In my meanderings through old newspapers, I cam across this reference to an Australian actor performing with William Gillette in the play "Sherlock Holmes".
Australian Actress.
Miss Lilian Wheeler in London.
Engaged in "Sherlock Holmes" at Lyceum Theatre. London. February 14.
Miss Lilian Wheeler, an Australian actress who formerly was a member of Mr. Rignold's company, has been engaged to succeed Miss Charlotte Granville in the part Madge Larra-
bee in "Sherlock Holmes," a play which has been running successfully at the
Lyceum Theatre since September 9 last. Miss Wheeler will accompany Mr. William Gillette's company when " Sherlock Holmes" is taken on tour in tlie United States and Australia in 1903.
Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA), Tue 11 Mar 1902
Lilian Wheeler, the Australian acttess who joins William Gillette in order to play Madge Larrabee in "Sherlock Holmes," is a native of Daylesford, Vic. (says the "Critic"). She walked on with Bland Holt for a year before George Rignold gave her a chance as Hetty Preene in "The Lights of London." In three months she was playing lead. She tours America and Australia with Gillette.
But by May 1902, the The Bendigo Independent reported that "A chance for which most young aspirants to theatrical fame would have given years of their life fell to Miss Lilian Wheeler, when she was engaged to play lead in Mr. William Gillette's production of "Sherlock Holmes" at the Lyceum Theatre, with the English provinces, America, and Australia to follow. Miss Wheeler has since retired from the cast in London, but will join the touring company."
The 'Newsletter' that same month shared that this was due to Wheeler's health: 'I regret to state that owing to illness Miss Lilian Wheeler has been obliged to resign her part in Mr. Wm. Gillette's Sherlock Holmes Company. The Newsletter wishes the clever little lady a quick return to health and the 'boards' again.'
Wheeler recovered - the play toured the UK. The 'Pall Mall Gazette for Saturday 14 June 1902 stated that 'Miss Lilian Wheeler, the beautiful young actress who is playing the part of Madge Larrabee in Sherlock Holmes at Brighton this week, is an Australian, and is properly proud of the fact she only came the “Old Country” in January, and this is her first part in England.' 'The Era' for Saturday 21 June 1902 reported that in the Portsmouth performance 'Miss Lillian Wheeler is excellent as Madge Larrabee'.
Was Lilian Wheeler the Australian Sherlockian actress? The tour to Australia did not happen, but Gillette did take the play to the US. Wheeler does not appear to have joined the tour.
A 1902 article when Wheeler burst onto the scene in London provides some background on her:
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News - Saturday 05 April 1902
MISS LILIAN WHEELER.
Miss Lilian Wheeler, who has joined Charles Frohman and is to play the part of Madge Larrabee in Sherlock Holmes, at the Kennington Theatre, is an Australian who has secured for herself a very enviable position in the Australian theatrical world. When engaged by Mr. Frohman, she was practically at the head of her profession there. Miss Wheeler comes from Victoria, and has had to make her own way in the world, she having lost her people when quite a child. She graduated from the University of Melbourne, and to enable her to gain her footing in the theatrical world, she was obliged to teach at a school for some con siderable time. When she got her chance, however, her promotion came very rapidly, and in three years she had reached the top of the tree. Miss Wheeler is described as a very beautiful woman, tall, athletic, and a dashing horsewoman.
Wheeler did travel to the US in 1905 to join her actor husband actor Ernest Mainwaring. and died in New York.
Great regret was expressed in theatrical circles—and, indeed, the playgoing public shared a similar feeling— when the cable informed us of the untimely death of Miss Lilian Wheeler, who, after she went abroad, became Mrs. Ernest Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering), her husband being the son of a distinguished English general. Miss Wheeler will be well recollected in Australia, and especially Sydney, where, at Her Majesty's Theatre, she established the acting reputation of the house when it was controlled by a former lessee. She is probably best remembered as the Desdemona in Mr. George Rignold's production of "Othello." Her beauty, together with great histrionic ability, made her stage success complete.
Miss Wheeler's death occurred in New York, where she had gone from London to join her husband, who was touring in Texas; and her remains were translated thence to England and laid to rest in the Mainwaring family vault. A pathetic illustration of a woman's friendship peeped out of the advertising pages of "The Daily Telegraph" (Sydney) recently, and here it follows in its simple eloquence:—
WHEELER.—In loving memory of Lilian Wheeler (Mrs. Ernest Mainwaring), who died in New York November, 1905, aged 28 years.
"Under the shadow of Thy wings she has found rest."
—Inserted by her devoted friend, Mary Alexia St. H. Cussack.
