Mrs J.H. Leffler

Mrs J.H. Leffler (fl. 1860s and 1870s) was a singer and actress.

Also found as Mrs Leffler

Seems she may have been born Ellen Prestwich in either England or Australia (she appears to have had family relations in the colony),

She became a singer, inter alia working with the Mabel Mayes company and, having married fellow performer James Leffler, was billed as Mrs J.H. Leffler and hailed as "a member of the Royal Opera Company, London", when she came to South Africa with her husband, James Leffler, and his associates Henry Harper and miss Annette Hirst (the ensemble known as the The Harper-Leffler Opera Company (or the Harper-Leffler Company), to perform six concerts of opera selections in the Commercial Exchange and the Mutual Hall, Cape Town between 5 August - 9 September 1868. The Lefflers settled in South Africa, working as performers, and raising their children.

According to Du Toit (1988), a Harper-Leffler Company also performed as permanent "repertory" company active in Kimberley during the 1890s.

For more on the specific details of the company's various companies and productions, see the entry on the Harper-Leffler Company.

Sources

Blog by Bernard Meredith Leffler's granddaughter: Leffler Stories. Past and present for the future (Category: James Henry Leffler - Family History Letter from William Frederick Leffler to Bernard Leffler 1922[1]

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: 243-9.

P.J. du Toit. 1988. Amateurtoneel in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Academica

[TH, JH]

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