theatre and Performance Department, Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Enthoven was a small child when she first visited the theatre. She climbed out of her bedroom window clutching a shilling and made the journey to the
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was first established as the Strand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. In 1868, it became known a ...
to see a production of ''
The Forty Thieves
''The Forty Thieves'' is a "Pantomime Burlesque" written by Robert Reece, W. S. Gilbert, F. C. Burnand and Henry J. Byron, created in 1878 as a charity benefit, produced by the Beefsteak Club of London. The Beefsteak Club still meets in Irving ...
''. Climbing beneath the legs of the waiting crowd, Enthoven was picked up by a large
navvy
Navvy, a clipping of navigator ( UK) or navigational engineer ( US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally (in North America) to refer to mechanical shovels and eart ...
who placed her upon his shoulders and pushed his way through the throng of people to find them a seat on the front row of the gallery. Half-way through the performance, he took out an orange from his pocket, bit into it, pushed some sugar in the hole with his thumb, and gave it to Enthoven to suck.
Personal life
In 1893, Enthoven married Major Charles Henfrey Enthoven (1866–1910), who at various times, occupied the role of Staff Captain in the Royal Engineers, General Staff Officer at the War Office, and Chief Officer of London County Council's Parks Department. The couple had no children. Charles Enthoven died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
on 30 April 1910. Enthoven was not reported as being present at her husband's funeral.
Enthoven was a recognised and well-known figure within London's theatrical society. She was an inveterate first-nighter and had friendships with many members of the theatrical elite including
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...
,
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years.
Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was deter ...
,
Marda Vanne
Marda "Scrappy" Vanne (born Margaretha van Hulsteyn;One source, a close friend, spells her name "Margueretha". 27 September 1896 – 27 April 1970) was a South African actress who found fame in London.
Early life
Margaretha was born in Pretoria, ...
,
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director a ...
,
Edith Craig and
Noël Coward. In 1921, Enthoven was staying in New York with
Cecile Sartoris, with whom she had translated ''The Honeysuckle'', a play by the Italian writer
Gabriele D'Annunzio. The play was performed that year at the
Lyceum Theatre. Noël Coward stayed with Enthoven and Sartoris during this period. Recalling his stay with the two women, he wrote: "they said that when I sold a play, or made some money somehow, I could pay rent, but until then I was to be their guest
€¦I accepted and moved in immediately, grateful not only for their kindness, but for their company." During Enthoven's stay in New York, in a flat on Washington Square South, she spent time with many influential people within artistic and theatrical society. The American poet and playwright
Mercedes de Acosta
Mercedes de Acosta (March 1, 1892 – May 9, 1968) was an American poet, playwright, and novelist. Although she failed to achieve artistic and professional distinction, de Acosta is known for her many lesbian affairs with celebrated Broadway and ...
wrote about Enthoven's stay in New York in her 1960s memoir ''Here Lies the Heart]''. She described Enthoven as being "a woman of rare culture, of heart, and remarkable intelligence. A woman, too, of great humour. There were few like her."
Enthoven knew
Oscar Wilde very well and would visit him at his home as a young girl. After these visits she would return home and copy down the stories he had told her. In 1948, Enthoven presented the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
with a pamphlet containing four prose poems of Wilde's that she had had printed and bound under the title ''Echoes''. In 1889, Wilde dedicated a poem to Enthoven entitled ''Remorse. (a study in saffron)''.
It is possible that Enthoven engaged in lesbian relationships after the death of her husband. She was a central member of London's lesbian ''haut monde''. This group included women such as the writer
Radclyffe Hall
Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name Jo ...
, best known for writing the banned lesbian classic ''
The Well of Loneliness
''The Well of Loneliness'' is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall that was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose " sexual inversion" (hom ...
'', the sculptor
Una Troubridge, the painter
Romaine Brooks
Romaine Brooks (born Beatrice Romaine Goddard; May 1, 1874 – December 7, 1970) was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized in portrait painting, portraiture and used a subdued tonal Palette (painting), palette ...
, and the tennis player and fencer
Toupie Lowther
May "Toupie" Lowther (also Toupée; 15 April 1874 – 30 December 1944) was an English tennis player and fencer, active during the late 19th century and early 20th century. During the First World War, she led an all-female English unit of ambul ...
. The group referred to themselves as 'The Circle' and would regularly meet to have dinner parties at their homes in the exclusive London borough of
Kensington and Chelsea, visit the theatre, or dance at clubs 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 ...
such as the "Cave of Harmony" and "The Orange Tree". The women lived a privileged lifestyle of grand houses, villas in the sun, inherited incomes, successful careers, and stylish lovers. In the 1930s, however, Enthoven was dropped by her friends
Radclyffe Hall
Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name Jo ...
and
Una Troubridge, with Troubridge accusing Enthoven of "repudiating her own kind when opportune to do so", and adding "she's a rat and we have no use for her".
[Diana Souhami, ''The Trials of Radclyffe Hall'' (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998), p. 242.] Enthoven had played the leading role in a production of
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...
's novel ''
Chéri'' which had been adapted by Troubridge. The play was an unequivocal failure, and this may have contributed to the demise of the women's friendship.
