Sylvia Storey
Sylvia Storey | |
|---|---|
 A publicity card from 1910. | |
| Born | Sylvia Lillian Storey 4 October 1889 London |
| Died | 20 July 1947 London |
| Other names | Countess Poulett, Lady Poulett |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, Gaiety Girl, socialite |
| Spouse | William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett |
| Children | George Poulett, 8th Earl Poulett Phoebe Amie Sybil Poulett |
Sylvia Lillian, Countess Poulett (born Sylvia Lillian Storey; 4 October 1889 – 20 July 1947) was a British actress and dancer, a Gaiety Girl who married an Earl and became known as The Countess Poulett.
Early life
[edit]Sylvia Lillian Storey was born in London, the only child of William Frederick Clayton Storey (known as Fred Storey) and Lilian Margaret Thorley Holmes Storey. Her parents were actors,[1] and she joined her father in the cast of Rip Van Winkle in 1899.[2]
Career
[edit]
Sylvia Storey acted and danced on the London stage as a Gaiety Girl, and modeled for postcards, cigarette cards, and other publicity.[3][4] After she married in 1908,[5] she and her husband traveled around the world, appearing in San Francisco in 1910.[4]
In widowhood, she became a socialite. In 1925, she was rumoured to be keeping late nights with Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster on his yacht off Cannes.[6] In consequence, the Duke's angry second wife, Violet Cripps, Baroness Parmoor, threw Poulett's belongings overboard,[7] and her relatives asked the court to take her children from her custody.[8]
Before and during World War II, she spent some time in the United States, especially in Florida,[9] New York, and California.[10][11] She was fined for violating London's blackout orders in 1940,[12][13] and took a cottage in Somerset.[10]
Personal life
[edit]In 1908,[14] Sylvia Storey married William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett.[15][16] He served in the Royal Horse Artillery during World War I,[17] and died in the 1918 flu pandemic.[18] She had two children with Poulett,[19] George Amias Fitzwarrine Poulett (1909-1973), and Lady Bridget Elizabeth Felicia Henrietta Augusta Poulett (1912-1975), and in widowhood a third child, Phoebe Amie Sybil Poulett (1922-1948), whose father was Major Percy Howard Hansen.[20] Her son married and divorced an actress, Oriel Ross.[21] Poulett died in 1947, aged 57 years, in London.[22]
References
[edit]- ^ Urbanora (25 July 2011). "The Soldier's Courtship". The Bioscope. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ "Rip Van Winkle". The Era. 2 December 1899. p. 13. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Our Portraits". The Burr McIntosh Monthly. 18. 1908.
- ^ a b "Young British Lord and Former Stage Favorite Returning from Tour of World". San Francisco Chronicle. 9 July 1910. p. 1. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Earl and the Girl". The Bystander: 526–527. 9 September 1908 – via HathiTrust.
- ^ Nash, Mrs Jean (19 April 1925). "By the Best Dressed and Most Extravagant Woman in the World, Chapter XII(1)". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 124. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Extravagances Force England's Richest Duke to Sell His Ancestral Treasures". The San Francisco Examiner. 15 January 1928. p. 119. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Rich Duke of Westminster Acquires a Third Bride". The San Francisco Examiner. 2 February 1930. p. 122. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Rich, Helen B. (22 January 1936). "From my Notebook". Miami Tribune. p. 22. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Paul, Maury (11 April 1941). "Countess Sylvia Now Domiciled in Cottage". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. 28. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Guests on Desert". The Los Angeles Times. 28 December 1936. p. 25. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Light for Fido". The Ottawa Journal. 29 November 1940. p. 4. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "In London's Blackout". The Ottawa Journal. 8 February 1941. p. 12. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "English Nobleman Weds an Actress". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 6 September 1908. p. 36. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Matthews, Richard (1909). "Actresses Who Have Made Notable Marriages". Actors and Actresses by Different Writers. 3: 543.
- ^ Fyles, Vanderheyden (1910). "The Actress Who Retires". The Green Book Magazine. 3: 1254.
- ^ "Actress Wives Who Have Turned Lords into Heroes". The Austin American. 20 June 1915. p. 29. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Sylvia Storey's Husband is Dead". Vicksburg Evening Post. 11 July 1918. p. 1. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Gaiety Girl Who Left Stage to Go to Altar is Popular". The Inter Ocean. 8 December 1912. p. 13. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nash, Mrs Jean (19 April 1925). "By the Best Dressed and Most Extravagant Woman in the World, Chapter XII(2)". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 125. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "No Actresses Wanted in Lord Poulett's Love Scenes". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. 23 January 1944. p. 53. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Person Page: Sylvia Lilian Storey". The Peerage. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
External links
[edit]- Six portraits of Sylvia Storey, all made before 1922, in the National Portrait Gallery.
- A 1908 portrait of Storey, at Getty Images.
