The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra

 

In the best portrait photos it is the face that attracts the viewer's eye. It might be the balance of their expressions, their smile, or lack of one, combined with a tilt of the head and their gaze into the camera's lens. In a split second the photographer captures a hint of personality, a faint recognition of a subject's mood and even character.

 

 

 

That's more difficult to achieve in a group photograph. As the shutter clicks, inevitably someone blinks, licks their lips, or shrugs a shoulder. It takes a skilled photographer to coordinate a collective moment when everyone is looking their best.

 

 

There's also the constant challenge of getting light to best illuminate each face. Too much light adds glare or casts dark shadows. Too little darkens features and obscures details of hair, clothing, and background. A camera only records what the lens can see. So it's up to the photographer to chose the best placement of the camera and their subjects.

 

 

When all the variables are aligned the camera produces an image of real artistry. We are not looking at a picture of anonymous people, but instead each individual is observing us across a vast distance of time and space. "How do you do? Very pleased to meet you," they seem to say.

 

Today I present a portrait of the
Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra.

 

 

Despite the caption on this postcard photo, this small ensemble of twelve female musicians posing on the side of a theater stage was not connected to British Royalty or the Royal Navy. However they were definitely young ladies who held a variety of musical instruments sufficient to be called an orchestra. The group had a string quintet of two violins, viola, cello, and contrabass; two woodwind players with piccolo, flute, and two sizes of clarinet; two brass players with trombone and cornet; and a snare drummer for percussion. 

The conductor of the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra stood at center dressed in a dark, tight-waist gown with long white gloves. The young women wear identical white linen dresses in a flattering feminine fashion that avoids imitating a masculine band uniform.  

The name of the group was unusual enough to easily find them in the newspaper archives. The first references to the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra began in 1893.

 

 

The Era, London
27 May 1893

In May 1893 The Era, the London trade magazine for music and theater entertainers, reported that the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra had finished a month-long engagement at the Trades Exhibition in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. In recognition of her orchestra's successful performances the orchestra's director, Miss Flo Sidney, was presented with a silver-mounted baton from the exhibitors. I suspect this is the same baton with silver band that the woman in the photo is holding.  

 

 

 

Gazette, Lancaster, England
22 July 1893

The report mentioned that the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra was then in Morecambe, a seaside resort town in Lancashire, appearing at the People's Palace and Aquarium. In July the Lancaster Gazette reviewed the attractions at the Palace noting, "The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra —the ladies in blue, who look delightfully cerulean, have a splendid programme for this and the ensuing week. Miss Flo Sidney leads with her accustomed ability. Professor Devono, the Lizzettes, Jennion's Marionettes, and Mdlle. Elsie, the wire walker, are still taking turns. Lo-Lo and Lo-La perform in the dizzy heights of the hall, and are well recieved by their old patrons. Miss Florence Mouland executes piccolo solos with rare skill, and Miss Hawkesworth is a charming vocalist."

 

The ladies' orchestra was part of a variety show, almost a circus, sharing the stage with trapeze artists, acrobats, trained animal acts, dancers, vocalists, and comedians. Whether they also accompanied the acts is not explained. Certainly the orchestra "conductress" also performed solos on her instrument, violin. Nearby on the stage of the West End Summer Gardens and Pavilion, Mdlle. Hirsch's ladies orchestra similarly performed, competing with the noise from arcade games and amusement rides. In an era when symphony orchestras were exclusively all-male, female musicians could still find employment in smaller venues outside concert halls and opera houses. Many found work through the notices published in The Era. 

 

The Era, London
26 May 1900

 

Seven years later, in May 1900, a notice appeared from "The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra, Conductress, Miss Flo Sidney. WANTED. Engagements for Summer Season, 1900. The finest Lady Instrumentalists. Good Vocalists. A Large and Up-to-date Library of Music. Terms and Particulars, the National Concert Agency, 9, Berners street, London, W."

 

On the same page were notices from a Greek Ladies' Orchestra, Conductress, Miss Nellie Rennison; an English Society Band of five ladies and gentleman; a Welsh Ladies' Orchestra, Conductress, Miss Ruth Claxton; a "Good Ladies' Orchestra", trained by member of the Halle Orchestra; and even an Experienced Lady Double Drummer, Tympanist, and Xylophone Soloist seeking engagments.