In 1923, Enthoven was instrumental in bringing the Italian actress
Eleonora Duse over to England for her farewell engagement.
Theatrical activities
Enthoven was a keen playwright and had her first play, ''Montmartre'', produced at the
Alhambra Theatre, London in 1912 as part of a
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...
called ''Kill That Fly!''. ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' gave a favourable review of the sketch, writing: "the little wordless thrill, 'Montmartre', by Gabrielle Enthoven, is the most thrilling thing of its kind we have seen". She was the president and founding member, alongside her close friends
Edith Craig and
Christopher St John
Christabel Gertrude Marshall (aka Christopher Marie St John) (24 October 1871 – 20 October 1960) was a British campaigner for women's suffrage, a playwright and author. Marshall lived in a ménage à trois with the artist Clare Atwood and ...
, of the
Pioneer Players
Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig ( Edith Godwin; 9 December 1869 – 27 March 1947), known as Edy Craig, was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughte ...
, a London-based theatre society founded in 1911. The company was formed from members of the
Actresses' Franchise League
The Actresses' Franchise League was a women's suffrage organisation, mainly active in England.
Founding
In 1908 the Actresses' Franchise League was founded by Gertrude Elliott, Adeline Bourne, Winifred Mayo and Sime Seruya at a meeting in the ...
. The
Pioneer Players
Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig ( Edith Godwin; 9 December 1869 – 27 March 1947), known as Edy Craig, was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughte ...
engaged heavily with socio-political issues of the era. The society "acknowledged an interest in
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
and in any other current movement of interest". In 1916, the company produced the play ''Ellen Young'', written by Enthoven and
Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwi ...
. It was performed at the
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy P ...
on 2 April 1916.
In 1921, Enthoven and
Cecile Sartoris's translation of
Gabriele D'Annunzio's ''The Honeysuckle'' played at the
Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)
The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a Broadway theater at 149 West 45th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1903, the Lyceum Theatre is one of the oldest surviving B ...
in New York, as well as at "Playroom 6" 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 ...
, London on 9 May 1927. In 1930, ''The Confederates'', a play written by Enthoven in collaboration with
H. M. Harwood was produced at the
Ambassadors Theatre. Enthoven was an enthusiastic amateur actress and appeared with the "Windsor Strollers", the "Old Stagers" and other prominent amateur companies.
The Belgian playwright
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
asked Enthoven to appear in Paris in a production of his play ''
Pelléas and Mélisande
''Pelléas and Mélisande'' (french: Pelléas et Mélisande) is a Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love of the title characters. It was first performed in 1893.
The work never achieved great success on the stage, a ...
'', although she never did.
Sarah Bernhardt and
Mrs Patrick Campbell
Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner (9 February 1865 – 9 April 1940), better known by her stage name Mrs Patrick Campbell or Mrs Pat, was an English stage actress, best known for appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw and Barrie. She also toured th ...
eventually performed together in this play after being introduced to one another by Enthoven.
Enthoven was a councillor of the
Stage Society and, in 1933, the vice-president of the newly formed "Passing Theatres Association", a society with the aim to collect records and visit sites of old theatres. Shortly before her death in 1950, Enthoven became the first Chairman of the Society for Theatre Research.
[ Jean Scott Rogers, ''Stage By Stage: The Making of the Theatre Museum'' (London: HMSO, 1985), p. xv.]
Theatre collection
After her marriage in 1893, Enthoven began to regularly attend the theatre and to paste various press cuttings relating to the London theatre into
scrapbooks.
["Obituary: Mrs Gabrielle Enthoven", ''The Times'' (London), Saturday 19 August 1950.] Her great interest in theatre and theatre history led Enthoven to start collecting memorabilia and
ephemera related to the stage. She recalled: "It started when, in 1900, I noticed an inaccuracy in some book of stage history. Being passionately interested in the theatre, I wrote to the author who admitted a mistake. There the matter might have stopped; but soon afterwards I happened to find some old playbills that proved my point. That was when the 'collecting' flea bit me." A chance purchase of two-hundred playbills became the foundation of Enthoven's vast collection, and, after her husband's death in 1910, Enthoven's collecting increased.
In 1911, Enthoven mounted a national campaign to establish a permanent theatre collection in a British institution. Writing to ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' she advocated for:
National theatre collections had been established in America at the
Harvard Library, in Rome, Milan, Stockholm and Paris, but not in England. The
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
contained a valuable collection of 600,000 playbills from across Britain and abroad. This collection was, however, considered incomplete.
Enthoven's campaign continued to gain momentum with numerous letters and comments of support appearing in the national press. Enthoven's connections with well-known and celebrated members of theatrical society contributed to the success of the campaign, with people such as
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...
,
Sir George Alexander, and
Sir John Hare publicly declaring their support. In November 1911, it was announced that the
London Museum was to devote a section to a permanent exhibition of theatrical objects that would chart the developments and phases of theatre both in Britain and abroad. It was to be the first time that a British museum had a recognised theatrical section. The project was overseen by
Guy Francis Laking
Sir Guy Francis Laking, 2nd Baronet (21 October 1875 – 22 November 1919) was an English art historian and the first keeper of the London Museum from before its opening until his death.
