Mary Moore

Mary Charlotte Moore (3 July 1861 – 6 April 1931), Lady Wyndham, was an English actress and theatrical manager. She was known for her appearances in comedies alongside the actor-manager Charles Wyndham between 1885 and his retirement in 1913. Over these three decades they acted mainly in contemporary plays, many written for them by authors including Henry Arthur Jones and Hubert Henry Davies, but also appeared in classic comedies together. She continued to act on stage until 1919. She was married to the playwright James Albery from 1879 to 1889, and after his death her relationship with Wyndham eventually became romantic. After the death of Wyndham's estranged wife in 1916, he and Moore married.

A capable businesswoman, Moore became Wyndham's business partner and was joint proprietor of Wyndham's Theatre and the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) built for him in 1899 and 1903. After Wyndham's death she founded a company through which she controlled the two theatres until she died in 1931, aged 69. She also was president of the Actors' Benevolent Fund.

Life and career Early years Mary Moore was born in London on 3 July 1861, the daughter of a Parliamentary agent, Charles Moore; she was educated at Warwick Hall, Maida Vale. She learnt the power of money when her education was paused for lack of money and she had to work aged twelve collecting rents from the poor in Hoxton. She made her stage debut at the Gaiety Theatre, London, under the management of John Hollingshead, but soon retired into private life on her marriage in 1878 to the playwright James Albery. They had three sons, born between 1879 and 1882: the eldest and youngest, Irving and Wyndham, went into politics; the middle son, Bronson, became a theatre manager.

In the mid 1880s, Albery, weakened by illness and drink, became unable to write and support his family. The actor-manager Charles Wyndham, a good friend of the Alberys, offered Moore a place in his theatrical companies. He was starring at the Criterion Theatre, London, in The Candidate, which, like many of his productions, was a judiciously Anglicised adaptation of a French farce. Moore returned to the stage in March 1885 in Wyndham's provincial touring company of The Candidate in the role of Lady Dorothy Osterley, Moore accompanied Wyndham on all four of his American tours after 1885. and in later Broadway appearances she played Ada Ingott in 1889 and 1904, Mrs Gorringe in 1904–05 and Lady Susan in The Case of Rebellious Susan (1905).

Later years From 1896 Moore was Wyndham's business partner. After that she confined her appearances to charity performances. She died at her house in York Terrace, Regent's Park on 6 April 1931, at the age of 69, and was buried alongside Wyndham in Hampstead Cemetery.

Notes, references and sources