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 (1816-1890), was a theatrical costumier and wigmaker [1] who owned a shop at 19 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Their mother Sarah Jane Biddulph née Godden (1818-1897) was the daughter of Welsh-born strolling player Will Wood and his actress wife.
They were:
They made their début on Christmas night in 1861 in Edinburgh [3] and made their London début at the Alhambra Theatre in 1862 when they were billed as 'The Five Little Vokes'. [3] First as the "Vokes Children" and later the "Vokes Family," they began to perform at music halls and at pantomimes, and by their agility and humour made the name well known to English and American theatre-goers. [4] Early in this career, at the Lyceum Theatre, London, they danced in W. S. Gilbert's pantomime, Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren . [5] They first appeared in the popular The Belles of the Kitchen on 27 February 1869 at the Standard Theatre in London. They made their Paris debut in August 1870 at the Théâtre du Châtelet 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. [6]
The piece that most successfully carried an audience by storm was The Belles of the Kitchen, in which the Vokes family made its debut in the United States at the Union Square Theatre 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 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 in New York where they remained for three months. The Vokes family returned to the USA without Rosina Vokes in April 1881 when they appeared at the Globe Theatre in Boston and returned to England in June 1882 but without Fred Vokes; the family returned to the USA in Autumn 1882. They made their last appearance in New York at the Mount Morris Theatre in Harlem in January 1883, returning to England (again without brother Fred) in June 1883. [3]
From 1868 to 1879 (with the exception of 1873, when they were touring abroad) the family were regular performers in the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane under the management of F. B. Chatterton until the new manager Augustus Harris found them to be too old-fashioned having never updated their dancing routines and too demanding, while they considered him a tyrant.
Fred and two of his sisters are buried in Brompton Cemetery, London. [7]
The Vokeses through their mother's brother, actor William F. Wood (1799-1855), were first cousins of American actress Rose Wood Morrison, who was the maternal grandmother of Hollywood starlets Constance Bennett and Joan Bennett.
This familial connection and an overview of the Vokes' lives is featured in Joan Bennett's memoir, The Bennett Playbill published in 1970.
Brompton Cemetery is since 1852 the first London cemetery to be Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Established by Act of Parliament and laid out in 1839, it opened in 1840. Consecrated by Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London, in June 1840, it is one of Britain's oldest and most distinguished garden cemeteries. Some 35,000 monuments, from simple headstones to substantial mausolea, mark more than 205,000 resting places. The site includes large plots for family mausolea, and common graves where coffins are piled deep into the earth. It also has a small columbarium, and a secluded Garden of Remembrance at the northern end for cremated remains. The cemetery continues to be open for burials. It is also known as an urban haven for nature. In 2014, it was awarded a National Lottery grant to carry out essential restoration and develop a visitor centre, among other improvements. The restoration work was completed in 2018.
Vokes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Walter Brandon Thomas was an English actor, playwright and songwriter, best known as the author of the farce Charley's Aunt.
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Ada Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s.
Huntley Wright was an English stage and film actor, comedian, dancer and singer, best known for creating roles in many important Edwardian musical comedies.
Ellen "Nellie" Farren was an English actress and singer known for her roles as the "principal boy" in musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre in London. For a quarter of a century there, she was "the best-known star of London burlesque".
Isabel Irving was an American stage actress.
The Vokes Theatre, also known as Beatrice Herford's Vokes Theatre, is a 1904 miniature of a London theatre in Wayland, Massachusetts built by and named for Beatrice Herford. The theatre is located on the estate of Herford and her husband, Sidney Hayward.
Willie Edouin was an English comedian, actor, dancer, singer, writer, director and theatre manager.
Sarah Thorne was a British actress and actress-manager of the 19th century who managed the Theatre Royal at Margate for many years. She ran a school for acting there which is widely regarded as Britain's first formal drama school. The Sarah Thorne Theatre Club in Broadstairs is named in her memory.
Victoria Rosaline Sarah Vokes was a British music hall, pantomime and burlesque actress and dancer of the 19th-century and a member of the Vokes Family of entertainers. For more than ten years they were the central attraction at the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1868 to 1879 when their popularity began to wane.
Jessie Vokes was a British music hall, pantomime and burlesque actress and dancer of the 19th-century and a member of the Vokes Family of entertainers. For more than ten years they were the central attraction at the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1868 to 1879 when their popularity began to wane.
Rosina Vokes 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 America from 1885 to 1893.
Frederick Mortimer Vokes was a British music hall, pantomime and burlesque dancer and actor of the 19th-century and a member of the Vokes Family troupe of entertainers. For more than ten years they were the central attraction at the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1868 to 1879 when their popularity began to wane. Because of his eccentric style of dancing he was billed as the "Legmania" dancer.
Fawdon Vokes was a British music hall, pantomime and burlesque actor and dancer who performed as a member of the Vokes Family 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 from 1868 to 1879 when their popularity began to wane.
Frederick Balsir Chatterton, known as F. B. Chatterton was a 19th-century British theatre manager and impresario who was lessee of the Theatre Royal in London's Drury Lane from 1866 to 1879. He is credited with originating the famous quote, "Shakespeare spelt ruin and Byron bankruptcy".
Kitty Loftus was an English dancer, singer and actor-manager. A leading soubrette of the 1890s and 1900s in comedies, burlesque, pantomime and musical plays, at the height of her career she performed with her Kitty Loftus Company. One critic praised her as "a tricky sprite and a fantastic elf." In her last years, she performed in variety in music halls and on tour.
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