Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Eleanora
MOORE, ELEANORA, otherwise NELLY (d. 1869), actress, played in Manchester and made her first appearance in London at the St. James's Theatre, 29 Oct. 1859, as the original Winifred in Leicester Buckingham's ‘Cupid's Ladder,’ a part in which she displayed much promise. On 29 Oct. 1860 she was at the same house, under Alfred Wigan [q. v.], the first Margaret Lovell in Tom Taylor's ‘Up at the Hills.’ She was seen for the first time at the Haymarket, 29 March 1864, as Venus in Mr. Burnand's ‘Venus and Adonis.’ On 30 April she was the original Ada Ingot in T. W. Robertson's ‘David Garrick,’ Sothern being Garrick. She played in the ‘Castle of Andalusia,’ and was once more Venus, this time in Planché's ‘Orpheus in the Haymarket,’ December 1865. She was the original Lucy Lorrington in Westland Marston's ‘Favourite of Fortune,’ 2 April 1866; was Cicely Homespun in the ‘Heir-at-Law,’ Celia in ‘As you like it,’ Mary in Tom Taylor's ‘Lesson for Life,’ and was the original Maud in ‘Diamonds and Hearts,’ an adaptation by the younger Gilbert à Becket of Sardou's ‘Nos bons Villageois,’ 4 March 1867. At the Princess's she played, 15 June 1867, Mabel in a revival of ‘True to the Core,’ by A. Slous; made, 11 April 1868, her first appearance at the Queen's as Nancy in ‘Oliver Twist,’ to the Bill Sikes of (Sir) Henry Irving and the Artful Dodger of John Laurence Toole; was, on 29 June, the original Marian Beck in ‘Time and the Hour,’ by J. Palgrave Simpson and Felix Dale (Herman Merivale), and 24 July 1868 was Ruth Kirby in Byron's ‘Lancashire Lass.’ This was her last performance. She died on 22 Jan. 1869. Miss Moore played at various houses, but her chief success was obtained at the Haymarket with Sothern. She was fair, with bright yellow hair, well-proportioned, a pleasant and sympathetic actress, and a woman of unblemished reputation. Her sister Louisa, also an actress, still lives, but has retired from the stage, with which others of her family are more or less intimately connected.
[Personal recollections; Scott and Howard's Life and Reminiscences of E. L. Blanchard; Era newspaper, 31 Jan. 1869; Era Almanack, various years; Sunday Times, various years.]