BBC History - UK (2022-01)

the time, it focused on society’s sexual hypocrisy, arguing

that “woman is not more chaste than man” and should not

take the blame for sexual indiscretions. Men who had af-

fairs should be revealed, it said, while unmarried mothers

should be helped, not scorned; illegitimate babies should be

legally recognised, not stigmatised. It was a deeply personal

novel, though Soldene had always hidden her illegitimacy.

Miss Soldene’s revelations

Soldene’s novel was followed in

1897 by her memoir, My Theatrical

and Musical Recollections, which

scandalised the country and,

naturally, became a bestseller.

As one reviewer put it: “Most of

the men who 25 years ago were

‘going the pace’ in London have

read its pages with fear and

trembling, while the rest of the

‘upper ten’ are chuckling over

Miss Soldene’s revelations.”

She held back little, producing

lists of public figures who had

consorted with actresses and

saying that when it came to revenge, “we women can wait”.

Lord John Hay was “fond of sitting in a box and criticising

the girls’ skirts”; Sir George Armitage was a “dear old man,

like poverty, he was always with us”; while the famous

explorer Richard Burton was “addicted” to long conversa-

tions with the ladies of the ballet and wore make up.

In 1912 she wrote her last column, which described her

forthcoming Easter Sunday 10-course lunch. Having eaten

it, she suffered a heart attack and died five days later.

Soldene may have long disappeared from the stage, but

she deserves to be back in the limelight. Her remarkable

career turns the stereotype of the Victorian woman on its

head. Her writing gives us the unique viewpoint of an

ordinary woman mixing with the ruling classes. In every

Soldene’s writing sense, Emily Soldene has an extraordinary voice.

gives us the unique

viewpoint of an

ordinary woman

mixing with the

ruling classes

Amazing Lives

Helen Batten is the author of The Improbable Adventures of

Miss Emily Soldene: Actress, Writer and Rebel Victorian

(Allison & Busby, 2021)

The frontispiece of an early edition of Soldene’s memoir, which both
scandalised and enthralled readers with its revelations about public
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Emily Soldene in 1880, in two

scenes from Bizet’s Carmen.

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production company in 1874, her

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of the United States and Australia