Katie Seymour

A Woodburytype portrait of the actress Katie Seymour (1870-1903), a burlesque and musical comedy entertainer who was primarily known for her dancing. She was considered one of the first to perform a style of dance called the skirt dance. Seymour began in song and dance routines at a very young age and went on to appear in a string of highly successful long-running musicals staged at London’s Gaiety Theatre during the 1890s. She fell ill in 1903 while on a theatrical tour of British South Africa and died of renal failure in a nursing home in Maida Vale not long after her return home. She was survived by her husband, the music hall comedian Harry Athol.

Photographed by Alfred Ellis of London and published by Eglington and Co in May 1891.