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Hetty Kelly

1893 – 1918

The first love of Charlie Chaplin

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About Hetty Kelly

Lived 1893 – 1918 (aged 25). Hetty Kelly was a British dancer.

Florence Henrietta "Hetty" Kelly (September 19, 1893 – November 4, 1918 ) was an Irish dancer and music hall performer and the first love of movie comedian Charlie Chaplin.

Life Kelly's father was a window-frame maker in Camberwell. Her sister Mabel married the youngest son of Sir David Evans. At the age of 21, she married Lieutenant (later "Sir") Alan Edgar Horne (1889–1984) in August 1915. Horne was a lieutenant in the Surrey Yeomanry. She was with a song and dance troupe, Bert Coutts' Yankee-Doodle Girls, and Chaplin was playing a drunk in Mumming Birds. He was 19 and she was 15. He remembered her as "a slim gazelle, with a shapely oval face, a bewitching full mouth, and beautiful teeth". She came to be the female ideal in Chaplin's mind, and he re-created her in some of the female leads in his movies. Chaplin wrote in his autobiography, written in 1964, "Although I had met her but five times, and scarcely any of our meetings had lasted longer than twenty minutes, that brief encounter affected me for a long time." Chaplin wrote a letter to Hetty Kelly on July 18, 1918.

Kelly died in October 1918

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Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Also known as
Henrietta Florence Kelly, Henrietta Kelly, Henriette Kelly, Florence Etty Kelly, Henriette Florence Horne, Hetta Kelly

People in Hetty Kelly's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Hetty Kelly's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Hetty Kelly?

the first love of Charlie Chaplin (1893-1918)

When was Hetty Kelly born?

Hetty Kelly was born on 1 October 1893 in Bristol.

When did Hetty Kelly die?

Hetty Kelly died on 4 November 1918.

What was Hetty Kelly's occupation?

Hetty Kelly was a dancer.

What nationality was Hetty Kelly?

Hetty Kelly was British.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Hetty Kelly

· Wikidata: Q17362620

· DBpedia: Hetty Kelly

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Hetty Kelly. https://biography.guide/hetty-kelly/

MLA: "Hetty Kelly." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/hetty-kelly/.

Chicago: "Hetty Kelly." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/hetty-kelly/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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