Eleanor Bufton

A hand-coloured carte-de-visite portrait of the actress Eleanor Bufton (1840-1893). According to an inscription in a period hand in the lower margin, she is seen here as Helena in a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although she had played Hermia at the Princess's Theatre in 1856 (with Caroline Heath as Helena), I can find no record of Miss Bufton ever playing Helena.

Born in Wales in 1840, Miss Bufton first appeared on the stage in Edinburgh. Her first London appearance was in Honour before Titles at the St James’s Theatre in 1854. She followed this with various Shakespearian roles at the Princess’s Theatre, before appearing in a string of burleseques at the Strand (1860-1866). Her career continued throughout the 1870s and 1880s; her last appearance was in The Tin Box at the Globe in 1892.

On 21 February 1860, she married Arthur Swanborough, son of the Strand Theatre lessee Henry Valentine Smith, known as H.V. Swanborough. Her father-in-law committed suicide in 1863, and her husband took over as acting manager of the theatre until 1888.

Mrs Swanborough died on 9 April 1893 at 169 The Strand in London; she was buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Photographer unidentified.

Published by T.H. Lacy of London.