Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Faucit, Helena Saville
FAUCIT, HELENA SAVILLE (better known as Helen Faucit), subsequently Lady Martin (1817–1898), actress, was born in 1817. She came on both sides of an acting stock. Saville Faucit, an actor in the Margate company, married Harriet Diddear, the daughter of his manager, who, as Mrs. Faucit from Norwich, played, 7 Oct. 1813, at Covent Garden Desdemona. Six children were born, five of whom appeared on the stage. Of these Helen was the youngest ; Harriet, her sister, afterwards Mrs. Humphrey Bland, played at the Haymarket in 1828, presumably on 30 Sept., Letitia Hardy in 'The Belle's Stratagem' to the Hardy of Farren, and was on the stage until her death on 5 Nov. 1847. The similarity of name since she acted as Miss Faucit led to subsequent confusion. After living in a, boarding-school at Greenwich, Helen Faucit stayed at Brighton, and afterwards with her sister at Richmond, where she met Edmund Kean. In the autumn of 1833, having received some instruction from Percival Farren, whose brother, William Farren [q. v.], subsequently married her mother, she appeared at the Richmond theatre as Juliet, a performance she more than once repeated.
Her first appearance in London took place at Covent Garden on 5 Jan. 1836, not, as was at first advertised, in Juliet, but as Julia in Sheridan Knowles's 'Hunchback,' Charles Kemble, who, like most who came under the spell of the debutante, took a warm interest in her, resuming his original part of Sir Thomas Clifford. The performance was a success, and a three years' engagement was signed. Her face, figure, and voice were pronounced by the press to be good, though she was rebuked for a tendency to extravagance in action—not an unpromising quality in a novice—and she was credited with the possession in an eminent degree of energy, pathos, and grace. She came at a time fortunate for her reputation. The brilliant but short-lived career of Fanny Kemble was practically over, and there was no actress left, as there has been none since, seriously to challenge her supremacy in the poetical drama. On the 27th she took, with no less conspicuous success, her second part, Belvidera in Otway's ‘Venice Preserved.’ The 8th Feb. saw her as Mrs. Haller in ‘The Stranger,’ and the 25th witnessed her first original part, Margaret in Joanna Baillie's ‘Separation.’ Juliet was not given until 10 March, and on 16 April she was the first Florinda in ‘Don John of Austria,’ a translation from the French of Casimir Delavigne. Mariana in Knowles's ‘Wife’ followed, 26 May, and on 6 June she replaced Miss Ellen Tree as Clemanthe in Talfourd's ‘Ion’ to the Ion of Macready. On 20 June she appeared as Mrs. Beverley in ‘The Gamester;’ on 24 Sept. as Portia, on 1 Oct. as Lady Teazle, on 6 Oct. as Constance in ‘King John,’ on 21 Oct. as Desdemona, and on 23 Dec. as Beatrice. For her benefit she appeared as Mrs. Beverley and Katherine in ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’
After his assault upon Alfred Bunn [q.v.] in April 1836 Macready quitted Drury Lane for Covent Garden, at which house, as La Vallière in ‘The Duchesse de la Vallière’ of Bulwer, Miss Faucit appeared, 4 Jan. 1837, to Macready's Bragelone. Such success as was obtained was hers rather than his. She appeared as Constance in ‘King John,’ Queen Katherine in ‘King Henry VIII,’ was the original Erina in Knowles's ‘Brian Boroihme,’ and 1 May, Lucy Countess of Carlisle in Browning's ‘Strafford.’ Imogen in ‘Cymbeline,’ Hermione in ‘The Winter's Tale,’ and Marion in Knowles's ‘Wrecker's Daughter’ followed. Macready, in the autumn of 1837, undertook the management of Covent Garden, which he opened on 30 Sept. with ‘The Winter's Tale.’ After playing two original parts, Clotilda Lilienstein in ‘The Novice,’ and Jane Carlton in ‘The Parole of Honour,’ and being seen as Jane Shore and Desdemona, and Lady Townley in ‘The Provoked Husband,’ Miss Faucit was Cordelia to Macready's ‘Lear,’ Virginia to his Virginius, and took, 27 Feb. 1838, her famous original part of Pauline Deschappelles in ‘The Lady of Lyons.’ Marina in ‘The Two Foscari,’ Angiolina in ‘Marino Faliero,’ Mrs. Oakley in ‘The Jealous Wife,’ Creusa in Talfourd's ‘Athenian Captive,’ and Hero in Knowles's ‘Woman's Wit’ belong to this time. Of these pieces the last only was a success. The first important production of 1838–9 was ‘The Tempest,’ in which she was an exquisite Miranda. Another of her finest parts in which she was then seen was Rosalind. She was also the heroine of Bulwer's ‘Richelieu,’ 7 March 1839. On 19 August she went with Macready to the Haymarket, opening in Desdemona, which she followed up with Mrs. Haller, Mrs. Oakley, and Portia in ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ On 31 Oct. she was the first Violet in Bulwer's ‘Sea Captain.’ Helen Campbell in Talfourd's ‘Tragedy of Glencoe’ came on 23 May 1840, and Lady Dorothy Cromwell in Serle's ‘Master Clarke,’ 26 Sept. Lady Teazle and Violende in ‘The Wonder’ preceded the production of Bulwer's ‘Money,’ 8 Dec., in which she was the original Clara Douglas. Miss Faucit also played Julia in ‘The Rivals,’ and was, for her benefit on 1 Nov. 1841, the original Nina Sforza in Troughton's play so named. She was also seen as Beatrice in ‘Much Ado.’ She did not rejoin Macready at Drury Lane, whither he had gone in 1841, until 14 Feb. 1842. Sophronia in Gerald Griffin's ‘Gisippus’ was first seen on 23 April, Maddalene in George Darley's ‘Plighted Troth,’ which was a failure, and Angiolina in Byron's ‘Marino Faliero’ were given during the season. She then with Macready visited Dublin and Birmingham. Angelica in ‘Love for Love,’ seen 12 Nov. 1842, was a novel experiment, and on 10 Dec. she was the first Lady Mabel in Westland Marston's ‘Patrician's Daughter.’ This was long remembered and was followed on 11 Feb. 1843 by Mildred Tresham in Browning's ‘Blot in the 'Scutcheon.’ Her Lady in ‘Comus’ was one of her most successful performances. Virginia in ‘Virginius’ and Lady Macbeth followed, and these rôles, with Constance, Lady Laura Gaveston, her original part in Knowles's ‘Secretary,’ Portia in ‘Julius Cæsar,’ 24 April, Hermione, and Elfrida, also an original part in Smith's ‘Athelwold,’ carried her to the end of the season, when Macready's management broke up.
Edinburgh and Glasgow were then visited. In the former city she seems to have first met Mr. (now Sir) Theodore Martin, who was subsequently to be her husband. After visiting other towns, including Dundee, Newcastle, Cork, and Limerick, she went to Paris, whither she was followed by Macready. The two appeared together at the Salle Ventadour 22 Dec. 1842, Macready being eminently dissatisfied to find her reception warmer than his own. Théophile Gautier, the most observant and inspired of French critics, found her gracious and expressive, with something of the beauty rather maniérée of the English ‘Keepsakes.’ Higher praise was accorded her Ophelia, and her Lady Macbeth, especially in the sleep-walking scene, was pronounced sublime. A year later Gautier credited her with an infinity of grace, sensibility, and poetry. Juliet and Virginia were also seen. Among her warmest adherents was Alexandre Dumas, who contemplated writing a play for her on the subject of Henriette d'Angleterre, the daughter of Charles I. On 23 Feb. 1845 she appeared in Dublin in what was perhaps her greatest tragic triumph, Antigone. The warmest tributes to the beauty and power of this were borne by De Quincey and other writers. Though making occasional appearances in London, Miss Faucit was at this time most frequently seen in the country. On 4 Oct. 1847, at the Haymarket, she was the original Florence Delmar in Marston's ‘The Heart and the World,’ which was scarcely a success. In 1848 she played in Edinburgh and elsewhere Anne Bracegirdle in ‘A Tragedy Queen,’ translated by Oxenford from the ‘Tiridate’ of Marc Fournier. Miss O'Neill's part of Evadne in the piece so named was played in Manchester and Dublin. In her brother's theatre in Sheffield she was seen for the first time as Iolanthe in Mr. Theodore Martin's translation of ‘King René's Daughter,’ one of her favourite parts. Her Marie de Meranie in Marston's ‘Philip of France’ was first given at the Olympic on 4 Nov. 1850.
Miss Faucit's marriage with Theodore (afterwards Sir Theodore) Martin took place at St. Nicholas's Church, Brighton, on 25 Aug. 1851. Her first appearance after this event was as Adrienne Lecouvreur at Manchester in April 1852. Browning's ‘Colombe's Birthday’ was given at the Haymarket on 25 April 1853, Mrs. Martin playing Colombe. Margaret in ‘Love's Martyrdom,’ by John Saunders, given at the Haymarket on 10 or 11 June 1855, was her last original part.