However the photo of the Royal Ladies' Navy Band is not from 1893 or even 1900, as the photo postcard did not even exist in that decade. Real photo postcards began in 1903 when the Eastman Kodak company introduced their new No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak, along with pre-printed photopaper so that anyone could take a picture and have it developed and printed as a postcard. This was usually done by a local photography shop or sent directly to the Kodak company for processing. Even though the photo of the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra is unmarked, the printed divided back also dates it to a time after 1902 when the postal service first allowed senders to put message and address together on the back. The quality of the photo makes it likely that it was produced around 1908 or later.

It's a credit to her good business sense, as well as musical talent, that for over 20 years, Miss Flo Sidney managed to keep her Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra going by finding bookings at seaside resorts, roller skating rinks, and music hall theatres around England, Ireland, and Scotland. Though at first in 1893  she was known as "Miss Flo Sidney", in the 1900s she became "Madame Florence Sidney Jones." This was confusing as some notices and reviews referred to her as the wife of James Sidney Jones (Jr), (1861–1946) a popular composer and conductor of musical comedies. But Sidney Jones, as he was usually credited, married Kate Linley, an actress, in 1885 with whom he had five children. There was no mention of a Florence.

 

Jones was named after his father, James Sidney Jones, Sr. (1837–1914), a military bandmaster who gave his son and namesake his first musical training on clarinet. After numerous moves the family settled in Leeds. It was this clue that led me to discover that Flo Sidney, was actually Florence Annie Jones, the sister to James Sidney Jones, Jr. 

 

Florence was born in 1864 in Colchester, Essex and studied violin at the Yorkshire Training College of Music in Leeds. Evidently as a professional musician she used a stage name, which is why my first efforts to find her in official records failed. 

 

Having established her real name and family connections, I found her in a family tree on Ancestry.com which proved useful in identifying her various relationaships. In the 1901 England census, Florence was living with her parents, James Sidney and Anne Jones. in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. She was age 35, occupation Musician, and she was married. Her name was now Florence A. Faraday and she had a son with her, Richard Guy Faraday, age 2. 

For some reason she chose to live separate from her husband, Richard Faraday, and may have modified her stage name to appear more refined. Social conventions of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain made it difficult for older women to work independently of marriage, so the addition of "Madame" likely gave Florence a genteel quality as a married woman while the "Sidney Jones" implied a family connection to her now-famous brother. 

 

Southport Visitor
26 March 1910

An advertisement for concerts by the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra at the Southport Pier in March 1910, added a line after "Conductress—Madame Floence Sidney Jones" (Sister to Mr. Sidney Jones, composer of "The Geisha", "San Toy", &c.) to correct any mistaken assumptions. 

 

The Edwardian era saw a great boom in seaside resorts as more middle class families began taking holidays along Britain's coastline. Every amusement park and pier needed live music and ladies' orchestras proved to be popular with resort visitors. In 1908 the Florence secured the summer season for her orchestra at the pier in Worthing, in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs on the English Channel. On 18 May 1910, the local newspaper, the Worthing Gazette, welcomed the return of  "that capable little organization, the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra" for its third season and printed the names of all its musicians.

 

 

Worthing Gazette
18 May 1910

The Leader (principal first violin): Miss Minnie Richardson.
First Violin: Miss Mabel Miller.
Viola and Vocalist: Miss Nancy Packman.
'Cello: Miss Irene Miller.
Bass: Miss Mur Miller.
Flute and Piccolo: Miss Violette Haut.
Oboe: Miss Alice Enihauser.
Cornet: Miss Catherine Fidler.
Trombone: Miss Annie Knowles.
Pianoforte: Miss Mandie Jones.
Drums, Xylophone, Bells, etc.: Miss Doris Blanche.

"The programme opened in the afternoon with a sympathetic rendering of Chopin's beautiful yet solemn Funeral March, in token of respect for the dead King, and the performance was repeated at the opening of the evening's proceedings."  King Edward VII had died 12 days before at Buckingham Palace on 6 May 1910.  

