Ernest Shand
1 portrait by Hana Studios Ltd
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Ernest Shand
by Hana Studios Ltd, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
matte bromide postcard print, circa 1899
5 1/2 in. x 3 3/8 in. (139 mm x 87 mm) overall
Bequeathed by Patrick O'Connor, 2010
Photographs Collection
NPG Ax160029
Artistsback to top
- Hana Studios Ltd (active 1897-1930), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 27 portraits.
- Rotary Photographic Co Ltd (active 1897-1916), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 1423 portraits.
Events of 1899back to top
Current affairs
George Nathaniel Curzon, Lord Curzon, is appointed Viceroy of India, pursuing a mixed policy of forceful control and conciliation. Curzon's inquiries into Indian administration result in legislation in areas including education, irrigation, and policing. The Board of Education is created to co-ordinate the work of higher grade elementary schools, county technical schools and endowed grammar schools, also setting up a register of teachers.Art and science
The Italian Guglielmo Marconi transmits the first wireless telegraph, between France and England across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. Marconi's production of waves over long distances lays the foundations for the development of the radio. Later this year, Marconi demonstrates his invention in America, at the Cup yacht race, and for the American navy.International
Outbreak of the second Boer war, fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Despite a disastrous start, Britain quickly won the war, although guerilla warfare continued until 1902, leading to the introduction of concentration camps by British commander Lord Kitchener, a measure which contributes to the British public's growing disillusionment with the campaign.Comments back to top
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Sally-Anne Hollis
10 February 2018, 12:09
Ernest Shand was born William Ernest Watson in Hull. He gained experience in musical comedy and then went onto the Music Hall in 1899. He also toured in Australia. He married Nellie - who had been performing as Louie since the age of 5 and was the daughter of Edward Stafford Smith, also a comic actor. Ernest dropped the William and took the surname Shand - the surname of Nellie's sister's Scottish husband - presumably because Watson was too common a name.
He led a double life. As well as being a comic performer he composed classical pieces for guitar, teaching and playing the instrument and had played the piano since childhood. His first composition was published in 1894 and his comic discography runs from 1903-1914. In 1895 he was appointed to the Board of Examiners of the Guild of Violinists and in 1896 to the Guild's Senate.
He and Nellie had four children. The two daughters went into acting - one very successfully - one son went into journalism and the other son a company secretary. The two daughters played a part in assisting Sir Barry Jackson open the first Birmingham Repertory Theatre.