Lilian Braithwaite

Dame Florence Lilian Braithwaite (9 March 1873 – 17 September 1948) was an English actress, primarily of the stage, although she appeared in both silent and talkie films. Early life She was born in Ramsgate, Kent, the daughter of the Revd John Masterman Braithwaite (1846–1889), then a curate and later vicar of Croydon, and his wife, Elizabeth Jane, daughter of Colonel Thomas Sidney Powell, CB. Educated at Croydon High School, she was the eldest of seven children, having five brothers, two of whom - Colonel Francis Powell Braithwaite and Vice-Admiral Lawrence Walter Braithwaite - served with distinction in the military. Her sister Dorothy Louisa married Philip Maud. Lilian Braithwaite first acted with amateur companies including the Strolling Players and the Oxford University Dramatic Society, but her decision to turn professional was met with strong opposition from her parents. However, in 1897 at the age of 24, she joined the William Haviland and Gerald Lawrence Shakespearean company, making her first professional appearances in minor roles during a tour of South Africa in 1897. She had married Lawrence on 2 June 1897 at the church of St Stephen in Kensington in London, and their daughter, the actress Joyce Carey (1898–1993) was born on their return to London from South Africa. The couple divorced in 1905 following his adultery and desertion.