Ruth Herbert

A carte-de-visite portrait of the actor (later actor-manager) and Pre-Raphaelite muse Ruth Herbert (1831-1921).

Born Louisa Ruth Maynard, her profession name was ‘Miss Herbert.' She married, firstly, Edward Crabb, 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.