Mary Elizabeth Drake: Yodelling Peterborian Star

You’ve probably heard of all of the great musicians from Peterborough, right? Who’s not heard of Andy Bell, Gizz Butt and Aston Merrygold? But what about the women? There may not be any pop stars yet, but there was once a very famous international singer and musician who was from Peterborough, and her story is both incredible and inspirational.

Mary Elizabeth Drake was born in 1846 and baptised in the beautiful St Kyneburgha’s Church in Castor. She was the daughter of George and Susannah Drake (née Eagle) and was one of at least nine children born to her parents. She grew up in Peterborough, living in Westwood Road (it ran parallel to Gladstone Street), Albert Square and Johnson’s Yard, so the city was most definitely her home.

Elizabeth, as she was known, did not grow up in a rich family, but her father had some respect as a policeman. He was working as a railway policeman as early as 1848 when Elizabeth was only two (and the local railway was only three!). By the 1851 census the family were living together on Westwood Road and by 1855 at the Christening of Elizabeth’s little sister Julia Lavinia, they were living at Albert Place. But something went wrong for George and he appears to have lost his job. 

On Monday 28^th December 1857 Elizabeth was admitted to the workhouse along with her siblings Mary, Thomas, and Arthur on the grounds of destitution. This is a little confusing because Elizabeth was christened as Mary Elizabeth, but usually known as Elizabeth, and it’s not clear on first glance who the extra sibling is. It's very likely it is Henrietta Louisa who was nine and they've accidentally given one of Elizabeth's names to her. To be clear, neither of her parents enter the workhouse at this point and there is no sign of older sister Georgina Selina or little sister Julia Lavinia. It’s likely that Julia (2 years old) was with her mother and Selina (as she was known) was working. It is quite unusual for children to be accepted without their parents but there is never any sign of Susannah Drake entering the workhouse.

The workhouse guardians were not impressed with George’s abandonment of his wife and children and leaving them chargeable to the parish. He was taken in front of the magistrates at the Petty Sessions on 16^th January and sentenced to a month in prison for neglecting to pay for their upkeep. A look at the workhouse records reveals that George did remove the children from the workhouse a few months later once he had found work. On Saturday 3^rd April George removed the four children – Mary, Henrietta, Thomas, and Arthur – to spend Easter with them. But he was not able to provide for them for long and all of them entered the workhouse on Wednesday 14^th April, including a Vincent Drake. There’s absolutely no sign of a Vincent in the records, so it’s possible that this is Julia Lavinia. The whole family left again on 30^th April, presumably because George found some work and was able to provide for them at last.

It's very likely that some or all of the family continued the cycle of temporary workhouse admission for the next few years because the 1861 census reveals that the youngest four children – Henrietta, Thomas, Arthur, and Julia – were in the workhouse again. Elizabeth was 15, however, and was living with Susannah in Johnson’s Yard, both of them working as dressmakers.

It is extremely curious that both parents were alive and the children are placed into the workhouse without them. There may be records showing that Susannah was provided with out-relief from the guardians to support her and Julia initially, but she was not capable of supporting the older children. Was George absent whilst looking for work? Or had their relationship broken down and he'd scarpered? The question might seem a strange one, but George and Susannah were never captured together as a couple again. As we know, by the 1861 census Susannah was living with Elizabeth, but there were no other family members with them. Living next door was Robert Jones and his son; she later moved to London with him and either married him or pretended to be married to him. By the 1871 census she was using the surname Jones and was living as a widow with Julia and several lodgers at 15 Berwick Street. George appears to have been lodging with a family in Cumbergate in the 1861 census, but had kept himself to himself; his birthplace was recorded as N K - not known. He died a few years later.

I know what you’re thinking – there’s not even a whiff of brilliance here. This is just an average poor girl from Peterborough (and you’re probably going to tell us she was a prostitute). Fear not, there’s no sign she worked as a prostitute (although there’s a reasonable chance), but the old adage that you have to leave the city to become anything, certainly applies to Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth appears in the 1871 census in very different circumstances. This time she was captured in Kidderminster with her niece Lizzie Dent, daughter of her sister Selina. Both of them were working as singers, which is incredible given that Little Lizzie Dent (her stage name) was only seven years old! Elizabeth was using the name Lizzie Herbert as her official stage name, which was also what appeared in the census (and made her incredibly difficult to find!). Why she was using the surname Herbert has not been discovered yet, but there's the potential that she had been taken under the wing of the Herbert family who were all Music Hall performers, so she used their name too.

Lizzie Herbert first appeared in the newspapers in 1866 in Scotland. She was 20 at the time and was appearing at the Alhambra Music Hall in Arbroath, Dundee, as a serio-comic singer, which means she would have sung both serious and comedic songs. Music Halls were hugely popular across the UK and were best known for the variety of performers (the essence of these still exist in the Royal Variety Performance and shows like Britain’s Got Talent). Elizabeth’s ability to sing a range of songs meant that she could have slotted into any variety of acts and found something to entertain the audience no matter what the mood of the night. This would not have been her first evening on stage, but how she got from dressmaker in Peterborough to serio-comic singer in Scotland five years later is a bit of a mystery. There wasn’t even a theatre in Peterborough at the time, although The Era showed that performances were taking place at the New Drill Hall.

