‘My Victorian Great Grandfather Was A Black Actor’
Audiences and critics alike loved the performances of Clare Patrick’s ancestor John Robert Mitchell, but beyond the stage door prejudice made life difficult for him and his descendants, says Gail Dixon
Social media can reveal enthralling tales of family history. In October 2021 Clare Patrick (née Mitchell), a family historian from Northleach, Gloucestershire, shared an emotive post with the members of the WDYTYA? Magazine Facebook Group. The story focuses on her black theatrical great grandfather John Robert Mitchell, and his resilient descendants.
Clare’s father Kenneth Mitchell has always longed to find out more about his grandfather. “All Dad knew was that John was born in 1870, and that he became a musician and an actor,” Clare explains. “Tragically, John died young at the age of 35.
Dad and I concluded that John must have been descended from slaves
“Four years ago, Dad felt that he could no longer continue the search and asked me to take up the mantle.” Initially, Clare and Kenneth assumed that John must have been born in the USA. However, he appeared in the British 1901 census listed as an actor in Luton, and gave his place of birth as British Guiana. This is now Guyana in South America.
During the colonial era the country had large sugarcane plantations, rice farms and mines. “Dad and I concluded that John must have been descended from slaves.”
A Rose By Any Other Name
Clare’s search was hampered by pitfalls that many of us encounter – spelling variations. “I spent years searching for John Robert Mitchell, all to no avail. One day in January 2021 I was looking on the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) and, through sheer fluke, discovered that John was known in theatrical circles as Mr JR Mitchell or John Roberts-Mitchell.
“This was my breakthrough, and I was thrilled to find more than 40 newspaper reviews and cast listings for him.” These were dated between 1899 and 1904, and provided details of where John performed and the characters that he played.
John starred in Max Goldberg’s Secrets of the Harem (1896), a play that, unsurprisingly, proved very popular. It was set in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and promised to “lift the veil from the mysteries of Oriental life”. The Turkish ambassador to London took great offence to it.
His disdain wasn’t shared by the critics, who loved it, and the troupe performed to packed venues across Britain. John played the part of Kara Mesrour, who is the chief eunuch of the harem. In one horrific scene, Kara has to strangle the caliph’s first wife using a bowstring. One reviewer noted that Mr JR Mitchell, playing Kara, “was fully appreciated by Monday evening’s audience, who were carried away by his realistic villainy in the strangling scene”.
Another review revealed an important clue for Clare. “I knew that my great grandmother was a dancer called Rosina, or Rose, Humphries, and that she was born in Lambeth, Surrey, in 1877. Dad and I knew little of her career or of how she met John.”
A review for Secrets of the Harem from the Royal Theatre in Castleford, West Yorkshire, solved the mystery. John was playing Kara Mesrour and Rose was one of the ladies of the harem. She was part of a group called the Tivoli Quartette, who “contributed clever and graceful dances” to the show.
“John and Rose must have met and fallen in love when they were touring. On 1 April 1903, their son Norman Leslie Mitchell was born in Southwark, Surrey. He was my dad’s father.”
Clare hasn’t been able to find any marriage record for John and Rose, and they separated soon after Norman was born. “John sailed for America in December 1903, looking for work in Philadelphia, and returned five months later,” she explains.
John continued to tour Britain as an actor until 1905. Tragically, the next record Clare found was his obituary in the theatrical journal The Stage. John had succumbed to pneumonia while staying in lodgings in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
“It was so sad to discover that John was buried in an unmarked grave in Ropery Lane Cemetery. A volunteer on Find A Grave (findagrave.com), Paul R, advised me to contact Durham County Council. They told me that another person called James Faid was buried with John 27 years later. He was a complete stranger, which upset me at first but I now know that it was common practice in the past.”
A Rumour Of Royalty
Rose Humphries was left with a two-year-old son to raise on her own. Norman Mitchell was of mixed race, which must have been challenging throughout his lifetime. “Rose tried to add kudos to the family by saying that Norman’s father was an African prince. I think she did this because of the prejudice in Edwardian times.”
