Ruth Herbert

A carte-de-visite portrait of the actress-manager Louisa Herbert (1831-1921), seen here dressed as Diana, the Goddess of the Moon, in William Brough’s Endymion, or, The Naughty Boy who Cried for the Moon, in which she appeared at the Royal St James’s Theatre in December 1860 and March 1861.

Born Louisa Ruth Maynard, her profession name was ‘Miss Herbert.' She married, firstly, Edward Crabb [or Crabbe], then John Rochfort. She made her London debut on 15 October 1855 at the Strand Theatre; she eventually became the actress-manager of the St James's Theatre. A famous beauty, Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted her as The Blessed Damsel.

In 1863 she starred as Lady Audley in George Roberts’s adaptation of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley's Secret, and the following year she played Eleanor in Eleanor's Victory. Braddon greatly admired Herbert's performance as Lady Audley, and urged Edward Bulwer Lytton to go and see the play.

Photographed by the Southwell Brothers of London.

Entered at Stationers' Hall on 3 October 1862.