Horniman, Annie
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Annie Horniman 1860—1937

Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman was born at Forest Hill, the only daughter of Frederick John Horniman, founder of the Horniman Museum. His home, Surrey Mount, in London Road, was used to house his collections before the Museum was built. From an early age Annie Horniman rebelled against Victorian ideas of how women should behave; for instance, she smoked heavily from the age of seventeen onwards. Her family disapproved of the theatre, but a secret visit with her governess to the Crystal Palace to see “The Merchant of Venice” kindled her interest in drama, and her enthusiasm grew when she saw the Comédie Française in London in 1879.

Between 1882 and 1886 Annie Horniman studied at the Slade School of Art, where she made some interesting friends but discovered that she had no artistic talent. She was fond of taking cycling holidays alone on the Continent, wearing bloomers and riding a man’s bicycle; in England this intrepid activity aroused so much attention that she sometimes needed police protection. In 1893 her grandfather left her a large legacy, and she used some of it to back a season of plays at the Avenue Theatre. The season made a loss, but Miss Horniman described it as a “fruitful failure”, and among the productions was the first public performance of Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man”.

Miss Horniman knew W. B. Yeats well, and had spent some time helping him with his correspondence. Her connection with him was probably the main reason why she determined to help the Irish establish a national theatre. In 1904 she went to Dublin, where she built the Abbey Theatre, allowed the Irish Players free use of it and gave them an annual subsidy of £600 until the end of 1910, when she transferred the freehold of the property to trustees. This venture founded the famous Abbey Theatre, but Miss Horniman’s outspoken character did not altogether endear itself to her Irish colleagues, and her help did not receive the appreciation it deserved.

In 1906 Miss Horniman’s father died, and, because she was virtually estranged from him, she inherited only £25,000, a small part of his wealth. By now she was middle-aged, a strong, independent woman, straight-talking, generous and interested in others. She had rather a low opinion of men, and was angry when she was once mistaken for the wife of a friend, for at no time in her life would she tolerate being taken for anyone’s wife. She loved travelling and all forms of art, but she was generally quite uninterested in the domestic virtues, except for a passion for darning socks.

In 1907 a small group of people, including W. B. Yeats, met in Miss Horniman’s flat to discuss the idea of starting a repertory theatre in Manchester. Miss Horniman offered to fund the venture, which would be the first of its kind. The Midland Hotel Theatre was hired for a few weeks in the autumn of 1907, actors engaged, and the first play, “David Ballard”, by Charles McEvoy, was staged on 23 September 1907. Four other plays were also put on during this short season, and critics liked the ensemble playing of the company, with no ‘stars’ to over shadow the other actors. The company then went on tour to several provincial cities.

Annie Horniman bought the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, in 1908, and had it altered and redecorated. B. den Payne was appointed general manager, but Miss Horniman had ultimate control of the company, and she also devoted much time to reading plays, looking in particular for good new English dramatists. The first production at the Gaiety was “Measure for Measure”, staged as the Elizabethans would have done it, with no scenery, few props and only one interval. After a week of performances it was followed by Shaw’s “Candida”.

A pattern was soon established at the Gaiety. The turnover of productions was very rapid, with a new play staged every week, some of which were revived later in the season. Seats could be booked in advance, which was unusual in those days, and ticket prices were kept low. During the first season, plays by Shaw, Galsworthy, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Euripides were among those presented. The second season at the Gaiety included productions of Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People”, Ben Jonson’s ”Every Man in his Humour”, Sheridan’s “The Critic”, Galsworthy’s “Strife” and “Much Ado about Nothing”. In July 1910 the University of Manchester conferred an honorary M.A. on Annie Horniman which pleased her greatly She was now very busy but she answered all her correspondence personally and did a lot of public speaking.

Lewis Casson took over as manager of the Gaiety in October 1911 and his wife Sybil Thorndike became one of the company s leading actresses The company continued to put on new plays whenever possible including the first production of Hindle Wakes In 1912 they went on tour to Canada for six weeks and in 1913 they toured both Canada and the United States where their reception was rather mixed The company also had London seasons in 1909 and 1911—1913 In 1914 Lewis Casson resigned as manager after his modernistic production of Julius Caesar bad been much criticised and from then on artistic standards at the Gaiety began to fall. The theatre was also in financial difficulties, as box office receipts were bad, particularly after the First World War started in 1914. Finally, in 1917 the company was disbanded. Annie Horniman retained the Gaiety Theatre until 1920, when it was sold and converted into a cinema. She took no further active part in the theatre, although she always remained interested in it. In 1933 she was made a Companion of Honour, and she died on 6 August 1937.

Annie Horniman was an interesting person with many individual traits of character, for instance her love of cats and Wagner’s operas, and her habit of always wearing long medieval-style dresses. She can justly be called the pioneer of repertory theatre, for without her willingness to devote unlimited time, money aid energy to the Gaiety, one of the most important developments in English theatre would not have taken place.

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