Adeline Billington
{{Short description|English actress and teacher (1826-1917)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Adeline Billington
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Adeline Billington.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Adeline Billington
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name = Adeline Mortimer
| other_names = Mrs. John Billington
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1826|01|03|df=yes}}
| birth_place = England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1917|01|23|1826|01|03|df=yes}}
| death_place = London, England
| nationality = British
| education =
| alma_mater =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = John Billington
}}
Adeline Billington (3 January 1826 – 23 January 1917), was an English actress and teacher.{{cite news |title=Sixty Years an Actress. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227843369?searchTerm=Adeline%20Billington |newspaper=The Bendigo Independent |date=13 August 1908 |page=6 |access-date=2023-10-18 |via=Trove}}
Biography
Adeline Mortimer was born 3 January 1826, in England.{{cite news |title=Obituary |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15727996/1266951 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=24 January 1917 |page=11 |access-date=2023-10-18 |via=Trove}} She married John Billington, a fellow actor.{{cite magazine|title=Mr. John Billington. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/147282158?searchTerm=Adeline%20Billington |magazine=Table Talk |publication-place=Melbourne |date=6 June 1890 |page=5 |access-date=2023-10-18 |via=Trove}}{{cite news |title=John Billington, Actor |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19040921.2.130.7?query=Reeves |via=Papers Past |volume=21 |number=2636 |page=61 |newspaper=Otago Witness |date=21 September 1904 |access-date=2023-10-18}} Billington made her London debut in Cupid and Psyche at the Adelphi Theatre. She worked in that theatre for 16 years. She often worked with her husband.{{cite book |last1=Wearing |first1=J. P. |title=The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel |date=5 December 2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-9294-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5JWAgAAQBAJ}} Billington was popular with Charles Dickens for several of her performances in the theatrical performances of his works.{{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=Charles |title=The British Academy/The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 12: 1868-1870 |date=14 March 2002 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-159027-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpJSVNy7jx8C&pg=PA102}} Billington was friends with Vaughan Williams as well.{{cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Roger |title=Masques, Mayings and Music-dramas: Vaughan Williams and the Early Twentieth-century Stage |date=2014 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-84383-919-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBEABQAAQBAJ}}{{cite web |title=Transcript of The Plimsoll Sensation podcast |url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/transcript-of-plimsoll-sensation-podcast |website=National Museums Liverpool}} Billington also worked as an acting teacher, knowns as "Mother of the stage".{{cite book |last1=Heim |first1=Caroline |title=Audience as Performer: The changing role of theatre audiences in the twenty-first century |date=30 July 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-63354-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqlGCgAAQBAJ}}{{cite news |title='Mother of the Stage.' |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189849087?searchTerm=Adeline%20Billington |newspaper=Telegraph |publication-place=Brisbane |date=17 April 1917 |page=3 |access-date=2023-10-18 |via=Trove}}
She died in London on 23 January 1917 and was buried with her husband in Highgate Cemetery.{{cite web |title=Mrs John Billiington |url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1917-01-24/9/8.html#start%3D1917-01-01%26end%3D1917-12-31%26terms%3D%22highgate%20cemetery%22%26back%3D/tto/archive/find/%252522highgate+cemetery%252522/w:1917-01-01%7E1917-12-31/1%26prev%3D/tto/archive/frame/goto/%252522highgate+cemetery%252522/w:1917-01-01%7E1917-12-31/1%26next%3D/tto/archive/frame/goto/%252522highgate+cemetery%252522/w:1917-01-01%7E1917-12-31/3 |website=The Times Archive |access-date=25 September 2024}} The grave, which is unmarked, is immediately behind the grave of the comedian George Honey.
Sources
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Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery
Category:19th-century English actresses
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