Florence Creagh

(b. Margate, Kent, 15/10/1866 – d. East London, South Africa, 02/10/1948). Actress. Florence Creagh, the daughter of a schoolmaster, was a British-born actress who, between 1898 and 1913, appeared in repertory in a wide range of plays, with multiple mentions in The Era, a weekly newspaper noted for its theatrical coverage. Her appearances ranged from A Fast Life (1900) at the Pavilion Theatre in Edinburgh to Daddy’s Boy (1908) at the Empire Theatre in Mossley. Born Florence Elizabeth Dentry, she was the daughter of a schoolmaster and in February 1900 she had married fellow actor Dick Cruikshanks, who was eight years her junior. According to The Stage Year Book of 1911, the couple were both members of the Executive Committee of The Sketch Association.

In 1914 they came out to South Africa with an H.G. Brandon play. While continuing her stage career, she also appeared in a number of films for African Film Productions: The Water Cure (B.F. Clinton/1916), A Border Scourge (Ralph Kimpton & Joseph Albrecht/1917), The Piccanin’s Christmas (Dick Cruikshanks & Joseph Albrecht /1917), Bond and Word (Dick Cruikshanks/1918) and Prester John (Dick Cruikshanks/1920). Her stage appearance included Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch and The Thirteenth Chair (both 1918 for the American Dramatic Company) and Bubbly (1919) with Billie Browne and Thomas Pauncefort. In 1920 she toured with Lew James’s local New Comedy Company, notably in the popular The High Cost of Loving and Business Before Pleasure, both of which also featured Cecil Kellaway, Grafton Williams and Edward Vincent. This was followed by Captain Kidd, Jr. (1921), with Richard Scott and Dick Cruikshanks, and Hit the Trail Holliday (1921), staged by Allen Doone, with Grafton Williams and Richard Scott. In October 1924 she and Cruikshanks acted in The Rising Generation for African Theatres. After their retirement from the stage, her husband became a cinema manager in East London, where he died in 1947. She died the following year at the Frere Hospital in East London. (FO)

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