Martha Rowson

Martha Rowson (b. **/**/**** - d. **/**/****) was an actress.

Biography

Martha Rowson was a young girl when she acted in four silent films for African Film Productions: A Zulu’s Devotion (Joseph Albrecht/1916), The Splendid Waster (Lorimer Johnston/1916), Gloria (Lorimer Johnston/1916) and The Voice of the Waters (Joseph Albrecht/1918).

She made her first known stage appearance at the Palladium Theatre in December 1913 in Saved From the Sea, following which the Rand Daily Mail called her “a clever child actress, who spoke her words with commendable clearness and acted with intelligence”. In 1914 she appeared in No Cross, No Crown (March) and in The Octoroon (October), both at the Palladium. She played the kidnapped girl in Harriet Ford’s The Dummy (September 1917) for the American Dramatic Company and also appeared as the orphan girl Sadie Kate in Daddy Long-Legs (February 1918), both at His Majesty’s Theatre. She may also have been one of the Rowson Sisters, who performed as juvenile dancers at the Orpheum Theatre in April 1918.

Note: It is not known for certain whether Bobby Rowson, who appeared in De Voortrekkers (Harold M. Shaw/1916), was related, but Mary Rowson, who acted in the film The Silver Wolf (Lorimer Johnston/1916), seems to have been her sister. In addition her younger sisters, Margaret and Dora, appeared with her in Daddy Long-Legs. (FO)