'If only to hear the remarkable singing by Lily Lonsdale, the entertainments given by the Royal Gipsy Children are well worth attending... The young lady named is still well within her teens, but she sings with skill expected only from artistes far above her years, and has a voice of unusual compass and beauty.'
Elizabeth Longsdale, or Lonsdale, was born in Pitts Hill, Tunstall in 1878, the fifth of eight children born to William Longsdale and his wife Martha nee Maskew. Elizabeth's father was a potter by trade, but his great passion was for choral music and in the last decade of his life he served as the choirmaster at Christ Church, Tunstall. Given this background, it is hardly surprising that William and Martha raised a family of very musical children: their son Wilson became a noted local baritone and their youngest daughters Agnes and Ethel also became elocutionists, singers or performers as too did one of their grandchildren. But it was Elizabeth, under the stage name of Lily Lonsdale, whose star would shine the brightest. Unfortunately for William, though, he never got to see his daughter's rise to fame, dying at a relatively young age in 1889 when Elizabeth was only eleven years old.
Elizabeth first made her name as a soloist at local concerts before joining the North Stafford Amateur Operatic Society where she made her stage debut, eventually taking on lead roles, most notably as Iolanthe in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera of the same name. As was later noted in her obituary, it was after this that that she turned professional, joining Thomas Tomkinson's Gipsy Children, a local choir turned concert party. Unusually, this was composed of talented children or adolescents and had garnered quite a following in the Potteries, even earning several invites to Trentham Hall to entertain the Duke of Sutherland and his guests. This troupe – known from 1897 onwards as the Royal Gipsy Children – would be the starting point of several successful show business careers during its existence, most notably that of Gertrude Mary Astbury, who better known as Gertie Gitana, later enjoyed a stellar career in the music halls. When Elizabeth was with the troupe Gertie was a child prodigy from Burslem nine year Elizabeth's junior, who under the stage name 'Little Gitana' ('Little Gypsy') was already gamely tackling the multiple roles that members of the Gipsy Children were often expected to take on, be it singing, dancing, acting, yodelling, paper tearing, male impersonation and performing in musical or comedy sketches. Contemporary newspapers occasionally provided digests of the entertainments the troupe provided.
'THE GIPSY CHILDREN - Mr Thomas Tomkinson's Gipsy Children have attracted crowded audiences to the Town Hall during the past week, on their return visit to Leek. Without doubt Mr Tomkinson has at his command one of the finest entertainments at present travelling, and the lengthy programme which includes musical items, comicalities, gymnastic displays, &c., is full of interest from start to finish. The first portion of the entertainment is composed of songs, dances, solos and choruses by the children, and it would be a difficult task to single out any performer, from Miss Lonsdale with her beautiful singing, to Little Gitana with her dry humour, who is more worthy of special praise than another. The second part consists of skipping-rope dances, clog dances, toe dances, character sketches and feats of equipoise on wire. The Musical Mascots give an excellent item, and the Urma Trio of charming young ladies go through a marvellous performance on the triple trapeze, which is suspended from the ceiling of the Hall. The mysterious Flying Lady, concludes the programme, and many are the suggestions made as to how this wonderful trick is done. The work of trying to please the audience extends down to the attendants who see that nothing is wanting for the comfort of their patrons. We strongly recommend those who have not already done so, to visit the Town Hall this evening (Friday) or to-morrow, when there will be a matinee, besides the evening entertainment.'
Elizabeth too occasionally performed in some other roles as the situation demanded taking parts in sketches and revealing an aptitude for comedy, but her best and natural talent was always singing. Slim and attractive and now in her late teens, Elizabeth had developed into a fine soprano singer possessed of a beautiful, well-modulated voice. Billed under the alliterative moniker 'Lily Lonsdale', she quickly became one of the star performers with the Gipsy Children, regularly granting encores to delighted audiences and earning fine reviews from equally enthralled reporters.
