Angelita Helena Margarita, Lady Martin-Harvey (née Ferro; 28 August 1865/1867 – 29 March 1949)[1] was an English actress, known by such stage names as Miss N. de Silva or Nell de Silva.
Angelita Helena Maria de Silva Ferro | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1865/1867 (most likely, disputed and unconfirmable) Chile |
| Died | 1949 Surrey, England, UK |
| Nationality | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Other names | Miss N. de Silva or Nell de Silva |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | John Martin-Harvey (m. 1889) |
| Children | 2 |
Although her parents, Don Ramon de Silva Ferro, a Chilean consul, and his wife, Caroline Milliken, had married in England in 1883, she was born, most likely in Chile, sometime during the 1860s. She was reluctant to reveal her true age. At her marriage at the beginning of 1889[2] to actor John Martin-Harvey, she claimed to be 21. She become a leading lady of her husband's theater troupe.[3] They met at a performance of Goethe's Faust at Cambridge.[4] The couple had two children: Muriel and Michael, both actors, like their parents.[5]
During World War I, she and her husband toured the UK, giving military recruitment lectures and raising money for the Red Cross and other charities, most notably the Nation's Fund for Nurses. They raised enough money to buy a building for the College of Nursing in 1920, which became a rest home for nurses.[5]
Lady Martin-Harvey died from undisclosed causes on 29 March 1949, in Surrey, England.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Search Results for England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007". findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ Nina de Silva (1869-1949), emory.edu; accessed 14 January 2016.
- ^ Thomas Power O'Connor (1901) In the days of my youth. London: C. Arthur Pearson, Limited.
- ^ a b Profile, imdb.com; accessed 14 January 2016.
- ^ Dates of birth and death, harveyhistory.info; accessed 16 January 2016.
Further reading
edit- Disher, Maurice Willson. The Last Romantic. The Authorised Biography of Sir John Martin-Harvey. London: Hutchinson, n.d.
- Martin-Harvey, Sir John. The Autobiography of Sir John Martin-Harvey. London: Sampson Low, Marston, n.d.
External links
edit
Media related to Nell de Silva at Wikimedia Commons- Nell de Silva at the Internet Broadway Database
- Nell de Silva at IMDb
