Lily Dampier

{{short description|Australian actress}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}}

File:Lily Dampier from Photograph album of Australian actors and actresses c1870-1900 compiled Gordon Ireland MS 6135.jpg

Katherine Annabel Lily Dampier (1867 or 1868 – 6 February 1915),{{efn|One reference gives her date of birth as January 1859[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19150227.2.110&srpos=125&e=-------10--121-byDA---2%22alfred+rolfe%22-- Stage Jottings]. Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 50, 27 February 1915, Page 14 problematical given her father's year of birth 1843~47 and her (presumed) mother born c. 1848. January 1869 is quite plausible.}} known as Lily Dampier, was an Australian actress of stage and screen. She was the daughter of Alfred Dampier and married to Alfred Rolfe.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15549938 'Miss Lily Dampier' The Sydney Morning Herald 8 Feb 1915: 10] accessed 26 Nov 2011{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155520668 |title=Among the Players |newspaper=The Winner |location=Melbourne |date=10 February 1915 |accessdate=26 October 2014 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/australian-movie-stars/|title=Australian Movie Stars|date=August 18, 2019}}

Her best known stage parts were Sylvia in For the Term of His Natural Life and Kate in Robbery Under Arms.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45314216 |title=Miss Lily Dampier Dead |newspaper=The Barrier Miner |location=Broken Hill, NSW |date=8 February 1915 |accessdate=19 November 2014 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/wrecking-australian-stores-the-1957-film-version-of-robbery-under-arms/|date=7 March 2025|access-date=7 March 2025|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Wrecking Australian stores: the 1957 film version of Robbery Under Arms|magazine=Filmink}} She also performed many roles from Shakespeare and worked in England.

A contemporary described her as a better actress than her sister Rose:

Certainly she was the more forceful, physically, and vocally, but she was disqualified for high tragic roles by the fact that she had ridiculously small feet for a well developed woman, and used to walk in mincing and tottering steps in moments when rhythmic striding was needed.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103529881 |title=Reminiscences of the Stage |newspaper=The Arrow |location=Sydney |date=14 December 1917 |accessdate=23 November 2014 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

She married actor/architect William Watkins, stage name Watkin Wynne, on 19 September 1889, divorced 1892.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44083927 |title=A Theatrical Divorce Case |newspaper=Barrier Miner |volume=5 |issue=1320 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 June 1892 |accessdate=14 August 2021 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was a member of her father's company of actors. She married Rolfe in 1893.Richard Fotheringham, "Introduction", Robbery Under Arms by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch, Currency Press 1985