Alice Hamilton (fl. 1870s-1890s), mezzo-soprano and actress, probably as she appeared as Pricess Guinevere in E.L. Blanchard’s pantomime, Tom Thumb the Great; or, Harlequin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, at Drury Lane Theatre, Christmas, 1871. Other members of the cast were the Vokes Family and Miss Amalia.
(carte de visite photo: The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co Ltd, London, circa 1871/72; hand tinted)
Alice Hamilton appeared again at Drury Lane the following Christmas in the pantomime The Children of the Wood; or, Harlequin, Queen Mab, and the World of Dreams. She is next mentioned in connection with an English version of Lecocq’s comic opera Giroflé-Girofla, produced at the Criterion Theatre, London, on 1 May 1875. According to The Morning Post (Monday, 3 May 1875, p. ), ‘Miss Hamilton made a tame, but still interesting, Paquita’; the cast also included Pauline Rita, Emily Thorne and Rose Keene.
In July 1875 Alice Hamilton joined Kate Santley’s Company for a provincial tour, after which she appeared in many comic operas and plays, including Charles Calvert’s 1877 production of Henry VIII at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, in which she played Anne Boleyn, looking ‘very pretty and graceful’ (The Era, London, Sunday, 2 September 1877, p. 13a/b). On 8 September 1881 she created the part of Mrs Augustus Green in George R. Sims’s farcical comedy The Gay City, when it was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham; the case was lead by Lionel Rignold.
Footlight Notes 