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Elise Craven (née Elise Barbara Alleyne Barrett)

(1898-1983), Child actress and dancer

Sitter in 12 portraits
Craven scored an immediate success at the age of ten in her stage debut as the Queen of the Fairies in the pantomime Pinkie and the Fairies at His Majesty's Theatre, 1908. Engaged by the Coliseum in 1909, she subsequently danced in the leading music halls and starred in La Revue de Printemps at the Folies Bergère in Paris, 1912. During the First World War she appeared in musical comedy in London and on tour. Having resumed ballet training in 1915, studying with Carlotta Mossetti, she opened a school of dance when she retired from the stage in the 1920s.

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Peter Cope

11 September 2017, 10:46

Elise Craven was born Barbara Alleyne Barrett (no hyphen). The 1901 census states she was 5 months old, and her birth was registered at the end of 1900, so the birth date of 1898 may not be accurate. However the 1911 census gives her age as 19. She was the daughter of Vernon Edward Barrett (1865-1941), son of a lithographic artist. VB had a passion for the theatre and became a theatrical designer, working on sets costumes and handbills. He turned to book illustration to bolster income and worked for various publishers including Raphael Tuck on children's books with a theatrical flavour. He also worked under the pseudonym of V de Culpepper. In later life he ran a photographic business called 'Vernon' at Highbury Corner, London.