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Maud Jeffries

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Maud Jeffries
Maud Evelyn Craven Jeffries
Born14 December 1869
Willow Farm, near Lula, Mississippi
Died26 September 1946 (76 years)
Gundaroo, New South Wales
OccupationActor
Years active1889-1906
SpouseJames Bunbury Nott Osborne (1878-1934)
ChildrenJames Bedford Jeffries Osborne (1908-1984)
Elizabeth Osborne (1911-1911)
Parent(s)James Kenilworth Jeffries
Elizabeth Field Jeffries, née Smith

Maud Evelyn Craven Jeffries (14 December 1869 – 26 September 1946) was an American actress — a lovely, tall woman[1] of attractive features, with expressive eyes and a beautiful face, known for her graceful style — who gained fame performing in New York, London, and touring Australia and New Zealand.[2] She left the stage in 1906, having married a wealthy Australian grazier. She lived on their farm family property, "Bowylie", at Gundaroo, NSW, until her death.

External images
image icon Julius Knight (as Kara) and Maud Jeffries (as Yo-San) in The Darling of the Gods (1904).[3]
image icon "The Royal Party at Auckland" (including "Captain Osborne, A.D.C. to Lord Ranfurly")", The Otago Witness, (26 June 1901), p.37.[3]
image icon Captain Osborne's Aiguillette (Australian War Memorial Collection)[3]

Early life and family

Jeffries was born on 14 December 1869 at Willow Farm, near Lula in Coahoma County, Mississippi, to James Kenilworth Jeffries, a cotton planter, and his wife Elizabeth Field Jeffries (née Smith). She had at least one other sibling, a brother, Norman Jeffries who was also part of her theatre company.[4]

Theatrical career

She was involved in the creation of Wilson Barrett's play The Sign of the Cross.[2]

J.B.N. Osborne

James Bunbury Nott "Jimmie" Osborne (1878-1934), the son of Patrick Hill "Pat" Osborne (1832–1902) and Elizabeth Jane "Jeanie" Osborne (1847–1940) was born on 14 May 1878 in Sydney.[5] He attended Rugby School from 1892 to 1894.[6]

In early 1898, Osborne was appointed Second Lieutenant, in command of the Bungendore troop of the First Australian Horse Regiment;[7][8] and, a year later, "was proving [himself to be] not only a smart officer, but a very popular one with the men".[9] In October 1899, he was one of two members of the New South Wales military forces to be briefly appointed honorary aides-de-camp to the staff of Earl Beauchamp, the Governor of New South Wales,[10] who was also Honorary Colonel of the First Australian Horse Regiment.

Second in command of the last New South Wales Contingent to leave Australia, Lieutenant Osborne[11] sailed with his troops for South Africa on the S.S. Langton Grange, leaving Newcastle on 15 November 1899,[12] arriving in South Africa, at Durban, on 13 December 1899.[13]

He was present at the Relief of Kimberley and, in March 1900, left the Australian Horse and took up a commission with the British 16th Lancers:[14] the regiment of his elder brother, Second Lieutenant Edwin Francis Fitzroy Osborne (1873-1895), who had died four years earlier, of enteric fever, at Lucknow, on 2 September 1895.[15] He was closely involved in the surrender of Bloemfontein in March 1900;[16] and, in early May 1900, he contracted enteric fever. He was hospitalized in Bloemfontein; however, his condition did not respond to treatment, and he was invalided to England.[17]

Having participated in operations in the Orange Free State and Transvaal, and having seen action at Reit River, Klip Drift, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Dreifontein, Karee Siding, Belfast and Slingersfontein, Osborne was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with five clasps.[18]

In 1901, appointed as Captain Osborne, he served as the aide-de-camp to Earl Ranfurly, the Governor-General of New Zealand,[19] in particular, during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later, King George V and Queen Mary) in June 1901.