Young Norman had no formal education and toured the music halls with Rose, helping backstage. In 1910 she married Otto Kirchbach, a German pastry chef who adopted Norman. War was looming so in 1913 Otto left Britain for Quebec in Canada, and never returned.
“I couldn’t find any record of Rose and Otto’s divorce, and in 1915 she married a wealthy theatre owner called Philip Englefield. Norman became a projectionist and found work in a cinema in Barnstaple, Devon.” It was there that he met and romanced Clare’s grandmother, Doris. A shocking tale of family prejudice would ensue.
“In 1927, Norman and Doris got married and six months later my dad Kenneth was born. Doris’ father wasn’t happy that she was marrying a man of mixed race. On their wedding day, he came into her room, threw down two £5 notes and said, ‘You’ve made your bed, so lie in it.’ Dad has told me that the general feeling at the time was very jaundiced towards mixed-race marriage. However, this would have been far outweighed by the scandal of an illegitimate child.
“Norman and Doris didn’t stay together long, so Doris decided to live with her parents who had moved to Hull. Her father said that Kenneth would have to be adopted, because he didn’t want a black child in the family. It’s heartbreaking to think of Dad being so discriminated against by his own grandfather.”
Kenneth was just 10 years old when Doris put him on the train and sent him to live with Norman, who had moved to Swindon. As far as they knew, they were the only black people in the town.
“The new arrangement was entirely unsuitable, because Norman was working evenings in the cinema. Their landlady Doll North used to help out, but she had several children of her own.”
Norman later began a relationship with Ginnie Reynolds and the three of them set up home in a flat above a gentlemen’s hairdresser. “Dad told me it was a barely furnished cold-water flat with an outside toilet.”
Despite Norman’s lack of formal education, he was academically gifted and could teach Kenneth quadratic equations. “Dad was equally bright, and came top of his year at grammar school.”
Kenneth was keen to join the Royal Navy. He passed the entrance exam with flying colours, but failed the medical due to having ‘weak eyes’, although he noticed that the officer filling in the examination form wrote the word “COLOURED” on it.
It means the world to me to have discovered so much about John
Undeterred, Kenneth applied to the Supply and Secretariat Branch of the Royal Navy, which he joined in August 1945. “Dad had the distinction of serving in the Second World War for a day.”
Kenneth married Kathleen Fulton in 1950 and they had five children, including Clare. “Dad had little connection with Doris, who had two other sons. When he was 50, his half-brother Donald got in touch and organised a family reunion. It was lovely that they managed to reconnect in later life, before Doris passed away in 1989.”
DNA Discoveries
Kenneth and Clare tested their DNA with Ancestry in 2017 (ancestry.co.uk/dna), and this led to further revelations.
“Matches appeared for two people in America, Anthony Mitchell and Amandla Macmillan. I discovered that John Robert Mitchell had another son called Peter, who was born in British Guiana in 1894 and later lived in America. Peter married and had two sons, Clarence and Victor, who Anthony and Amandla are descended from.
“We are in touch via Facebook, and I’ve been able to share some of John’s story. Amandla is living in Germany at the moment, so we may be able to meet soon.”
Clare’s research has been an emotional experience for her. “It means the world to me to have discovered so much about John, and to have done this for Dad. He doesn’t do emotional displays, but I believe it has been deeply important to him to understand who John was. In October 2021 I visited the grave in Chester-le-Street and placed plaques for John and James Faid. It was an honour to do this.
“John’s life must have been challenging as a black actor in Britain in the early 20th century. It’s good to know that he will not be forgotten.”
Kenneth Mitchell passed away on 16 February 2022 aged 93, shortly after our interview took place. Clare would like to dedicate this article to her father’s memory
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Resources
These three resources were a great help in Clare’s research
ANCESTRYDNA
DNA testing enabled Clare and Kenneth to discover unknown US cousins. This filled in gaps in the life of their ancestor John.
BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE
w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Clare found a lot of information about John in newspaper reviews. This helped her to chart his career and discover how he met her great grandmother. The collection is also available to ‘Pro’ subscribers to Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk).
DURHAM COUNTY RECORD OFFICE
After Clare discovered John’s early death, members of this service were very helpful. They even checked original documents to confirm the name of the priest at John’s burial.