HARRIETT JAY - BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

The Robert Buchanan Timeline also includes the major events in Harriett Jay’s life and includes copies of  the following documents:

1. 1851 census return for the Jay household in Grays, Essex (prior to Harriett’s birth).

2. Harriett Jay’s birth certificate.

3. 1861 census return for the Jay household in Grays, Essex.

4. 1871 census return for Robert Buchanan’s household in Oban, Scotland.

5. 1881 census return for Harriett Jay.

6. 1891 census return for Robert Buchanan’s household at 25, Maresfield Gardens, South Hampstead.

7. 1901 census return for Harriett Jay and the invalid Robert Buchanan at Streatham, London.

_____

As part of my search for the remnants of Robert Buchanan’s literary estate I obtained a copy of Harriett Jay’s will in the hope that it would provide some clues. If you want to find out who got her parrott (sic) then click below:

Harriett Jay’s Will

_____

Obituaries

From The Scotsman (Saturday, 24 December, 1932 - p.13)

MISS HARRIET JAY DEAD

_____

Writer of “When Knights Were Bold”

     MISS HARRIET JAY, the authoress of “When Knights Were Bold,” and other plays and novels, has died at her home at Ilford, Essex, after a long illness. She was 79.
     Miss Jay, who was an actress as well as an authoress, was well known on the London West End stage in the ‘eighties. She first appeared at the Gaiety in 1880, and during the next ten years at Drury Lane, Vaudeville, Adelphi, Globe, and the now long-vanished Connaught and Olympic Theatres.
     She wrote mainly under the nome-de-plume of Charles Marlowe, and it was under that name that “When Knights Were Bold” appeared. She collaborated with the late Robert Buchanan, her brother-in-law, in most of her other plays. She is to be buried with him in the family vault at St John’s Church, Southend, to-day. One of her works was a “Life of Buchanan.” She also wrote several novels.
     Miss Jay was a friend of George R. Sims, Sir Arthur Pinero, Violet Vanbrugh, Mrs Patrick Campbell, Edward Terry, and Charles Reade.

___

From The Times (24 December, 1932 - p.10)

MISS HARRIET JAY

     Miss Harriet Jay, the authoress of When Knights were Bold, and other plays and novels, has died at her home at Ilford, Essex, after a long illness. She was 79 years of age.
     Miss Jay was well known on the West End stage in the eighties. She first appeared at the Gaiety in 1880 and during the next 10 years at Drury Lane, the Vaudeville, Adelphi, Globe, and the now long-vanished Connaught and Olympic theatres. She wrote mainly under the name of Charles Marlowe, and it was under that name that When Knights were Bold was written. She collaborated with the late Robert Buchanan, her brother-in-law, in most of her other plays, which included Fascination, Alone in London, and Strange Adventures of Miss Brown.

___

From The Guardian (24 December, 1932 - p.3)

MISS HARRIETT JAY

Author of “When Knights Were Bold”

     Miss Harriett Jay, the dramatist, novelist, and actress, died at her home in Seymour Gardens, Ilford, on Wednesday, aged seventy-nine.
     Miss Jay’s most famous play, written under the pen name of Charles Marlowe, was “When Knights Were Bold,” first produced in 1907. In collaboration with her brother-in-law, the late Robert Buchanan, Miss Jay also wrote the plays “The Queen of Connaught,” “Alone in London,” “Fascination,” “The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown,” “The Romance of a Shopwalker,” “A Wanderer from Venus,” “The Mariners of England,” and “Two Little Maids from School.” Miss Jay frequently appeared on the stage between 1880 and 1890, her first London performance being at the Crystal Palace in 1880. She appeared at the Gaiety in the same year as Lady Jane Grey in “A Nine Days’ Queen.” She also took part in “The Madcap Prince,” 1881, “The Exiles of Erin,” 1881, “Lady Clancarty,” 1882, “Lady Clare,” 1883, “A Sailor and His Lass,” 1883, “Alone in London,” 1885, “Sapho,” 1886, “The Blue Bells of Scotland” and “Fascination,” 1887, “The Bride of Love” and “Sweet Nancy,” 1890.
     She wrote the life of Robert Buchanan, and her novels included “The Dark Colleen,” “Madge Dunraven,” “My Connaught Cousins,” “The Priest’s Blessing,” “Two Men and a Maid,” “Through the Stage Door,” and “A Marriage of Convenience.”
     She is being buried to-day in the family vault at St. John’s, Southend, with Robert Buchanan.

___

From The Observer (25 December, 1932 - p.13)

FUNERAL OF HARRIET JAY.

     Miss Harriet Jay, who wrote the popular farce, “When Knights Were Bold,” over twenty-five years ago, and who died in seclusion at Ilford, at the age of seventy-nine, was buried yesterday in the family grave at St. John’s Church, Southend-on-Sea.
     The service was conducted by the vicar, the Rev. John J. Whitehouse.

Back to Harriett Jay