Life
Laking was born in 1875, the only son of King Ed ...
, the keeper of the London Museum. Enthoven's vast collection of playbills would remain at her home, but she asked the public to lend or give any theatrical objects they possessed to the museum to ensure the exhibition's success. The exhibition was, however, unsuccessful. A visitor to the museum wrote to the ''
Pall Mall Gazette
''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed in ...
'' to declare that "those looking for enlightenment must go away sadly baffled, and those who, having a regard for the sentiment and charm of what such a collection should be, must blush indeed as they see this scanty, mediocre, and careless assortment." A lacklustre response from the public and a lack of space at the museum were blamed for the exhibition's poor reception.
Undeterred, Enthoven continued to write to museums to establish a permanent theatrical section. Her first choice of a home for her collection and theatrical section was the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
. However, she continued to face difficulties and received a letter from the museum stating that "there is so little chance of your scheme being adopted that we should scarcely be justified in asking you to come here, as you suggest, to discuss it."
[ Jean Scott Rogers, ''Stage By Stage: The Making of the Theatre Museum'' (London: HMSO, 1985), p. xiii.] In 1922, the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
held the ''International Theatre Exhibition: Designs and Models for the Modern Stage'' and displayed a number of items from Enthoven's enormous collection. This gave Enthoven the motivation to continue her campaign.
In the 1920s, Enthoven's collection had increased to such an extent that it could no longer remain in her home. In 1924, after more than a decade of campaigning, the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
finally agreed to house her collection, at this time containing more than 80,000 playbills, prints, books and engravings.
The collection was named the ''Gabrielle Enthoven Theatrical Collection''. The playbills were housed in the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design. In 1925, Enthoven and three members of staff arrived at the museum to begin to catalogue, index and arrange the collection. Enthoven received no payment for her work and paid the wages of her staff from her own funds. An appeal for financial aid to contribute to the cataloguing of the collection was launched in the national press, with theatrical personalities such as
Sybil Thorndike supporting the campaign. After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the government provided Enthoven with two paid assistants, though she herself never received a salary.
Enthoven had substantial offers from American institutions to purchase her collection. She was once offered £9,000 by an American collector but refused and upon her death it became known that she had once turned down an American offer of £30,000.
The collection was to remain in England. Enthoven continued to add to the collection up until her death. At the age of 81, the "Grand Old Lady of London theatre first-nighters" still arrived at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
at 10 o'clock every morning to sort and index her playbills.
First and Second World Wars
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Enthoven was one of the first eleven people to join the ''War Refugee Committee''
and became the head of the Correspondence and Indexing Department.
In 1915 she began to work for the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
in dealing with missing soldiers and prisoners of war and, in 1916, she eventually became head of the Records Department of the Central Prisoners of War and Missing Persons Committee dealing with the welfare of British prisoners of war in Germany, Russia and Turkey. This work ceased in 1920 owing to Enthoven's ill health.
In 1921, Enthoven visited New York as a
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
representative to raise funds to build schools for children in devastated areas of France.
Enthoven was awarded an
OBE in recognition of this work.
Radclyffe Hall
Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name Jo ...
was said to be "frankly envious" about Enthoven's activities during the war and the subsequent recognition of her endeavours. Hall had attended
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
lectures, learnt first-aid, and transported library books to casualty wards but felt this was not as heroic as the work undertaken by Enthoven.
On the outbreak of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Enthoven suspended her work at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
and returned to the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
to work as the head of the Records Department of the Central Prisoners of War. Enthoven, in one of her scrapbooks at the museum, wrote: "Work ceased here on declaration of War Sep. 3 1939. I started work here alone on 13 August 1945."
Death
Enthoven died at her home in Cadogan Gardens, London aged 82 on 18 August 1950.
An
obituary appeared in both ''
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 ...
'' and ''
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 ...
''. Before her death Enthoven confirmed:
Enthoven bequeathed the residue of her estate to the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
who, at the time, were responsible for the Victoria and Albert Museum's finances. The bequest states that Enthoven's money would be used to ensure that "proper accommodation for the Gabrielle Enthoven Theatrical collection continues to be provided and for the cataloguing, maintenance arrangement, and description of the Playbills, Prints, Printed Tickets, and other material".
See also
*
Theatre Museum
The Theatre Museum in the Covent Garden district of London, England, was the United Kingdom's national museum of the performing arts. It was a branch of the UK's national museum of applied arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum. It opened in 1974 ...
References
External links
Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre and Performance CollectionsVictoria and Albert Museum Blog: ''Introducing Enthoven'' by Kate DorneyVictoria and Albert Museum Blog: ''The Private Life of Gabrielle Enthoven'' by Eve SmithGabrielle Enthoven in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enthoven, Gabrielle
1868 births
1950 deaths
Women dramatists and playwrights
Archives in the United Kingdom
English archivists
Female archivists
Collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum
Former private collections in the United Kingdom
English dramatists and playwrights