Edith Ailsa Craig (1896-1947) in 'Robespierre' by Victorien Sardou, translated by Laurence Irving
Window & Grove, [photographers]
Category
Photographs
Date
1899
Materials
Photographic paper on card mount
Measurements
327 x 187 mm
Order this imageCollection
Smallhythe Place, Kent
NT 1122771
Caption
As the daughter of one of the most famous and celebrated actresses in the world, Edith (Edy) Craig was surely destined for a life on (or behind) the stage. Craig was a theatre director, producer, costume designer and actor who defied many conventions. She designed costumes for and performed with the Lyceum Theatre company, including on its tours to the USA in 1895 and 1907. In 1899 she was commissioned by Henry Irving to design the costumes for his production of Robespierre. Inspired by this experience – and with the financial support of her mother, the actress Ellen Terry (1847– 1928) – Craig established her own theatrical costume atelier, Edith Craig & Co., in Covent Garden. From 1902 to 1903 she collaborated with her friend Pamela Colman Smith to design sets for plays by William Butler Yeats and John Millington Synge at the Imperial Theatre in London. Craig was active in the women’s suffrage movement and worked for the Actresses’ Franchise League, which campaigned for the right to vote by staging propaganda plays and selling suffrage literature. Craig directed and starred as Rosa Bonheur in A Pageant of Great Women, a pro-suffrage play written by Cicely Hamilton (1872–1952). In 1911 she founded the Pioneer Players, which became internationally respected for its promotion of the work of women in the theatre. Craig later directed plays for the Everyman Theatre in London and was appointed art director at Leeds Art Theatre. She also gained a national reputation for her pageant productions, including at Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire (1927) and the Jubilee Pageant at Tenterden (1935), close to her home in Kent. Craig lived in a long-term polyamorous relationship with the writer Christopher Marie St John (1871–1960) and the artist Clare (Tony) Atwood (1866–1962). After her mother died in 1928, she converted a barn in the grounds of her idyllic Kent home, Smallhythe Place, into a theatre and directed memorial performances on the anniversary of Terry’s death.
Summary
Photograph.Edith Craig in 'Robespierre' 1899
Provenance
Photograph believed to have been owned by, or given to, EllenTerry (1847-1928) or her daughter Edith Craig (1869-1947) and came to National Trust in 1939 when Edith Craig transferred to Smallhythe Place (including buildings, land and contents) to the Trust
Marks and inscriptions
Front, on photograph, lower right: Edy= Front, on photograph, bottom centre: Boy. Front, below photograph: COPYRIGHT Front, below photograph: WINDOW & GROVE Front, below photograph, right: 63A BAKER STREET / PORTMAN SQUARE, W. Back, centre: Panel-Portrait. / No 120 / Window & Grove, / Artists & Photographers, / BAKER STREET / London, W. Back, top left: Yes Back, top right: Edy Craig / in Robespierre / 1899
Makers and roles
Window & Grove, [photographers] , photographer and publisher
References
Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, pp. 172-3