Though originally performing exclusively in the Potteries or North Staffordshire, by 1897, the reputation of the Gipsy Children was such that they took on a tour of the Midlands and Wales and were very well received. Lily – as we shall now call her - like the other performers joined the troupe on the road and went wherever she was required. The performances took place in various locations, sometimes grander places such as theatres, but also in town halls or humbler public buildings like church halls or meeting houses. The company included not only the cast, but also the management and a small army of helpers. Indications are that many of the parents of the children were involved with the troop and joined them on tour and took on various roles such as helping the young performers with their costumes, serving as ushers for the audience, collecting tickets and scene-shifting. All the props had to be transported too and the Gipsy Children even took a large velvet curtain on a custom made extending brass pole with them to serve as the stage for the show where none existed. Such ad hoc arrangements were known in the business as 'fit-ups', because they could be fitted up anywhere to give a performance. Only in such ways could visiting performers take their acts to small out-of-the-way venues where no other suitable performing area existed.
Working with the Gipsy Children, experiencing life on the road, working in theatres and the numerous fit-ups, in front of varied audiences (including royalty if we believe Thomas Tomkinson's tale about how the troupe suddenly became the 'Royal' Gipsy Children) was doubtless good grounding for Lily in her intended profession. During this tour she honed her skills and earned many plaudits for her performances, but she must have felt that it was apprentice work and by mid 1899 she was looking to move on with her career. There may have been several other reasons behind this desire to spread her wings; for one she was now 20 or 21, a grown woman and was obviously getting rather too old to make a convincing gipsy child. Also by this time she was romantically involved with another member of the troupe, 28 year old comedian Ernie Myers and they doubtless wanted a bit of privacy for their relationship, while armed with their skills the prospects of a married life on tour as variety performers looked promising.
Lily's initial attempts at forging a new career, however, got off to a bumpy start. Having quit the Royal Gipsy Children in June 1899, she enlisted as a member of Leon Vint's Globe Choir that was formed from 20 to 30 young women and seemed a logical choice, but she soon regretted it. Lily joined the choir in September, but by December her voice was suffering from overwork and despite being under contract until the following summer she handed in her two weeks notice. At first Leon Vint was agreeable to her quitting her contract if a replacement could be found and Lily's sister Agnes working elsewhere in the company offered to step in, but for whatever reasons Vint then changed his tune and after seemingly plucking an excuse out of thin air and claiming that the two women had breached their contracts, he threatened to take the sisters to court, at which Lily and Agnes, angry at this volte-face, promptly resigned. To court they went, at Tredegar on 16th January 1900, but here Leon Vint's bully-boy tactics backfired when he admitted that he had indeed asked for a replacement and Agnes had agreed. The judge was also critical of the contract which he deemed very one-sided in the management's favour and as a result he promptly dismissed the case against the two women.
To support herself in the meantime, Lily had returned to performing with the Royal Gipsy Children. Her return, though, was short-lived and was effectively brought to an end only a few days after the successful court case when on 22nd January, Thomas Tomkinson, the founder of the Gipsy Children died from pneumonia at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil aged just 27 years. The company would carry on touring and performing under the care of Thomas's brothers, but in the reorganisation following his premature death, Lily and Ernie made their final break from the company and set off as independent performers. Taken onto the books of theatrical agent A. Borelli, they were immediately set up with a number of dates, one of the earliest being in Liverpool and whilst in the area they married at Prescot in Lancashire in April that year. Shortly afterwards they appeared in Salford, after which their manager put both of them on the so-called Moss and Thornton tour, taking in a series of theatres and musical halls across Ireland, northern England and Scotland.
There was a brief pause for Lily early the next year when she returned to the Potteries to have their first child, Jacob William or 'Jack', in February 1901, but hard economics and the strictures of contracts dictated that family life had to play second fiddle to their careers. So, while young Jack was left in the care of Lily's mother in Tunstall, Ernie and Lily went off to earn a living and so began the gruelling round of public appearances up and down the country that was the lot of jobbing variety performers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
References: Obituary, Staffordshire Sentinel, 8 March 1929
- Western Mail, Cardiff, 27 December 1899
 |
| Elizabeth Longsdale, alias Lily Lonsdale |
Elizabeth first made her name as a soloist at local concerts before joining the North Stafford Amateur Operatic Society where she made her stage debut, eventually taking on lead roles, most notably as Iolanthe in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera of the same name. As was later noted in her obituary, it was after this that that she turned professional, joining Thomas Tomkinson's Gipsy Children, a local choir turned concert party. Unusually, this was composed of talented children or adolescents and had garnered quite a following in the Potteries, even earning several invites to Trentham Hall to entertain the Duke of Sutherland and his guests. This troupe – known from 1897 onwards as the Royal Gipsy Children – would be the starting point of several successful show business careers during its existence, most notably that of Gertrude Mary Astbury, who better known as Gertie Gitana, later enjoyed a stellar career in the music halls. When Elizabeth was with the troupe Gertie was a child prodigy from Burslem nine year Elizabeth's junior, who under the stage name 'Little Gitana' ('Little Gypsy') was already gamely tackling the multiple roles that members of the Gipsy Children were often expected to take on, be it singing, dancing, acting, yodelling, paper tearing, male impersonation and performing in musical or comedy sketches. Contemporary newspapers occasionally provided digests of the entertainments the troupe provided.
