Lilian Lancaster (cartographer)
{{Short description|American activist (1859–1932)}}
{{for|the author and journalist|Florence Finch Kelly}}
{{about|the cartographer|her niece, the artist|Lilian Lancaster (artist)}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Lilian Lancaster actress 1881.jpg
| name = Lilian Lancaster
| other_names = Eliza Jane Lancaster
| birth_date = November 17, 1852
| birth_place = London
| death_date = August 1, 1939
| occupation = Cartographer, Illustrator, actress, singer, pantomime
| notable_works = Geographical Fun: Humorous Outlines of Various Countries (illustrated maps), E. L. Hoskyn's Stories of Old (illustrated maps)
| spouse = William Edward Tennant
| mother = Theodora Claudia Lancaster née Crosthwaite (1822-1906)
| father = Thomas Lancaster (1817-1848)
}}
File:Lilian Lancaster actress 1881.jpg
Lilian Lancaster (17 November 1852 – 1 August 1939) was a British actress and humorous cartographer, producing anthropomorphic caricatures of maps of European nations with numerous references to the political changes then affecting continental Europe, together with representations of Garibaldi and Bismarck and other figures of the day.[https://alteagallery.com/catalogues/CAT1000000048/Altea-Gallery-eCatalogue-15.pdf Lilian Lancaster Tennant], Altea Gallery, e-catalogue 15, Allegory, Satire & Propaganda, 2021
Early Life
She was born in London in 1852 as Eliza Jane Lancaster. Her wool merchant father Thomas Lancaster (1817-1848) died before her 4th birthday, and she was brought up by her widowed mother, Theodora Claudia Lancaster née Crosthwaite (1822-1906), a mantle maker, who carried on the family business.
Cartographer
File:Lilian Lancaster Russia map.jpg (1818-1881)]]
File:Lilian Lancaster England map.jpg reading The Times, a recumbent lion, Mr Punch and a Welsh woman in her traditional stove-pipe hat (1878)]]
In 1867, Lancaster was age 15 when she provided twelve color maps for the book Geographical Fun: Humorous Outlines of Various Countries (1868).Harvey, William. Geographical Fun: Humorous Outlines of Various Countries, Hodder and Stoughton, London, December 1868[http://barronmaps.com/lilian-lancaster-1852-1939/?doing_wp_cron=1688536905.8286900520324707031250 Lilian Lancaster (1852-1939)], Barron Maps website The maps were created in the style of illustrated caricatures. The introduction to the book and the humorous rhyming verse describing the anthropomorphic maps of European countries were provided by 'Aleph', the nom de plume of the City Press journalist and Islington antiquary, Dr. William Harvey [1796-1873].
In the introduction to the book, Harvey wrote that the maps had been drawn by a girl to amuse her sick brother. Harvey added that Lancaster had been inspired by an earlier drawing of England represented by Punch (from Punch and Judy) riding on a dolphin. The drawings were intended to educate as well as entertain, Harvey adding: 'no history no journal can be understood without a knowledge of maps, and good services is done when we make such information more easy and agreeable'!
Another book illustrated with her maps was [https://www.atlaseum.com/atlases/stories-of-old-hoskyn E. L. Hoskyn's Stories of Old],{{Cite web |title=Stories of Old, 1912 |url=https://www.atlaseum.com/atlases/stories-of-old-hoskyn |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=www.atlaseum.com |language=en}} again showing European countries, but this time depicting stories from local mythology.Hoskyn, E. L. Stories of Old, Adam & Charles Black: London, 1912
Theatrical career
File:Grim Goblin print 1880.jpg in London - The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 30 December 1876, p. 349]]
Beginning in the early 1870s she commenced a career on the stage as a pantomime performer, comedy actress and singer, at first at the Haymarket Theatre and later at the Grecian Theatre where she appeared as Waspino with George Augustus Conquest’s Grim Goblin Pantomime Company in the burlesque pantomime, The Grim Goblin; or, Harlequin Octopus, the Devil Fish, and the Fairies of the Flowery Dell. In the show Lancaster gave a series of lively performances of the comic song, "Lardy dah, Lardy dah!".[https://loc.gov/item/ihas.100004705 "Lardy dah, Lardy dah!"], Historic Sheet Music Collection 1800 to 1922, Library of Congress Collection During 1880 she was touring the United States with this show when the production came to an abrupt end in New York at Wallack's Theatre when Conquest was seriously injured when he fell during his act.Parker, John. [https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1912_supplement/Conquest,_George George Conquest], Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement, Volume 1
On her return to Great Britain in 1881 Lancaster toured the provinces in Shakespearean productions with Barry Sullivan.
Later life
In 1884 Lancaster married William Edward Tennant,Eliza Jane Lancaster in London, England, Church of England Marriages (1884) a London tutor and landed proprietor. With her marriage she retired from the stage. On his death aged 43 in 1897 Lancaster moved to Brighton, where she resumed creating her manuscript caricature maps under her married name.
Her niece was the British artist Lilian Lancaster.Lilian Adelaide Lancaster in the 1911 Census for England and Wales
In her latter years Lilian Lancaster Tennant lived at 4 Neville Street in South Kensington in London. She died in August 1939 and left an estate valued at £1445 l5s. 6d.Eliza Jane Tennant in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995
In 2017 two of her hand-painted manuscript maps were displayed in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery at the British Library in London.[https://blogs.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/2017/01/lilian-lancasters-hand-drawn-maps-on-display-.html Lilian Lancaster's hand-drawn maps on display], British Library, 30 January 2017
References
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Category:English cartographers
Category:19th-century English women artists
Category:20th-century English women artists
Category:English women painters
Category:Actresses from London
Category:19th-century English actresses