Phyllis Broughton

Phyllis Broughton born Phyllis Harriet Wright became Phyllis Harriet Thomson (1862 – 21 July 1926) was a British dancer and actress who was known as a Gaiety Girl. She was awarded £2,500 in a breach of promise case and she then left another at the altar and he devoted the rest of his life to her.

Life Broughton was born in 90 Hercules Buildings on Hercules Road in Lambeth. Her parents were Emily Charlotte, (born Jecks) and William Wright and she was the first of their four children. Her career was an unusual choice for a girl from a good family. Her father was a clerk to an architect in the 1870s and she was training to dance at the Neville Dramatic School and studying ballet. She adopted the name Phyllis Broughton when she made her debut at the Canterbury Music Hall in London in March 1877.

The manager of the Gaiety Theatre, John Hollingshead, employed her as part of his company in 1880. The theatre was known for its chorus of girls, daring ad-libs (that avoided censorship) and the costumes that the girls wore. The Gaiety had a quartet of leading actors Nellie Farren, Kate Vaughan, Edward O'Connor Terry, and E. W. Royce. Kate Vaughan made her last appearance at the Gaiety in 1883, before she married, and soon gave up dancing. This allowed Broughton to take over her roles. In 1884 she was promoted from the chorus to play roles in the theatre's adaptions of stories from One Thousand and One Nights. She gathered her own following, and her own skirts, for her version of the skirt-dance as she appeared in Whittington and His Cat, Aladdin, Little Robin Hood, Blue Beard (1883), She became a "Gaiety Girl" who made a fortune from her success. and they made assurances that the break up was not a reflection on her character. It was said that he employed over a dozen gardners to keep that house in good order. Hedley is said to have sent gifts every week to Broughton until she died and even after that he was devoted to her.

Death and legacy Broughton died a widow in Marylebone following an operation in 1926. One of the two executors was John Thomas Hedley. She left £230,000 in her will and her jewellery was auctioned in the following year and it sold for £36,000. India House was owned by a firm of solicitors in 2017. John Hedley continued as her admirer until he died in 1936 near Lake Windermere. He left £655,129 and Broughton was to receive any unallocated monies.