 |
| Lily's co-performer Gertrude Astbury - 'Little Gitana' - in later life. By this time she went by the stage name 'Gertie Gitana'. |
- The Leek Post, 3 December 1898
Though originally performing exclusively in the Potteries or North Staffordshire, by 1897, the reputation of the Gipsy Children was such that they took on a tour of the Midlands and Wales and were very well received. Lily – as we shall now call her - like the other performers joined the troupe on the road and went wherever she was required. The performances took place in various locations, sometimes grander places such as theatres, but also in town halls or humbler public buildings like church halls or meeting houses. The company included not only the cast, but also the management and a small army of helpers. Indications are that many of the parents of the children were involved with the troop and joined them on tour and took on various roles such as helping the young performers with their costumes, serving as ushers for the audience, collecting tickets and scene-shifting. All the props had to be transported too and the Gipsy Children even took a large velvet curtain on a custom made extending brass pole with them to serve as the stage for the show where none existed. Such ad hoc arrangements were known in the business as 'fit-ups', because they could be fitted up anywhere to give a performance. Only in such ways could visiting performers take their acts to small out-of-the-way venues where no other suitable performing area existed.
 |
| Ernie Myers |
Lily's initial attempts at forging a new career, however, got off to a bumpy start. Having quit the Royal Gipsy Children in June 1899, she enlisted as a member of Leon Vint's Globe Choir that was formed from 20 to 30 young women and seemed a logical choice, but she soon regretted it. Lily joined the choir in September, but by December her voice was suffering from overwork and despite being under contract until the following summer she handed in her two weeks notice. At first Leon Vint was agreeable to her quitting her contract if a replacement could be found and Lily's sister Agnes working elsewhere in the company offered to step in, but for whatever reasons Vint then changed his tune and after seemingly plucking an excuse out of thin air and claiming that the two women had breached their contracts, he threatened to take the sisters to court, at which Lily and Agnes, angry at this volte-face, promptly resigned. To court they went, at Tredegar on 16th January 1900, but here Leon Vint's bully-boy tactics backfired when he admitted that he had indeed asked for a replacement and Agnes had agreed. The judge was also critical of the contract which he deemed very one-sided in the management's favour and as a result he promptly dismissed the case against the two women.
To support herself in the meantime, Lily had returned to performing with the Royal Gipsy Children. Her return, though, was short-lived and was effectively brought to an end only a few days after the successful court case when on 22nd January, Thomas Tomkinson, the founder of the Gipsy Children died from pneumonia at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil aged just 27 years. The company would carry on touring and performing under the care of Thomas's brothers, but in the reorganisation following his premature death, Lily and Ernie made their final break from the company and set off as independent performers. Taken onto the books of theatrical agent A. Borelli, they were immediately set up with a number of dates, one of the earliest being in Liverpool and whilst in the area they married at Prescot in Lancashire in April that year. Shortly afterwards they appeared in Salford, after which their manager put both of them on the so-called Moss and Thornton tour, taking in a series of theatres and musical halls across Ireland, northern England and Scotland.
There was a brief pause for Lily early the next year when she returned to the Potteries to have their first child, Jacob William or 'Jack', in February 1901, but hard economics and the strictures of contracts dictated that family life had to play second fiddle to their careers. So, while young Jack was left in the care of Lily's mother in Tunstall, Ernie and Lily went off to earn a living and so began the gruelling round of public appearances up and down the country that was the lot of jobbing variety performers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
References: Obituary, Staffordshire Sentinel, 8 March 1929