Fonds RC0279 - Lady Constance Malleson fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Lady Constance Malleson fonds

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Fonds

Reference code

RC0279

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1890-1975 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

3 m of textual records and graphic material

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1895-1975)

Biographical history

Lady Constance Malleson, actress and author, was born on 24 October 1895 in Castewellan castle, the country home of her parents, Hugh, the 5th Earl Annesley and his wife Priscilla. Constance Malleson was educated in Dresden and Paris as well as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She acted in many West End productions in London, as well as in repertory theatre, using the stage name of Colette O'Niel. She also appeared in the two films Hindle Wakes and The Admirable Crichton. Colette toured South Africa with Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson in 1928; later on in 1932 she toured the Middle East with them.

In 1915 she had married Miles Malleson. They divorced in 1923. She worked for various social causes, including mental hospital reform and the blood supply system. Opposed to World War I, she met Bertrand Russell through her association with the No-Conscription Fellowship. She lectured in Sweden in 1936-37 and in Finland during 1941 and 1946. She wrote several books including the autobiographical After Ten Years (1931). Her sister, Mabel M. Annesley was a well-known wood-engraver; Constance Malleson edited her unfinished autobiography, As the Sight Is Bent. She died on 5 October 1975 in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds consists of manuscripts and typescripts; correspondence (includes personal, Bertrand Russell, legal, and newspapers); theatre material; book and journals; reviews of her books; and photographs (many of them theatrical) created by and for Constance Malleson in her life as an actress and writer. The fonds also contains manuscripts, photograph albums containing watercolours by Percy French and other materials belonging to Priscilla, Lady Annesley, which document her life as a member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The fonds (Rec. Acq. 596) was acquired from Phyllis Urch in late 1976 and 1977.

Arrangement

The fonds has been arranged into six series: manuscripts and typescripts; correspondence; theatre-related material; reviews of books and articles; photographs, art-work and realia; books, printed materials and books; Priscilla, Lady Annesley.

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Script of material

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Restrictions on access

There are no access restrictions.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Copyright in all writings of Lady Constance Malleson belongs to McMaster University. Phyllis Urch, the excutor of Lady Constance Malleson's estate and her copyright owner, transferred control of the archives and the copyright to McMaster University on 1 May 2004.

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Further accruals are not expected.

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Description record identifier

RC0279

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