Fanny Cathcart

Miss Fanny Cathcart (1833-1880),(18**-18**) was a British actress.

Biography

Born Mary Fanny Cathcart in England, daughter of a provincial theatrical manager. Her brothers also became well-known performers on the London stage.

She was discovered by the British actor-manager Gustavus V. Brooke in 1853, becoming his leading juvenile actress for two years from September 1854. In 1854 they set out for a tour of the colonies, notably Australia, and having stopped at the Cape en route, arrived in Melbourne to make her début as Desdemona on 26 February at the Queen's Theatre Royal.

She would spend the rest of her career as an actress in Australia. (see the article on her by Helen M. Van Der Poorten, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, (MUP), 1969[1]

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

She was a member of the G.V. Brooke company which visited Cape Town en route to the Australian goldfields in 1854-55. The company consisted of Miss Fanny Cathcart and Mr R. Younge and they performed in the Barracks Theatre during the revictualling of their vessel, along with local amateurs.

See further G.V. Brooke