One of Lizzie Herbert's first performances

One interesting sidenote here is that Susan Tingey, who had grown up in Peterborough workhouse and met Elizabeth there in 1858, headed down to London at a similar time and had married the music hall star The Great Vance by the end of the 60s. Susan also performed on stage and it does make me wonder if they headed down to London together in search of a brighter future. Perhaps they both headed down to London with Elizabeth’s mum Susannah, and used her house as a base for performing, just as Julia was doing in the 1871 census.

Once Elizabeth started on the Music Hall circuit, she found herself travelling all over the UK to perform with other variety acts, usually to great success. However, this wasn’t the case in Llandudno where she had joined Wallace’s Band. The band had abruptly left the town over an issue regarding money, taking Elizabeth with them, to which the North Wales Chronicle stated ‘we cannot much regret her departure’ after her style of singing and dancing had failed to impress the residents of Llandudno. We know from another report in Birmingham a few months before that they had described her as being ‘funny without being vulgar’ so at least we know she wasn’t offending Welsh ears with vulgarity!

Over the next few years she appeared more and more and at venues she had never been to before, such was her popularity. Thanks to the Birmingham Daily Gazette we know that two songs she sang were ‘Rolling Home in the Morning’ (a drinking song) and ‘Belle of the Ball’. By 1870 she was increasingly celebrated and when appearing in Oxford her ‘fascinating appearance on stage [had] been nightly greeted by long and loud applause.’ She wasn’t just a performer, she was a popular performer.

Early the following year Elizabeth started to appear with Little Lizzie Dent where the younger was described as ‘one of the most favourable specimens of juvenile talent ever heard.’ By March they were performing at the Oxford Amphitheatre in Kidderminster (where they were identified in the census). Little Lizzie was known as a comedienne and as a serio-comic singer like her aunt. It appears at this stage that Elizabeth has taken Little Lizzie under her wing, educated her in the ways of the Music Hall performance and they’ve set off to tour the UK and Ireland, something they continue to do for many years. Their relationship does appear to be incredibly close, perhaps not mother and daughter, but that of close relatives or intimate friends. 

A performance in Dublin in 1872

In June 1883 the UK papers were abuzz at the arrival of the Seebold family. They were an exceptionally gifted family of musicians from Zurich, Switzerland. Led by the father Jacob, the seven sons performed around the UK and were an instant success, despite none of them speaking a word of English. They had already performed in front of European royalty and almost immediately appeared in front of the Prince of Wales. As well as being great singers they played over 40 instruments including zithers, xylophones, and a boot jack that eldest son Joseph had invented himself. Their performances were a mixture of serious, sentimental, and comedic musical pieces, similar in style to Elizabeth and Lizzie.

In January 1884 Elizabeth appeared on the same bill as the Seebolds at the Star Music Hall in Bradford. A spark was obviously lit and she made a guest appearance with them in September in Sunderland. She also appeared with them in January 1885 in Tunbridge Wells, being billed as 'Madame Herberto, a soprano vocalist'. In the spring of 1885 Elizabeth married Joseph (who was much younger than her), the second eldest Seebold son and Lizzie Dent married Jackob, also known as Jackey or Jack. They married at St George’s, Hanover Square, which was the church to marry at and very important to their family. It was close to 15 Berwick Street where Elizabeth’s mum and sister Julia (another singer!) had been living in the 1871 census and the address Lizzie was living at at the time of the wedding. It was also the address that the Dents said they were living when they (belatedly) baptised Lizzie in 1872 and the location where their sister Henrietta's death was registered in 1868 after two years of marriage and at only 20 years old.

Elizabeth and Lizzie joined the Seebolds under their professional names and the audiences loved them. There had been complaints when the Seebold family first arrived that they needed some female singers to improve the sound of their songs and what could be better than two celebrated Music Hall singers?! Gretchen and Lena, the younger Seebold sisters joined the family group too, and together, as one big family, they toured the country, Europe, and the world! Initially the two women still used their stage names, but over time Lizzie Herbert became Mrs Joseph Seebold and was one of The Two Musical Seebolds. Lizzie Dent travelled extensively with her husband Jack, appearing as a double act, but also appearing beside The Two Musical Seebolds.

