Dorothy Minto

Dorothy Minto
Dorothy Minto in 1914 Portrait by Bassano Ltd © National Portrait Gallery, London. NPG x83360
Born	probably (1886-02-21)21 February 1886 probably Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	6 December 1957(1957-12-06) (aged 71) Chelsea, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1904–1936
Spouse(s)	Shiel Barry (1907-1916) Capt. Robert Geoffrey Buxton (1921-1928)

Dorothy Minto (ca. 21 February 1886 – 6 December 1957) was a prominent actor on the London stage between 1905 and the mid-1930s, notably appearing in the first runs of several plays written by George Bernard Shaw. She also featured in a small number of films between 1916 and 1936. While her early stage career concentrated on classical plays and serious new work, from 1912 onwards she devoted herself more to musicals and comedies.

Many references to Dorothy Minto state or imply that she was born in 1891 (for instance, her entry in Who's Who in the Theatre, 1925, gives her date of birth as 21 Feb 1891). This is based on the assumption that she was just 14 years old when playing Juliet in a 1905 production of Romeo and Juliet. However, she was (almost certainly) born in 1886 and raised as Dorothy Scott. She was very probably the daughter of Harriett Chambers of Edinburgh, a member of the publishing family that produced the Chambers Dictionary.

Dorothy Scott grew up in Acton, Middlesex and the Kensington area of London. In the 1891 and 1901 censuses she was living with Harriett Chambers, described as a 'visitor' born in Edinburgh. She took acting tuition at an establishment run by Mrs. Crowe (née Kate Josephine Bateman, an actor in America and Britain who had opened an acting school in London in 1892). A photograph taken by Window & Grove of Baker St, probably while she was at acting school, is labelled "Miss Dorothy Minto Scott". She was known by the stage name of Dorothy Minto throughout her career.

In 1903/4 Dorothy Minto worked with F. R. Benson's company, beginning with small parts. Her breakthrough came in 1905 when she worked with William Poel's Elizabethan Stage Society and was cast as Juliet alongside Esmé Percy's Romeo. Subsequent legend put their ages at the time of the performance as 14 and 17, though a contemporary report in the London Daily Chronicle (6 May 1905) gave more realistic ages of 19 and 21. The production and the leading performances were critical successes and Minto went on to secure a number of prestigious roles in leading productions, including classical works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Ben Jonson and Aristophanes and plays by new authors, most notably George Bernard Shaw (she was described as one of Shaw's favourite performers) but also John Galsworthy, J. M. Barrie and Harley Granville Barker amongst others. In 1907 she played in Elizabeth Robins' play "Votes for Women", the first suffragist play to be performed on the London stage, and she later became a member of the suffragist Actresses' Franchise League.