Edith Craig

-
Standard Name: Craig, Edith
Birth Name: Ailsa Edith Geraldine Craig
Nickname: Edy
Self-constructed Name: Ailsa Craig
EC was primarily a theatre practitioner, known chiefly for her Pioneer Players , the women's theatre company she founded in 1911. Her literary output was scant. She published a handful of articles on stagecraft, and contributed to a revised edition of her mother Ellen Terry 's memoirs. She also wrote one unpublished play for children. Her unpublished papers—correspondence, prompt books, and playbills—document her significant contribution to feminist theatre history.
Black and white photograph of Edith Craig, shown from the shoulders up. Her head is leaning against one hand, her light hair is cut short, and she is wearing a black jacket with a white collar and cuffs, over a white shirt with ruffles at the front.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Cultural formation Christopher St John
At some point after CSJ met her long-time partner Edith Craig , she converted from her family's Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism .
Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton, 1987.
389
Glendinning, Victoria. Vita. Penguin, 1984.
250
Cultural formation Christopher St John
She had since childhood, apparently, believed that she ought have been male because of her love for women. According to Ellen Terry's biographer Nina Auerbach : Many lesbians of that period gave themselves men's names...
Family and Intimate relationships Christopher St John
CSJ and Edith Craig rented a flat together at 7 Smith Square, Westminster, in London; they lived together, there and elsewhere, until Craig's death in 1947.
Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton, 1987.
480
Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago, 1981.
115
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
61-2
Family and Intimate relationships Christopher St John
Shortly before St John's death, she burned most of Craig 's papers. According to Ellen Terry's biographer, Nina Auerbach: Whether Christopher's bonfire was a response to Edy's expressed wish, or a gesture of murderous irony...
Family and Intimate relationships Christopher St John
CSJ 's and Edith Craig 's household expanded to include the painter Tony (Clare) Atwood ; the three lived together in Smallhythe Place and London for the rest of their lives.
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
124, 181
Family and Intimate relationships Christopher St John
CSJ 's life was changed when Edith Craig died (after almost fifty years together) at Priest's House, the home they had shared with Tony Atwood.
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
181, 229
Glendinning, Victoria. Vita. Penguin, 1984.
349
Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago, 1981.
153
Friends, Associates Christopher St John
In 1933 Vita Sackville-West formally introduced CSJ and Edith Craig to Virginia Woolf .Woolf was not as fascinated by St John as she was by Craig and Terry, and saw her as a burden on...
Friends, Associates Christopher St John
CSJ , Edith Craig , and Tony Atwood spent much time in the company of Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge , who were staying temporarily in Kent while their house was being renovated.
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
161
Friends, Associates Radclyffe Hall
During the 1920s, RH and Una Troubridge were friends with a wide range of writers, actors, and artists, including Ida Wylie , Romaine Brooks , Natalie Barney , Noël Coward , Tallulah Bankhead , and...
Friends, Associates Christopher St John
Christabel Marshall (later CSJ ) met the actress Ellen Terry and her daughter Edith Craig ; they soon became intimate friends.
Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton, 1987.
480
Health Christopher St John
After CSJ learned of Martin Shaw 's marriage proposal to Edith Craig , she attempted suicide, taking an overdose of cocaine.
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
62-3
Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago, 1981.
116
Leisure and Society Christopher St John
CSJ and Edith Craig hosted a reading of The Land performed by its author, Vita Sackville-West .
Glendinning, Victoria. Vita. Penguin, 1984.
251
Leisure and Society Christopher St John
The Annual Ellen Terry Memorial Performance was held at the Barn Theatre , Smallhythe: the three women commemorated were Ellen Terry , Edith Craig , and Virginia Woolf .
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
176
Leisure and Society Cicely Hamilton
A striking photographic portrait of CH by Lena Connell , taken in 1912, is now in the National Portrait Gallery .
Williams, Val, and Susan Bright. How We Are: Photographing Britain. Tate Publishing, 2007.
78
Connell also photographed other theatre notables such as Edith Craig .
Occupation Christopher St John
After the death of Ellen Terry , Edith Craig and CSJ turned the barn on their property at Smallhythe into a theatre ; the farm they renamed the Ellen Terry Memorial Museum .
Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton, 1987.
400, 453

Timeline

June 1908: The Women Writers' Suffrage League was established...

National or international item

June 1908

The Women Writers' Suffrage League was established by Cicely Hamilton and Bessie Hatton .
Norquay, Glenda. Voices and Votes: A Literary Anthology of the Women’s Suffrage Campaign. Manchester University Press, 1995.
xv
Stowell, Sheila. A Stage of Their Own. University of Michigan Press, 1992.
2, 40, 102, 126n1
Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell, 1998.
89
Whitelaw, Lis. The Life and Rebellious Times of Cicely Hamilton. Women’s Press, 1990.
68-74
Liggins, Emma. “The ’Sordid Story’ of an Unwanted Child: Militancy, Motherhood, and Abortion in Elizabeth Robins’s Votes for Women and Way Stations”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
25
, No. 3, Aug. 2018, pp. 347-61.
349

23 July 1910: A march in London was held in support of...

Building item

23 July 1910

A march in London was held in support of the Conciliation Bill; originally proposed by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies , it was eventually taken over by the Women's Social and Political Union .
Tickner, Lisa. The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign, 1907-1914. University of Chicago Press, 1988.
115-9

June 1925: The Independent Labour Party founded an Arts...

Writing climate item

June 1925

The Independent Labour Party founded an Arts Guild to promote socialist drama and performance.
Merkin, Ros. “The religion of socialism or a pleasant Sunday afternoon?: The ILP Arts Guild”. British Theatre between the Wars, 1918-1939, edited by Clive Barker and Maggie B. Gale, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 162-89.
162, 165, 168, 174-5, 181

December 1927: Three months after the dancer Isadora Duncan...

Building item

December 1927

Three months after the dancer Isadora Duncan died at nearly fifty, as melodramatically as she had lived, her autobiography, My Life, appeared from the new publishing firm Gollancz . It became an immediate best-seller...

Texts

Terry, Ellen. “Preface; Biographical Chapters”. Ellen Terry’s Memoirs, edited by Edith Craig and Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1969, pp. v - xi; 279.