Elizabeth's incredible talents and Joseph's Musical Book-Jack

In 1887 the Seebold family performed at the Pleasure Gardens in Preston. Mrs Joseph Seebold was described as a ‘Tyrolean Vocalist and Instrumentalist’ who ‘created a perfect furore at Scarborough Concerts’ which is quite the compliment! We know that she was a singer with a broad range of skills, but it appears that she has learnt to yodel and play instruments too. If you’ve ever marvelled at the longevity of a performer, it’s usually because they were capable of reinventing themselves and learning something new – Elizabeth was certainly very good at that. Lizzie was not named on the same listing but it’s possible that she was absorbed into the ‘Sisters Seebold’ and had become proficient on the ‘Xilophone’ (sic).Elizabeth was also referred to as ‘Madame Seebold’ and was noted for singing Il Baccio (The Kiss) quite beautifully. It is an operatic piece, which again, would have pushed her singing skills to their limit and showed what range she had.

A highlight for the family, who performed as the Jungfrau Kappella and the Swiss Orchestra and Mountain Singers, and later as the Chamounix Orchestra, was appearing before Queen Victoria at Balmoral in 1889, not long after they had returned from a tour of ‘the colonies’ that included Australia.

By the 1890s Joseph and Elizabeth were still continuing to travel, but they had put down roots. The 1891 census showed them living in a fantastic location in London within a short walking distance of the Royal Academy of Music and Madame Tussauds (where the family performed in 1894). Joseph had been known as a professor for many years and it is likely that he was teaching at the Royal Academy, extoling the wonders of the many instruments that he played. By 1895 the couple had moved to leafy Willesden where he continued to work as a professor of music. They remained there until at least 1905 in between touring with the other Seebolds and Joseph’s Elite Ladies’ Orchestra (which I would love to think Elizabeth was part of). Sadly, they had no children of their own, but Joseph had a son, Richard, from a previous relationship and Elizabeth had a very close relationship with Lizzie and was caring for her niece Elizabeth Drake in the 1901 census.

 

The family performing in Hull where Elizabeth's sister Selina (and Lizzie's mum) lived

Lizzie and Jack had a little girl named Alice in 1887 who was born in Eastbourne and who lived with Lizzie’s mum Selina whilst they toured. They continued to appear as a couple through the 1890s, with Miss Lizzie Dent also performing on her own. In 1897 Lizzie was still performing alongside the Three Seebolds, but it was revealed for the first time that they were Lizzie, Jack and his sister Gretchen. Lizzie sadly passed away on 13^th December 1897. She was at Scarborough and died from heart disease. She was only 35. 

By the 1911 census Elizabeth was living with her brother Thomas Drake and his extended family in Essex. Joseph has not been discovered yet, but it’s possible that he was touring or had popped back over to Switzerland. Elizabeth died in 1915 at the age of 71, which is double the life that Lizzie lived.

Joseph died in 1921 at his home in Zurich after having returned there a few years earlier, possibly after the death of Elizabeth. He was only 65 at the time. His passing was recorded in the papers thanks to his brother informing them of his demise, not wanting his death to go unmarked.

Mary Elizabeth Drake was an incredibly talented woman. Her skills as a singer, instrumentalist and dancer were seen by thousands of Victorians in hundreds of performances over a career that lasted several decades. Her marriage to Joseph Seebold gave her the opportunity to travel the world and to meet heads of state, and also to live in comfort in the leafy suburbs of London. At the point her father left, and her family found themselves at the mercy of the parish, she might have thought that her dreams were over, and poverty was her only option. But her skills and hard work gave her another life, one that she shared with her beloved niece and the wider Seebold family. It’s a story of hope, of talent, and (trying not to be too soppy) one of love. Sadly, her story has been entirely unknown in Peterborough, but this is hopefully the start of the city reclaiming this exceptional performer as its own.

Update: after a bit of a wait the marriage certificate finally arrived for Elizabeth and Joseph and there are so many fascinating details to reveal. Firstly, Elizabeth claimed she was 35 instead of 39 (bit naughty but she probably wanted him to think she could have children). Secondly, neither had been married before, despite Joseph having a son from Germany. They married at a registry office, which is very likely because of their differing religious backgrounds and because they didn't need to appear for banns over several weeks. Joseph had been staying at 'The Feathers' on Broadway, Westminster (the pub is still there) and Elizabeth at 15 Berwick Street. (attempts to find her mother there in the 1881 census are ongoing). Their witnesses were Jack Seebold and Mary Elizabeth Dent, who I also believe married that day (and can presume that the newly married Seebolds were their witnesses). Both Joseph and Elizabeth claimed to be 'artists', which could be a very misleading term and certainly wasn't one they used elsewhere, but it did acknowledge they were both working in the same industry and put her on a level status with her new husband. I'm sure it was a wonderful day and only have questions about their dress, the bouquet, the music, the party afterwards...

Another Update: after receiving the answers to some research questions from Northamptonshire Archives, I've been able to add in information about Lizzie's time in Peterborough Workhouse, proving that she knew Susan Tingey. Finding two women from Peterborough Workhouse who married famous entertainers is less surprising when you know they were friends. But it does make you wonder what fun they had when they were together!