At some point I'll add some genealogical information on Wheeler's parents/birth in Australia. As the article above states, while Lilian died in New York, her remains were transported back to England for burial in Cheshire. She is buried at the Overleigh Old Cemetery.
In loving memory of
Lilian Maud
Wife of Ernest Charles Mainwaring
Who died 11th November 1905
Aged 29 years
"Blessed Are The Pure In Heart, For They Shall See God."
Lilian shared the story of her Australian upbringing with several newspapers, and these help identify Lilian's life events in Victoria. Here I have abstracted information related to Lilian's past:
Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW)
Saturday 25 March 1899
"My father died when I was hardly more than an infant, my mother about ten years later. I scarcely remember her, but her friends all tell me that she was a very beautiful and highly educated woman, and a brilliant conversationalist. I was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, and it was there that my mother for several years edited the local paper, the 'Castlemaine Representative.' After her death I lived with Mr. and Mrs. T.R. Andrews, in Melbourne, and to them I am indebted for both my education and a home. Mrs. Andrews, a splendid elocution-teacher, gave me instruction in voice-production, but I always refused to learn recitation, although fully determined that some day I would go on the stage. I studied physiology and anatomy under Mrs. Andrews in connection with voice-production, and all my spare hours were occupied in learning by heart...."I have not yet identified her birth registration, but other information fits together genealogically. I'll lay that out here to give a sense of Lilian's family.
Castlemaine was a gold rush town, located mid-way between Bendigo and Ballarat. Gold had been disclosed in 1851, and the population exploded to 25,000 within months. By the mid-1860s and into the 1870s when the rush was well past, Castlemaine had stabilized as a rural city with a population over 5,000.
Lilian's parents married in 1865 - Joseph married Elizabeth Reseigh MARTIN in a church that still stands in Castlemaine:
WHEELER-MARTIN - On the 17th inst., at Christ Church, Castlemaine, by the Rev. J.C.P. Allnutt, Joseph Wheeler, photographer, late of Bath, Somerset, to Elizabeth Reseigh, only daughter of Edward Martin, secretary Gas Company, Castlemaine.
(As an aside, there's a scandalous report in the Farmer's Journal and Gardener's Chronicle , Saturday 24 October 1863, page 7) regarding a man who dressed as a woman and soliciting sex (prostitution). Joseph Wheeler, aged 19, gave evidence as he had " first formed acquaintance with the prisoner about seventeen months ago, and believing him a female had been betrayed into an intimacy with him."... shades of the Sherlock story "A Case of Identity").
Joseph died in early 1875, shortly after Lilian was born:
Advocate (Melbourne, Vic), Sat 30 Jan 1875
Joseph was buried at Castlemaine General Cemetery, with Elizabeth's parents. Underneath Joseph's details are those of two other WHEELER's - the details are hard to read - they may be children or they may be relatives of Joseph.
Joseph Wheeler
William Wight Wheeler
Caroline Lucina Wight Wheeler
That same year (1875), the widow Elizabeth re-married - named Lisa Reseigh Wheeler - to John Nightingale.
Aged around eight, Lilian then lost her mother in 1883:
Advocate (Melbourne, Vic), Sat 27 Jan 1883
Mrs. Elizabeth R. Nightingale, who for several years has conducted the Castlemaine Representative Newspaper, died there on Monday night. She had been suffering from disease of the heart.
Elizabeth was buried on her own at Castlemaine General Cemetery.
Erected by her children to the memory of
Elizabeth R. Nightingale
Who died 21st Jan 1883
in her 41st year
John Nightingale was not mentioned in Lilian's short interview text above - and this may be a sore point. Nevertheless, when Elizabeth died (Lilian's mother), probate included a small statement regarding her children.
That the said deceased left her surviving me her husband and her children by a former marriage namely Harold Casteldine ?? Wight Wheeler, and Lily Frances Maud Reseigh Wheeler and one child by me namely Neville Nightingale.
Perhaps Lilian Maud Wheeler was a stage name.... or perhaps it was just a simplification of her very long name.
Lilian provides a synopsis of her time after her mother's death, raised by a couple with the surname ANDREWS. Records show Lilian sailing for England in 1901, where she quickly impressed.
In 1904, Lilian married:
Bristol Times and Mirror - Monday 27 June 1904
Mr. Ernest Mainwaring, son of General W.G. Mainwaring, C.I.E., late I.S.C., and Miss Lilian Maud Wheeler, younger daughter of Mr. Joseph Wheeler, of Victoria, Australia.
Here is a summary of the information on Lilian's death certification in New York:
One final point, Lilian's mother and father with their newspaper activities were moving in the same time and place as Mary Fortune. Perhaps they met!
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