Charlotte Saunders in 'The Lady of Lyons'

A carte-de-visite portrait of the actress Charlotte Saunders (1825-1899), seen here as the male character Claude Melnotte in the perennial favourite The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, first presented at the Covent Garden Theatre in London on 15 February 1838 and revived many times over the following decades. It was also adapted into two operas, and formed part of the plot of an operetta.

The Lady of Lyons; or, Love and Pride, commonly shortened to The Lady of Lyons, was a five act romantic melodrama; its plot concerned a gardener's son (Claude Melnotte) and his love for the daughter of a rich merchant.

Writing at the end of the century, one journalist thought that 'The play is Bulwer Lytton's masterpiece for the stage, and has held its place as a standard drama for near on to half a century, being as popular now as when it was first produced' (Hawaiian Star, April 29, 1899).

Photographer unidentified.

[From an album compiled by the actor and author Charles Daly.]