The Green Room Plaque was "found" and photographed when
it came up for auction in a Sale Room in Rugby,
Warwickshire, in 2009. The Plaque commemorates
twelve actor members of the Green Room Club who died in
WWI.
Since that date considerable research has been
undertaken, using family history sources, military
archives and contemporary newspapers in UK and USA, to
find the stories of these men, their backgrounds,
careers and military service. In the process some
of their relatives have been traced and provided with
copies of the information acquired. Research has
latterly also been carried out by members the
Great War Forum, who were sent a copy of another
photograph of the plaque by the Club's present owner.
Their help with military history matters has been
invaluable, and they have allowed their findings to
supplement this project.
 The
Green
Room Club was a
London
actors’ club.
Named for the Green Rooms at theatres where actors relax
when not on stage.
The club was
inaugurated on 21 July
1876.
Since then it has moved several times:
In
1903 it was at
46 Leicester Square,
and that year
Claude Monet painted
Leicester Square
from the Green Room balcony.
The Club remained there
until 1940, when bomb damage made the club unusable and
it moved to Whitcomb Street.
During that later period the members included Sir
Ralph Richardson and Sir Laurence Olivier.
The memorial brass was sculpted by
Ferdinand Victor Blundstone [1882-1951] who also
designed several other memorials including the
Plimsoll Monument on the
Victoria Embankment,
London;
and war memorials at
Folkstone,
Stalybridge and for the Prudential
Assurance, Holborn. With Joseph Armitage,
he
provided the sculptural work for the Tyne Cot Memorial
which forms the north-east boundary of the
Tyne
Cot Cemetery
in
Belgium.
The details of
the Memorial have been provided to the
UK National
Inventory of War Memorials, coordinated by a
Projects Officer at the
Imperial
War
Museum,
London.
An illustrated Report on the Men
and the Memorial now extends to some 10,000 words and
hopefully may be published. In the meantime
various articles are being prepared and an illustrated
lecture on the
Green Room Plaque and about the researching of the
actors is available.
Further details can be obtained from:-
John Frearson -
johnphfrearson@btinternet.com
============================================================================================
THE ACTORS COMMEMORATED
Twelve
actors are named
on the plaque,
ten
officers and two NCOs.
This perhaps reflects upon the standing and
leadership qualities of the acting profession.
They are listed below, together with some brief
details, in the order of their deaths, as listed on the
plaque.
L/Cpl.
Lionel Mackinder d. 1915
-
Born in about 1869,
he performed in many light musicals from 1895 to
1914,
much of this
with Mr. Edwardes’s management at the Gaiety.
He
was
"...
one of the first actors to enlist on the outbreak of war",
and
joined the Berkshire Regiment, going to
France in November 1914. He
was
proposed
by his own company for a Captaincy,
but
was killed before the unusual promotion could take place.
He is buried
at
the Le
Touret military cemetery,
Richebourg-L'Avoue.
Lt.
Frank Saker d. 1915
-
Born
in
Liverpool
in about 1881,
and a member of an acting family, he worked as an
actor but then in 1904 joined the army, being
appointed 2nd
Lieutenant in the Connaught
Rangers.
He
was killed in First Battle of Ypres at Zonnebeke,
Belgium,
on the very first days of the
offensive, probably on the 30 October 1914
[rather than in 1915 as stated on the plaque].
Capt. A
Holmes-Gore d. 1915
- Born in 1871, he studied law, but turned to acting and
directing, both on the stage and for "movies" in UK and
USA. Returning to England to make "The Prisoner of
Zenda" in 1915, he became
a Captain with
the 1/8th Hampshire Regiment, and was recorded as
Killed in Action on 12 August 1915 at Suvla
Bay,
Gallipoli.
Capt.
Arthur Curtis d. 1916
-
Arthur
John
Powles-Curtis
was an actor from the early 1900s in UK and USA.
He trained with
the Inns of Court OTC,
was commissioned and went to
France
in
March 1916.
He
was wounded on the Somme in
September and died of wounds in Queen Mary's Hospital,
London, on
11
September 1916.
Capt.
