Fanny Josephs

A carte-de-visite portrait of the English actress and singer Frances Adeline Josephs (1842-1890), known professionally as Fanny Josephs.

She made her debut on the London stage in 1860 as ‘Celia’ in a revival of As You Like It at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre. In 1877, she starred in one of the most successful plays of the day, The Pink Dominos, at the Criterion Theatre, alongside Charles Wyndham.

On 19 April 1884 at St James's Piccadilly she married Captain Henry Herbert Wombell of the Royal Horse Guards, who after her death succeeded his father in 1913 and became 5th Baronet Wombwell, of Wombwell, co. Yorks.

Mrs Adeline Frances Wombwell died on 17 June 1890 at the Nayland Rock Hotel in Margate, leaving an estate valued at £3702.

'The death is announced of Miss Fanny Josephs, who had been prominently associated with the Prince of Wales Theatre, Liverpool, having been lessee and manageress for the last five or six years. Miss Josephs had been in failing health for many months past, but she managed the affairs of the theatre with the able assistance of Mr McNeill, the acting manager, to the close of the season, when she went to Margate by the doctor's orders, and where she died on Tuesday afternoon at half-past 12. The deceased lady came of an old theatrical family, her father having for many years been the manager of the Old Dunlop-street theatre, Glasgow, and it was here that she made her first appearance as a child-actress. As she grew up she went into the ballet (in conformity with the universal custom of that day), and her progress was so rapid that in 1853 she appeared at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, then under the management of Mr H. Saker, as Peggy Brown in Domestic Economy. It is an interesting fact to note that among others in the cast was included Mr J.L. Toole. After this Miss Josephs turned her attention to burlesque, in which she displayed such ability that she quickly rose to the foremost rank in that line. It was while on this tour that Miss Josephs's first managerial connection with Liverpool commenced, and on the 20 April, 1885, she opened the Prince of Wales Theatre with The Private Secretary. Since then her enterprise and business capacity were well known' (Manchester Courier, 21 June 1890).

Photographed by the Southwell Brothers of London.