Sylvia Storey

Sylvia Storey
A young white woman, seated, wearing a gown. She has flowers in her dark hair. The image is framed and captioned "Sylvia Storey".
A publicity card from 1910.
Born
Sylvia Lillian Storey

4 October 1889
London
Died20 July 1947
London
Other namesCountess Poulett, Lady Poulett
Occupation(s)Actress, Gaiety Girl, socialite
SpouseWilliam Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett
ChildrenGeorge Poulett, 8th Earl Poulett

Lady Bridget Poulett

Phoebe Amie Sybil Poulett

Sylvia Lillian, Countess Poulett (born Sylvia Lillian Storey; 4 October 1889 – 20 July 1947) was a British actress and dancer, a Gaiety Girl who married an Earl and became known as The Countess Poulett.

Early life

Sylvia Lillian Storey was born in London, the only child of William Frederick Clayton Storey (known as Fred Storey) and Lilian Margaret Thorley Holmes Storey. Her parents were actors,[1] and she joined her father in the cast of Rip Van Winkle in 1899.[2]

Career

Earl and Countess Poulett 1908 homecoming crowd at Hinton St George, Somerset, England

Sylvia Storey acted and danced on the London stage as a Gaiety Girl, and modeled for postcards, cigarette cards, and other publicity.[3][4] After she married in 1908,[5] she and her husband traveled around the world, appearing in San Francisco in 1910.[4]

In widowhood, she became a socialite. In 1925, she was rumoured to be keeping late nights with Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster on his yacht off Cannes.[6] In consequence, the Duke's angry second wife, Violet Cripps, Baroness Parmoor, threw Poulett's belongings overboard,[7] and her relatives asked the court to take her children from her custody.[8]

Before and during World War II, she spent some time in the United States, especially in Florida,[9] New York, and California.[10][11] She was fined for violating London's blackout orders in 1940,[12][13] and took a cottage in Somerset.[10]

Personal life

In 1908,[14] Sylvia Storey married William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett.[15][16] He served in the Royal Horse Artillery during World War I,[17] and died in the 1918 flu pandemic.[18] She had two children with Poulett,[19] George Amias Fitzwarrine Poulett (1909-1973), and Lady Bridget Elizabeth Felicia Henrietta Augusta Poulett (1912-1975), and in widowhood a third child, Phoebe Amie Sybil Poulett (1922-1948), whose father was Major Percy Howard Hansen.[20] Her son married and divorced an actress, Oriel Ross.[21] Poulett died in 1947, aged 57 years, in London.[22]

References

  1. ^ Urbanora (25 July 2011). "The Soldier's Courtship". The Bioscope. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Rip Van Winkle". The Era. 2 December 1899. p. 13. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Our Portraits". The Burr McIntosh Monthly. 18. 1908.
  4. ^ a b "Young British Lord and Former Stage Favorite Returning from Tour of World". San Francisco Chronicle. 9 July 1910. p. 1. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "The Earl and the Girl". The Bystander: 526–527. 9 September 1908 – via HathiTrust.
  6. ^ Nash, Mrs Jean (19 April 1925). "By the Best Dressed and Most Extravagant Woman in the World, Chapter XII(1)". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 124. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Extravagances Force England's Richest Duke to Sell His Ancestral Treasures". The San Francisco Examiner. 15 January 1928. p. 119. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "The Rich Duke of Westminster Acquires a Third Bride". The San Francisco Examiner. 2 February 1930. p. 122. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Rich, Helen B. (22 January 1936). "From my Notebook". Miami Tribune. p. 22. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b Paul, Maury (11 April 1941). "Countess Sylvia Now Domiciled in Cottage". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. 28. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Guests on Desert". The Los Angeles Times. 28 December 1936. p. 25. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Light for Fido". The Ottawa Journal. 29 November 1940. p. 4. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "In London's Blackout". The Ottawa Journal. 8 February 1941. p. 12. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "English Nobleman Weds an Actress". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 6 September 1908. p. 36. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Matthews, Richard (1909). "Actresses Who Have Made Notable Marriages". Actors and Actresses by Different Writers. 3: 543.
  16. ^ Fyles, Vanderheyden (1910). "The Actress Who Retires". The Green Book Magazine. 3: 1254.
  17. ^ "Actress Wives Who Have Turned Lords into Heroes". The Austin American. 20 June 1915. p. 29. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Sylvia Storey's Husband is Dead". Vicksburg Evening Post. 11 July 1918. p. 1. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Gaiety Girl Who Left Stage to Go to Altar is Popular". The Inter Ocean. 8 December 1912. p. 13. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Nash, Mrs Jean (19 April 1925). "By the Best Dressed and Most Extravagant Woman in the World, Chapter XII(2)". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 125. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "No Actresses Wanted in Lord Poulett's Love Scenes". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. 23 January 1944. p. 53. Retrieved 4 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Person Page: Sylvia Lilian Storey". The Peerage. Retrieved 5 September 2020.