Ellen Terry

By Joy Melville

Ellen Terry (1847-1928) rose to fame as an actress in the 19th century, when her stage partnership with Henry Irving at London's Lyceum Theatre drew capacity crowds. She was notorious for flaunting the moral codes of her day, marrying three times and having two illegitimate children.

First, at 17, Terry became the child-bride and model of the painter G F Watts, who sent her back to her parents after a few months with a sum of £300 a year 'so long as she shall lead a chaste life'. Little chance of that as Ellen soon set up house with her lover, Edward Godwin, by whom she had two illegitimate children.

'I thought I knew 'Nell' but only Joy Melville in this beautifully illustrated book succeeds in giving us the full colour of an actress whom every woman wanted to emulate and every  man wanted to seduce.' Sir Donald Sinden

‘ . . . A generous selection of lovely photographs of the subject striking diva-like poses – one of the things that makes this book a joy from start to finish.’
David McLaurin, The Tablet

Joy Melville is the author of Ellen and Edy, the life of Ellen Terry and her daughter Edith Craig. She is also the author of the biographies on two other very special women: Mother of Oscar - The Life of Jane Francesca Wilde and Julia Margaret Cameron - Pioneer Photographer.