Hilda Hanbury

Hilda Louise Hanbury (née Alcock; 16 January 1875 – 23 December 1961) was a British actress and stage beauty. Her grandsons are Edward, James, and Robert Fox, while her great-grandchildren include Emilia, Laurence, Jack and Freddie Fox. Early life Hanbury was born in St Pancras, London to surveyor and estate agent Matthew Henry Alcock (1841–1911) and his wife Elisabeth née Davis (1845–1916). Her older sister Lily Hanbury (1874–1908; born Lillian Florence Alcock) was also an actress. Their mutual cousin was actress Julia Neilson. Lily and Hilda had a pet dog named "Wobbles" who died in 1900 and is buried in Hyde Park pet cemetery. A report in the London journal The Wheelwoman & Society Cycling News of 14 August 1897 states that Hilda and her sister learned to ride bicycles at the Empire Cycle School in Tavistock Place, which was unusual for women of the time. Career and later life Hilda Hanbury commenced her stage career in various London music halls. In 1891, as a teenager, she made her stage debut as Nancy Ditch in Robert Williams Buchanan's play Miss Tomboy in London's West End. She was also seen on stage as a member of Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s theatrical company, which she joined in 1892. She appeared in Fédora with the Beerbohm Tree Company at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London (1894–1895), also appearing with them on an 1895 American tour in New York City