Fanny Raynor

Fanny Raynor (fl 1860s-1870s) was a British actress.

Married to and business partner of Bennee, she was either billed as "Miss Fanny Raynor", or "Mrs Bennee"

In the 1870s the Bennees visited India and Australia, where they performed roles such as that of "Claude Melnotte" and "Pauline", "Hamlet" and "Ophelia", "Petruchio" and "Katherine" and put on The Lady of Lyons (Bulwer) - none of these to great success, at least not in Melbourne it would appear.

As an actress she never seemed quite to live up to the publicity dispersed by the company. In Australia for example, the critic of The Advocate (10 August, 1872) said: "Miss Jaynor lacks animation, not possessing, as it seemed to us, the nervous character which is indispensable to a lady undertaking leading parts", a sentiment echoeing that of Boonzaier in Cape Town, South Africa.

Sources

"Public Amusements", The Advocate, Melbourne, Victoria: 10 Aug 1872 (Page 15), Trove[1]