Basil Hallam d. 1916
-
Born Basil Hallam Radford on 3 April 1889
and
educated at
Oxford, his
first appearance
was
with
Sir Herbert Tree, in 1908, playing in Shakespearean
productions. He acted in both UK and USA.
He made his mark
as
Gilbert the Filbert
in
“The
Passing Show”
at
the Palace Theatre in
1914.
He
went
to
France
in
1915
and by 1916 was
Flight-Commander (Temporary Captain) in No.1 Army Kite
Balloon unit.
He
died tragically
in
August 1916, near Albert on the
Somme. The
balloon from which he was observing, broke away.
His death was
witnessed
by
Rudyard Kipling
"...
something black, which had been hanging below the
basket, detached itself and fell some three thousand
feet
...".
He
was buried in
Couin British cemetery.
Capt.
Guy B Rathbone d. 1916
-
Born
in Liverpool
on 29 May 1884,
he became a member of Frank Benson's Shakespeare Company,
and pursued an acting career until gaining
a
commission in the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1915.
He
died, on active service on 21 April 1916,
when
he was commanding A Company, near
Sulva
Bay, Gallipoli.
L/Cpl.
Charles Bibby d. 1917
-
Born in November 1878 in Stretford,
Manchester,
he had started his acting career with the Benson company
in 1898.
He
was
one of the original members of Miss A. E. Horniman's
company
in the Midlands and later
at the Gaiety,
and went on tour with them to Canada.
He
joined up
in 1915
and served with the 23
Battalion. Royal Fusiliers (City of
London Regiment)
going to France
later in 1915.
He was killed in action on the Somme on 3 May 1917 and is
commemorated on the Arras Memorial
Lt.
Marcus Draper d. 1917
-
Mark [Marcus] Denman Draper,
was born in 1885 in Alfreton where his father was vicar.
His initial acting experience was with Sir Frank Benson;
he toured in repertory and was later in management
for seven years. In 1915 he joined the 28th (Artists
Rifles) Battalion, London Regiment and was gazetted
Second Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps in January
1917. Only two weeks later,
he was killed in an accident during
a training flight.
Two of his brothers also died in WWI.
Capt.
Leopold Profeit d. 1917
- Born in about 1878, the son of Queen Victoria's
Balmoral doctor, he acted in London and on Broadway from
1899 to 1913.
He served in 8 Bn. King's Shropshire Light Infantry,
entering the Salonika theatre on 31 October 1915.
He died on 25
April 1917 and was buried
Karasouli Military Cemetery
Capt. C
C Trevor Roper d. 1917
-
Born
on
9 February 1884 at Mold in Flintshire,
and educated at
Clare College, Cambridge
and
the Academy of Dramatic Art;
he
played in London under H. B. Irving,
and
tour to Australia in 1911. He
became a lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers,
and was gazetted Captain
in December 1914
in the Hampshire Regiment.
He died
in France on 3 August 1917 "…
of wounds received in action at
Ypres the previous day..."
and
was
buried in the Duhallow Advanced Dressing
Station
Cemetery. In WWII, his son
was in Guy Gibson's crew for the "Dambusters Raid".
Major
Charles Blackall d. 1918
- Born in about
1875, he
served as Lieutenant with the 3rd
Buffs
(militia)
in the Boer War. He continued in the Reserve and
acted in UK and USA.
He
was
re-gazetted in 1914,
with
the 3 Bn. Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and
went to
France
in late
1914.
He
was
acting Lieutenant-Colonel commanding
the 4th
Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment,
when he
was killed
on 10 December 1917. He
was one of the “WWI Poets".
Lt.
Henry Hargreaves d. 1918
- Whilst for some time it was assumed that he must have
been Harold Hargreaves, born in
1893, the son of a Burnley colliery clerk, this has now
been found to be incorrect.
He was,
in fact, William Henry Hargreaves, born in Birkenhead on
27 July 1882. He was acting, as Henry
Hargreaves, from at least 1906,
in which year he also married. He acted as W.
Henry Hargreaves so as not to be confused with the much
older actor William Hargreaves. Henry
joined the 15th Bn. Middlesex Regiment and later the
Royal Flying Corps, gaining his flying licence on 22 May
1916. He was in Palestine and died of wounds on 8
May 1918. He is buried in the Jerusalem War
Cemetery.
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