[2] "Barmaids", as they were called, were usually the daughters of tradesmen or mechanics or, occasionally, young women from the "better-born" classes who had been "thrown upon their own resources" and needed an income.

[3] In an interview with the London Express, Coleman remembered that the first mixed drink she made was a Manhattan, and that she was coached by Fisher, the hotel's Wine Butler, on how to make it.

[5] Though Coleman is sometimes cited as the first and only female head bartender at the Savoy,[6] there was already another woman tending bar, Ruth Burgess, known as "Miss B" or "Kitty", who started in 1902.

Newspaper accounts say they were equally popular with customers, but it was Coleman who was interviewed when she retired and who later found her way into 20th and 21st century histories of cocktails and bartending.

One account says the two women worked separate shifts for 20 years without speaking to one another because Coleman had refused to give Burgess the recipes for her popular drinks.

[7][8] American bars, and the diverse cocktails they served, had become popular in England in the late 19th century, and were a selling point for any establishment that had them during Coleman's era.

"[10] Other clients who drank at Coleman's bar included Mark Twain, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Diamond Jim Brady and the Prince of Wales.

"[4] The name hanky panky, which in England meant at that time 'magic', or 'witchcraft' stuck with the drink, a combination of gin, vermouth and Fernet Branca, which is still served in the American Bar at the Savoy today, as well as listed in cocktail manuals.

[1] In an interview with The London Daily Express, who called her "England's most famous barmaid" and "The Queen of Cocktail Mixers", Coleman estimated she had served one hundred thousand customers and poured one million drinks.