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Lily Dampier

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Lily Dampier from Photograph album compiled c. 1870–1900. Collection, State Library Victoria (Australia) MS6135

Katherine Annabel Lily Dampier (1867 or 1868 – 6 February 1915),[a] known as Lily Dampier, was an Australian actress of stage and screen. She was the daughter of Alfred Dampier and married to Alfred Rolfe.[2][3][4]

Her best known stage parts were Sylvia in For the Term of His Natural Life and Kate in Robbery Under Arms.[5] She also performed many roles from Shakespeare and worked in England.

A contemporary described her as a better actress than her sister Rose:

Certainly she was the more forceful, physically, and vocally, but she was disqualified for high tragic roles by the fact that she had ridiculously small feet for a well developed woman, and used to walk in mincing and tottering steps in moments when rhythmic striding was needed.[6]

She married actor/architect William Watkins, stage name Watkin Wynne, on 19 September 1889, divorced 1892.[7] He was a member of her father's company of actors. She married Rolfe in 1893.[8]

Death

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Lily was staying in William Street, West Melbourne when she took ill. Her husband was filming in Sydney and was going to take her to a private hospital when she died. According to contemporary reports, "her death occurred rather suddenly".[9] Her mother (stage name Katherine Russell) died shortly after,[10] and her sister Rose also died young.[11]

Select filmography

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Notes

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  1. ^ One reference gives her date of birth as January 1859[1] problematical given her father's year of birth 1843~47 and her (presumed) mother born c. 1848. January 1869 is quite plausible.

References

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  1. ^ Stage Jottings. Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 50, 27 February 1915, Page 14
  2. ^ 'Miss Lily Dampier' The Sydney Morning Herald 8 Feb 1915: 10 accessed 26 Nov 2011
  3. ^ "Among the Players". The Winner. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 10 February 1915. p. 10. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  4. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 August 2019). "Australian Movie Stars". Filmink.
  5. ^ "Miss Lily Dampier Dead". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, NSW: National Library of Australia. 8 February 1915. p. 1. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Reminiscences of the Stage". The Arrow. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 14 December 1917. p. 3. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  7. ^ "A Theatrical Divorce Case". Barrier Miner. Vol. 5, no. 1320. New South Wales, Australia. 18 June 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 14 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ Richard Fotheringham, "Introduction", Robbery Under Arms by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch, Currency Press 1985
  9. ^ "Social Notes". The Leader. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 13 February 1915. p. 50. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  10. ^ "Death of Mrs Dampier". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 6 May 1915. p. 10. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Death or Rose Dampier". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 May 1919. p. 8. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
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