 

In 1911 the orchestra again returned to Worthing and the Gazette published the orchestra's roster.

The Leader (principal first violin): Miss Minnie Richardson.
First Violin: Miss Adelaide Macwhirter.
Second Violin and Contralto Vocalist: Miss Louisa Linn.
'Cello and Soprano Vocalist: Miss Katie Bicket.
Bass: Miss Muriel Miller.
Flute and Piccolo: Miss Violette Haut.
Clarinet: Miss Christine Curtis.
Cornet: Miss Hilda Kent.
Trombone: Miss Annie Knowles.
Pianoforte: Miss Mandie Jones.
Drums, Xylophone, Bells, etc.: Miss Doris Blanche.

Both seasons the number of musicians matches the number of musicians in the photo. Only five names were different (which I've underlined) but since in 1911 the oboist was replaced with a clarinetist, it is this list that I think best corresponds to the musicians in my photograph. Curiously the name of the pianist, or pianoforte player, Miss Mandie Jones, who sits in front with a roll of music on her lap, was identified in a Scottish newspaper review of the Worthing Pier concerts as the daughter of Florence Sidney Jones. According to the limited resources I could find, this is incorrect  but it's possible that since the extended family had a very musical background that she was another Jones relation.

1911 Kelly's directory for Sussex, England

What convinces me that this photo comes from Worthing and dates from 1911 is that the skillful photographer who took the photo of the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra left his name in the lower right corner of the postcard: Otto Brown. His studio was listed in Kelly's 1911 Sussex directory and located at 2 Chapel Rd. in Worthing, just 0.3 mile north of the Worthing Pier, a seven minute walk. A century later Google Street View provides a 360° view from the Worthing Pier cafe looking back towards the town. The lighting is still very good.

 

 

 

[Click the >Arrows< in the viewer to see other rooms on the Pier]

 

 

The Great War interrupted life in Britain in the summer of 1914, but many of the resorts managed to carry on. The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra was booked into providing music at roller skating rinks and other society events but after 1915 the group seems to have disbanded. In any case, according to the compiler of the Jones family tree, Florence Annie (Sidney) Jones Faraday died in January 1920 at the age of 55. I have been unable to find an obituary yet, but I feel certain there is one. Maybe then I will discover the reason she associated her ladies' orchestra with the Royal Navy.

The conductress Florence Sidney Jones represents a remarkable type of female entrepreneur in an era that did not easily accept women in many businesses. Her photograph and history is similar to others I've featured like my story from 2013, English Ladies Orchestras. To make a successful career a female entertainer required talent, gumption, and no small amount of courage I think. And Florence also created opportunities for many young female musicians that undoubtedly helped change the course of the entrenched male chauvinistic world of show biz.  Unfortunately personal details of her full story cannot be uncovered using only census records and newspapers notices. That would require resources that are beyond the reach of the internet.

 

But there is one more part of the story to tell.

 

 

The small drummer in the center of the photograph probably attracted your attention. Though she looks to be kneeling, she is still as diminutive as a child. The cornet player even placed an arm around her in a maternal manner. Yet those are not the eyes of a child and certainly not the hands of a little girl. This is a young woman whose soulful dark eyes make this an exceptional photograph. 

 

The Worthing newspaper gave her name twice, Miss Doris Blanche. She was actually Florence Sidney Jones' niece, Dora Blanche Horsfield, the daughter of her older sister, Eleanor Mercy Jones-Horsfield (1859-1890). She was much older than she appears.

 

In 1911 she was listed as living in the home of James Sidney Jones, Sr., now retired from music teaching at age 73. Besides his wife, Anna Jones and a sister-in-law, Eleanor Rycott, Florence Annie Faraday, age 45, and her son Richard Guy Faraday, age 12, lived there too. At the bottom of the list of residents is Dora Blanche Horsfield who was described as Granddaughter. Dora was then age 27 and unmarried. 

 

Florence's occupation was Band Conductress in an Orchestra and was an Employer.  Dora was a Musician, and worked in an Orchestra. According to her family tree she remained single all her life, and lived in Hammersmith, London where she died in June 1942 at age 59. 

 

I wish I could have heard her play the xylophone.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where you never know what you're going to get.