Ada Ferrar (1 June 1864 – 8 January 1951) was a British actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Early life
Born in St Pancras in London in 1864[1] as Ada Janet Bishop to Mary S. Bishop (1836-) and Charles R. Bishop (1814-), the Managing Clerk to a firm of solicitors, she was one of three actress sisters which included Beatrice Ferrar (1875-1958) and Jessie Ferrar (a.k.a. Marion Bishop (1879-1950).[2]
At first her desire to go on the stage met with some parental resistance, but eventually following her success her younger sisters were to follow her in her chosen career. Her first appearance was singing in the chorus in Claudian (1883) following which she gained theatrical experience touring with the Vaughan-Conway Company.[3] For F. R. Benson's 1888 season at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon she played Gertrude in Hamlet (1888), Lady Touchwood in The Belle's Stratagem, Margherita in Andrea,[4] Hermia/Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet.[5][6][7]
Theatrical career 1890-96
In 1890 Ferrar appeared as Geraldine in The Green Bushes, or, A Hundred Years Ago and Creusa in The Bride of Love (in a production which marked the London début of her sister Beatrice Ferrar) both at the Adelphi Theatre in London (1890),[8] and in 1891 was Ethel Kingston in The English Rose at the Adelphi Theatre.[9] In April 1891 she married Walter Shaw Sparrow,[10] then a Welsh actor but who went on to become a writer on art and architecture. The officers and workmen of the Ffrwd Works, her father-in-law's colliery, presented the couple with a "very chaste silvered tea and coffee service" with their best wishes.[11] During the 1890s and into the 20th century she continued to feature prominently on the cast of many theatrical productions. Very soon after their marriage the magazine Theatre commended her performance as Alida in The Streets of London by Dion Boucicault at the Royal Adelphi Theatre in London (1891).[12][13] She also played Violet Lovelace in They Were Married at the Strand Theatre (1892).[14]
From 1896 to 1899 she was touring New Zealand and Australia with a group of actors for George Musgrove and J. C. Williamson on an extended overseas tour, returning to England in September 1899.[17] During the tour she took part in many productions including playing Josephine in A Royal Divorce, Princess Flavia in The Prisoner of Zenda and Mercia in The Sign of the Cross.[3]
In 1903 she was touring in The Marriage of Kitty opposite Marie Tempest including at the Prince's Theatre in Bristol. Ferrar also toured as Ben Greet's leading lady, playing Viola in Twelfth Night, Peg Woffington in Masks and Faces, Dora in Diplomacy and Rosamund in Sowing the Wind. She toured with Otho Stuart, with whom she had previously acted with Benson, and for whom she was Fédora, Dulcie in The Masqueraders and Mrs. Horton in Dr. Bill. She played the ambitious Bazilide in Stuart's tour of For the Crown.[3]
In the 1939 Register for England and Wales she is listed as 'Housewife'.[1] After her husband's death in 1940 she was left just £287 6s in his will and was awarded a £100 Civil list pension under the Civil List Act 1837 for the "writings of her husband, the late Walter Shaw Sparrow, on art and architecture".[36]
She died aged 86 at the Tuquor House Nursing Home in Kew in Surrey in January 1951. Her estate was valued at £920 2s 11d.
^The Wrexham Advertiser, and North Wales News. Wrexham, Wales: Gale: 19th Century British Library Newspapers: 8. 18 April 1891. Retrieved 7 October 2012
^Meredith Klaus (ed.) (14 February 2011). 'Seasonal Summary for 1890–1891'. The Adelphi Theatre 1806–1900. Retrieved 10 October 2012