Adelaide Neilson

Lilian Adelaide Neilson (3 March 1847 – 15 August 1880), born Elizabeth Ann Brown, was a British stage actress.

Neilson was the daughter of a strolling actress, Anne Brown, and was born, out of wedlock, at 35 St Peters Square Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In childhood she was known as Elizabeth Anne Bland, her mother having subsequently married a mechanic and house decorator named Samuel Bland. She grew up in relative poverty, initially in Skipton and later Guiseley, West Yorkshire (near Leeds), where she worked in a factory and as a nursery maid.

When she was about 15 years old Neilson left her home and made her way to London. Soon after she reached London, she obtained employment because of her beauty, as a member of the ballet at one of the theatres, and in that way she began her professional career. Various romantic tales were printed concerning her way of life at that time.

She married Philip Henry Lee, the son of a clergyman resident at Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, on 30 November 1864 at St. Mary's Church, Newington, Surrey using the name Lilian Adelaide Lizon. At her later adult baptism at St. Peter's Church, Leeds on 30 December 1866 (born 3 March 1847) she was also named Lilian Adelaide Lizon, daughter of Pierre and Annie Lizon of St. Peters Square, and Pierre's quality being described as gentleman.

In the spring of 1865, after having received some instruction from the veteran actor, John Ryder, she appeared at Sarah Thorne's Theatre Royal (Margate), long a training-school for novices, where she made a favourable impression. In 1865, at Theatre Royal (Margate), she appeared as Julia in The Hunchback, a character with which her name was long to be associated.

For the next few years, she played at London and provincial theatres in various roles, including Rosalind, Amy Robsart and Rebecca (in Ivanhoe), Beatrice, Viola and Isabella (in Measure for Measure). In July 1865 she was brought out at the New Royalty Theatre, London, in the character of Juliet. Her achievement was not considered extraordinary, but it attracted some favourable attention, and she was able to continue with acting. She was a part of a production of The Hugenot Captain by Watts Phillips given by the Princess Theatre on 2 July 1866. Neilson played the role of the heroine Gabrielle de Savigny. In November 1866 she received favourable reviews for her portrayal of Victorine, another character in The Hugenot Captain. This time the play was performed at the Adelphi Theatre. She also played Nelly Armroyd, in Lost in London. Phillips was pleased with her acting; so was the critic Joseph Knight and the dramatist John Westland Marston; and all of them promote her career.

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