From this time she played occasional engagements in London or in the country. In March 1857 in Edinburgh (Sir) Henry Irving was Pisanio to her Imogen. At Her Majesty's (19 Jan. 1858) she was Lady Macbeth to Phelps's Macbeth, and a month later played the same part with Charles Dillon at the Lyceum. Paris, where she recited once only, and in private, and did not act, was revisited. During 1857–8 Matthew Arnold was very anxious for her to perform the chief part in ‘Merope,’ which he thought of putting on the stage. ‘In a tragedy of this kind,’ he wrote, ‘everything turns upon the nobleness, seriousness, and powers of feeling of the actor,’ and he added that, should she be unwilling to play the part of heroine, he would abandon his purpose altogether, which he ultimately did. She appeared at Drury Lane on 17 Oct. 1864 as Imogen. She also played Lady Macbeth there, and in the spring of 1865 Juliet and Rosalind. In 1866 she was seen at the same theatre as Pauline and Julia. This was her last London engagement, her subsequent appearances in town being confined to benefits. Up till 1871–2 she continued to act in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, and Liverpool. She played many times for the benefit of the Royal Theatrical Fund, of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and for other charitable objects, and gave readings, one of which, in Glasgow, was for the sufferers by the City of Glasgow Bank, and produced 500l. She was the frequent guest of Queen Victoria, both at Osborne and Windsor Castle, and performed before her in public, and read before her in private. The investiture of Mr. Martin with the order of K.C.B. in 1880 gave her the rank and title of Lady Martin. Her last appearance on the stage took place on 2 Oct. 1879 at Manchester as Rosalind for the benefit of the widow of Charles Calvert, the manager of the Manchester Theatre. She died at her country house on 31 Oct. 1898, and was buried on 4 Nov. in Brompton cemetery. A fine alto relievo, containing a full-length figure of Lady Martin, by John Henry Foley [q. v.], was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856; a reproduction in marble has been placed by Sir Theodore Martin, as a memorial to her, in the chancel of the church at Llantysilio, situated near her husband's country house at Bryntysilio, where, during her late years, she spent each autumn, while a replica of this relief was in December 1900 placed in the Shakespeare Memorial building at Stratford. A marble pulpit, designed by Mr. Bodley, has also been erected to her memory in the nave of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon. Many portraits of her exist. A drawing by Sir F. Burton as Antigone, a painting by Miss Myra Drummond as Pauline, and a drawing by Miss Clara Lane, and one dated 1881 by Miss Annette Elias are reproduced in her husband's ‘Life.’
Helen Faucit was the greatest interpreter of the poetical drama that living memory can recall. In later days, even when her face had lost some of its youthful charm, her performance of parts such as Rosalind and Imogen had gifts of imagination and expression which have not since been equalled. Testimony to the value and beauty of impersonations such as Antigone, Iolanthe, and the heroines generally of Bulwer, Browning, Westland Marston, and other modern dramatists is unanimously favourable. Warm admiration for her has been expressed by many of the principal men and women of her epoch. Tributes to her worth and personal charm are abundant. Macready, even though he treated her with characteristic pedagogism and churlishness, found it difficult to resist her, and more than once expresses interest which for him is almost affectionate. In Scotland and Ireland she was as much prized as in England. She was an admirable actress in both comedy and tragedy. In imaginative parts she had a species of poetical inspiration which was in its way unique. In fact, as a representative of wifely devotion, virginal grace, and moral worth it is difficult to know whom to oppose against her.
The best evidence of her powers of interpretation is perhaps conveyed in her own book, ‘On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters’ (1885, 4to, with three portraits of the authoress, and 1890), a work of penetrative insight, dedicated by permission to Queen Victoria. The studies, in the form of letters, are concerned with Ophelia, Portia, Desdemona, Juliet, Imogen, Rosalind, Beatrice, and Hermione the last two being addressed to Browning and Ruskin. A German translation appeared in 1885.
[The Life of Helena Faucit, Lady Martin, by Sir Theodore Martin, 1900, covers the entire career and almost dispenses with the need for other information. Personal observation has, however, been of service, and numerous lives written during her career or on the occasion of her death have been consulted, as well as the files of periodicals. A few pages, with a portrait, are devoted to Helen Faucit in Our Actresses by Mrs. C. Baron Wilson (1844); and Pascoe's Dramatic List and Clark Russell's Representative Actors, the Dublin University Magazine, Blackwood's Magazine, Helps's Realmah, and many other works have been consulted.]