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Eleanor Souray

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Eleanor Souray, from a 1904 publication.

Eleanor "Nellie" Souray (1880 – 8 December 1931), later styled as Eleanor Byng, Viscountess Torrington, was an English actress known for her roles in Edwardian musical comedies, pantomime and light opera.

Early life

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Souray was born Ellen Mary Souray (or Sowray) at Long Ditton,[1] one of eight children of Edwin Souray and Mary Ann (or Marion) Husted Souray. Her sister Maidie Souray was also an actress.[2]

Career

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Souray was a comic actress and singer, preferring the range of shows "from pantomime to light comedy".[3] She appeared in The Black Tulip (1898), The Girl from Kays (1902), The Duchess of Dantzic (1903), The Blue Moon (1905), The Merveilleuses (1906), The Admirable Crichton, and Letty.[4][5] She was also associated with the Gaiety Theatre.[6]

She wrote Over the Garden Wall: A Story of Racing and Romance, published in 1924.[7]

Personal life

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In 1910, Souray married George Master Byng, the 9th Viscount Torrington, at the British Embassy in Paris; they met three days earlier, through their mutual interest in horse racing.[8][9] They were married about four years when the viscount was commissioned to serve in the Royal Navy during World War I. They separated after the war; he declared bankruptcy in 1919, and they were divorced in 1921. She was later romantically linked with jockey and trainer Steve Donoghue.[10]

Souray became more involved with horse racing in her later years, an expensive hobby, which led to her own bankruptcy in 1930.[11] She died by suicide in 1931, in London, at the age of 51.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Bampton Hunt, John Parker, The Green Room Book (T. S. Clark 1907), p. 403.
  2. ^ Photograph of Maidie Souray, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (February 8, 1908), p. 923.
  3. ^ "Plays and Players", Navy & Army Illustrated (September 24, 1904), p. 835.
  4. ^ Hayter-Menzies, Grant. Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke (McFarland 2016), p. 207. ISBN 9780786453085
  5. ^ Felix, Hugo, Victorien Sardou and Adrian Ross. The Merveilleuses: A New Comedy Opera, Chappell (1906), p. iii.
  6. ^ a b "How Lady Torrington's Craze for Horses Brought Her to a Tragic Finish", Ogden Standard-Examiner (January 17, 1932), p. 24. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  7. ^ Byng, Eleanor Souray, Viscountess Torrington. Over the Garden Wall: A Story of Racing and Romance (Hutchinson & Co., 1924).
  8. ^ "Torrington Marriage" The Daily News (December 6, 1910): 1. via TroveOpen access icon
  9. ^ "Actress Wins Title By Winning a Race" Inter Ocean (October 16, 1910): 14. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  10. ^ Atkinson, Diane. Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front (Pegasus Books 2011). ISBN 9781681770161
  11. ^ "Former Wife of Peer a Suicide by Gas" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (January 3, 1932): 18. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
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