Henrietta Elizabeth Spiers (6 August 18811973) was a British costume designer for the theatre and

silent films A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, whe ...

, a screenwriter, and an author.

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's Women Film Pioneers Project counts her among those on its list of 'Unhistoricized Women Film Pioneers'.

Early life

Hetty Spiers was born in

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area w ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in 1881 the daughter of Amelia Matilda ''née'' Bromley and Kaufmann Charles Spiers, of German and Irish descent. From a family of writers, her father was the drama, music, and art critic for the ''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the tit ...

'' while her older brother Kaufmann Charles St. George Spiers Jr. was a reporter, correspondent writer, and book reviewer. He also wrote the play ''If Youth But Knew'', which was made as a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

in 1926 starring

Godfrey Tearle Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle (12 October 1884 – 9 June 1953) was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential British gentleman on stage and in both British and US films. Biography Born in New York City and brought up in Britain, he was th ...

and

Mary Odette Marie Odette Goimbault (10 August 1901 – 26 March 1987), known professionally as Mary Odette, was a French-born film actress. Odette starred in a number of films made by Astra Films. After the slump of 1924 dramatically reduced the number o ...

.Biography of Hetty Spiers - Women and Silent British Cinema
/ref> By 1901 her parents were separated and Spiers was living with her mother and brother at 121 Stockwell Park Road in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

in London where she was listed as a 'chorister' and her brother as a 'journalist'. Her father was boarding at an address in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

; he died the same year. By 1911 she and her brother and mother were living in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

in London where Hetty Spiers was a 28-year old art student at the London County Council School of Art. On leaving college later in 1911 Spiers worked at the

London Opera House London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

where, in a later interview, she said she designed the costumes for the operas.

Marriage

Spiers married the screenwriter and director

Langford Reed Langford Reed (11 November 1878 – 8 March 1954) was a British author, writer and collector of limericks, scriptwriter, director and actor of the silent film era. Biography Reed was born in Clapham in London in 1878 as Herbert Langford Reed, ...

in London in 1912. Their daughter, the actress Joan Mary Langford Reed made her screen début aged two years in ''

The Heart of a Rose ''The Heart of a Rose'' is a 1919 British silent film, silent drama film directed by Jack Denton and starring Stella Muir, Henry Victor and Douglas Payne. The film has a northern setting and was filmed in Sheffield. Described as ‘a simple story ...

'' (1919), written by her father. She went on to appear in ''

Testimony In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. La ...

'' (1920), ''

The Wonderful Wooing ''The Wonderful Wooing'' is a 1926 British silent drama film directed by Geoffrey Malins and starring Marjorie Hume, G. H. Mulcaster and Genevieve Townsend. It was based on the 1925 novel ''The Wonderful Wooing'' by Douglas Walshe. The screenpl ...

'' (1925), and '' The Luck of the Navy'' (1927). She was the first winner of the ‘Navana Juvenile Beauty Competition’ in 1922 and in 1923 was featured in the Glaxo Baby Food advertising campaign.

Writing career

For the

Clarendon Film Company The Clarendon Film Company was a British film studio founded by Percy Stow and Henry Vassal Lawley. The studio was founded in 1904 in Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Bor ...

, Spiers wrote the screenplay for the comedy ''Sister Susie’s Sewing Shirts for Soldiers'' (1917) and the crime film ''Queen of My Heart'' (1917). In 1919 her article 'Costume Designing for Cinematography' was published in ''

The Bioscope ''BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies'' is a blind peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for discuss the historical, regional, and virtual spaces of screen cultures, including globalized and multi-sited conditions of production and circulat ...

'' and she was awarded a prize for Best Costume Representing a Stoll Film at the Crystal Palace Carnival in 1921 for ''

The Fruitful Vine ''The Fruitful Vine'' is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Basil Rathbone, Valia and Irene Rooke. From the silent era, probably the most notable thing about the film was an early appearance of British a ...

'' starring a young

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

. With her husband Spiers co-authored the books ''Daphne Goes Down'' (1925), ''Who's Who in Filmland'' (1931), and ''The Mantle of Methuselah: A Farcical Novel'' (1939). Also with her husband she wrote the screenplay for ''

Potter's Clay ''Potter's Clay'' is a 1922 British silent drama film directed by H. Grenville-Taylor and Douglas Payne and starring Ellen Terry, Dick Webb, and Peggy Hathaway.Low p.429 Cast * Ellen Terry as Lady Merrall * Dick Webb as Clifford Merrall ...

'' (1922), a

directed by H. Grenville-Taylor and

Douglas Payne Douglas Payne (1875 in England – 3 August 1965 in London, England) was a British actor of the silent era. Selected filmography * '' Maria Marten'' (1913) * '' The Harbour Lights'' (1914) * ''In the Ranks'' (1914) * ''Enoch Arden'' (1914) * '' ...

and starring

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

. She and her husband adapted the screenplay into a novel of the same name in 1923. Spiers died aged 91 in 1973 in

Richmond-upon-Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

.England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 for Henrietta Elizabeth L Reed: 1973, Q1-Jan-Feb-Mar - Ancestry.com
/ref>

References

External links

Hetty Langford Reed
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiers, Hetty 1881 births 1973 deaths Novelists from Liverpool Alumni of the University of the Arts London English costume designers Silent film screenwriters 20th-century English novelists English women novelists 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 20th-century screenwriters People from Toxteth