Marriage and life after the theatre

She married an Australian soldier and farmer, James Bunbury Nott Osborne (1878-1934) in a quiet, private ceremony,[20] on 25 October 1904, at Papani, New Zealand,[21] and retired from acting to a rural life near Gundaroo, New South Wales.[22]

The marriage produced two children: a son, James Bedford Jeffries Osborne (1908-1984),[23][24] and a daughter, Elizabeth Osborn, born on 22 May 1911,[25] who only lived for five weeks.[26]

Death

Jeffries, her husband and her daughter are all buried at Waverley Cemetery, Sydney.[27]

Footnotes

  1. ^ In fact, her original leading man, matinee idol Wilson Barrett, had to wear elevator shoes (see the photograph of Maud Jeffries as "Kate Cregeen" and Wilson Barrett as "Pete" in The Manxman, at [1])
  2. ^ a b Diane Langmore. "Jeffries, Maud Evelyn Craven (1869–1946)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1983.
  3. ^ a b c Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Society — Sailed Away: For Sydney", The San Francisco Call, (Sunday, 14 November 1897), p.24.
  5. ^ Births: Osborne, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 22 May 1878), p.8.
  6. ^ Michell, A.T., Rugby School Register: Volume III: From May 1874 to May 1904, A.J. Lawrence, (Rugby), 1944, p.189.
  7. ^ The Yass Protectionists, The Queanbeyan Age, (Saturday, 5 February 1898), p.2.
  8. ^ The Latest Regiment: The Australian Horse: History of their Formation, The (Sydney) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 17 April 1898), p.7.
  9. ^ The Military Encampment: A Volunteer Camp, The Queanbeyan Age, (Saturday, 14 January 1899), p.2.
  10. ^ The Defence Force, The (Sydney) Evening News, (Monday, 30 October 1899), p.7.
  11. ^ Murray, P.L., Official Records of the Australian Military Contingents to the War in South Africa, Government Printer, (Melbourne), 1911, p.45.
  12. ^ The Langton Grange Contingent, The Australian Town and Country Journal, (Saturday 18 November 1899), p.14.
  13. ^ Miscellaneous War News: A Transport Ashore, The Riverine Grazier, (Friday, 15 December 1899), p.2.
  14. ^ Lieutenant Osborne joins the 16th Lancers, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Thursday, 29 March 1900), p.7.
  15. ^ Family Notices: Deaths, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 4 September 1895), p.1.
  16. ^ From the Front, The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, (Saturday 28 April 1900), pp.1010A-1010B.
  17. ^ Bungendore News, The Goulburn Herald, (Wednesday, 4 July 1900), p.2.
  18. ^ Murray, P.L., Official Records of the Australian Military Contingents to the War in South Africa, Government Printer, (Melbourne), 1911, p.42.
  19. ^ Military Items, Australian Town and Country Journal, (Saturday, 25 May 1901), p16.
  20. ^ Apart from the bride and groom, there were only two others present: the bride's brother Norman, and "a lady friend" (Personal Items, The New Zealand herald, (27 October 1904), p.6).
  21. ^ Social Notes, The (Melbourne) Leader, (Saturday, 29 October 1904), p.38.
  22. ^ Thorpe, Clarissa, "Vintage love story: The tale of US actress Maud Jeffries and Australian farmer James Osborne", 666 ABC Canberra, 6 September 2015.
  23. ^ Family Notices: Births: Osborne, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 9 September 1908), p.8.
  24. ^ Navy Service Record: Osborne, James Bedford Jeffries (Lieutenant).
  25. ^ Family Notices: Births: Osborne, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Thursday, 25 May 1911), p.8.
  26. ^ Family Notices: Deaths: Osborne, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 3 July 1911), p.8.
  27. ^ [2]

References

  • Maud Jeffries: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
    Maud Jeffries: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
  • Maud Jeffries: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
    Maud Jeffries: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
  • Maud Jeffries: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
    Maud Jeffries: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
  • Maud Jeffries and Wilson Barrett: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
    Maud Jeffries and Wilson Barrett: The Sign of the Cross (1895)
  • Wilson Barrett and Maud Jeffries (as Mercia): The Sign of the Cross (1895)
    Wilson Barrett and Maud Jeffries (as Mercia): The Sign of the Cross (1895)
  • Maud Jeffries (1895)
    Maud Jeffries (1895)
  • Captain J.B.N. Osborne (1901), aide-de-camp to Lord Ranfurly (second from left, back row)
    Captain J.B.N. Osborne (1901), aide-de-camp to Lord Ranfurly (second from left, back row)
  • Maud Jeffries (1919)
    Maud Jeffries (1919)
  • Maud Jeffries (1919)
    Maud Jeffries (1919)

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