Sylvia Storey

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Sylvia Storey
A young white woman, seated, wearing a gown. She has flowers in her dark hair. The image is framed and captioned "Sylvia Storey".
A publicity card from 1910.
Born
Sylvia Lillian Storey

4 October 1889
London
Died20 July 1947
London
Other namesCountess Poulett, Lady Poulett
OccupationActress, Gaiety Girl, socialite
Spouse(s)William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett
ChildrenGeorge Poulett, 8th Earl Poulett

Bridget Poulett

Phoebe Amie Sybil Poulett

Sylvia Lillian, Countess Poulett (born Sylvia Lillian Storey; 4 October 1889 – 20 July 1947) was a British actress and dancer, a Gaiety Girl who married an Earl and became known as The Countess Poulett.

Early life[]

Sylvia Lillian Storey was born in London, the only child of William Frederick Clayton Storey (known as Fred Storey) and Lilian Margaret Thorley Holmes Storey. Her parents were actors,[1] and she joined her father in the cast of Rip Van Winkle in 1899.[2]

Career[]

Earl and Countess Poulett 1908 homecoming crowd at Hinton St George, Somerset, England

Sylvia Storey acted and danced on the London stage as a Gaiety Girl, and modeled for postcards, cigarette cards, and other publicity.[3][4] After she married in 1908,[5] she and her husband traveled around the world, appearing in San Francisco in 1910.[4]

In widowhood, she became a socialite. In 1925, she was rumoured to be keeping late nights with Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster on his yacht off Cannes.[6] In consequence, the Duke's angry second wife, Violet Cripps, Baroness Parmoor, threw Poulett's belongings overboard,[7] and her relatives asked the court to take her children from her custody.[8]

Before and during World War II, she spent some time in the United States, especially in Florida,[9] New York, and California.[10][11] She was fined for violating London's blackout orders in 1940,[12][13] and took a cottage in Somerset.[10]

Personal life[]

In 1908,[14] Sylvia Storey married William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett.[15][16] He served in the Royal Horse Artillery during World War I,[17] and died in the 1918 flu pandemic.[18] She had two children with Poulett,[19] George Amias Fitzwarrine Poulett (1909-1973), and Bridget Elizabeth Felicia Henrietta Augusta Poulett (1912-1975), and in widowhood a third child, Phoebe Amie Sybil Poulett (1922-1948), whose father was Major Percy Howard Hansen.[20] Her son married and divorced an actress, Oriel Ross.[21] Poulett died in 1947, aged 57 years, in London.[22]

References[]

  1. ^ Urbanora (2011-07-25). "The Soldier's Courtship". The Bioscope. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  2. ^ "Rip Van Winkle". The Era. 1899-12-02. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Our Portraits". The Burr McIntosh Monthly. 18. 1908.
  4. ^ a b "Young British Lord and Former Stage Favorite Returning from Tour of World". San Francisco Chronicle. 1910-07-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "The Earl and the Girl". The Bystander: 526–527. September 9, 1908 – via HathiTrust.
  6. ^ Nash, Mrs Jean (1925-04-19). "By the Best Dressed and Most Extravagant Woman in the World, Chapter XII(1)". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 124. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Extravagances Force England's Richest Duke to Sell His Ancestral Treasures". The San Francisco Examiner. 1928-01-15. p. 119. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "The Rich Duke of Westminster Acquires a Third Bride". The San Francisco Examiner. 1930-02-02. p. 122. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Rich, Helen B. (1936-01-22). "From my Notebook". Miami Tribune. p. 22. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b Paul, Maury (1941-04-11). "Countess Sylvia Now Domiciled in Cottage". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. 28. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Guests on Desert". The Los Angeles Times. 1936-12-28. p. 25. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Light for Fido". The Ottawa Journal. 1940-11-29. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "In London's Blackout". The Ottawa Journal. 1941-02-08. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "English Nobleman Weds an Actress". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1908-09-06. p. 36. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Matthews, Richard (1909). "Actresses Who Have Made Notable Marriages". Actors and Actresses by Different Writers. 3: 543.
  16. ^ Fyles, Vanderheyden (1910). "The Actress Who Retires". The Green Book Magazine. 3: 1254.
  17. ^ "Actress Wives Who Have Turned Lords into Heroes". The Austin American. 1915-06-20. p. 29. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Sylvia Storey's Husband is Dead". Vicksburg Evening Post. 1918-07-11. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Gaiety Girl Who Left Stage to Go to Altar is Popular". The Inter Ocean. 1912-12-08. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Nash, Mrs Jean (1925-04-19). "By the Best Dressed and Most Extravagant Woman in the World, Chapter XII(2)". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 125. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "No Actresses Wanted in Lord Poulett's Love Scenes". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. 1944-01-23. p. 53. Retrieved 2020-09-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Person Page: Sylvia Lilian Storey". The Peerage. Retrieved 2020-09-05.

External links[]

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