Avonia Jones

Avonia Stanhope Jones Brooke (July 12, 1839 – October 4, 1867) was an American actress, best known for tragic roles.

Her father was an eccentric who was originally a serious Shakespearean actor; he later assumed a title, wrote books, practiced law, and put on increasingly ridiculed productions of Shakespeare.

[8] She returned to England in late 1865, and brought with her an American adaption of East Lynne, in which she appeared as "Isabel"; this played to considerable success.

[11] Her appearances in Manchester in the summer of 1867 were her last; after returning to America, she died of consumption at a boarding house at 2 Bond Street in New York, October 5, 1867, at the age of 28.

An edition of John Savage's works reprinted a review of Avonia Jones in "Sybil", saying that it was "...successfully played by her for over sixty nights during that season, in Louisville, Chicago, Cincinnati, Richmond, New Orleans, and the other principal cities in the South and West.

She was almost invariably called before the curtain after the third, fourth, and fifth acts of the play, and on one occasion the excited audience followed her to her hotel, and would not disperse until she made her appearance on the balcony.

"[12] The New York Times said of her in her obituary "As an actress her chief excellence was in the force and fire of her personations; the representation of delicacy and girlishness was not so agreeable to her as that of a hardy and vehement nature.

He sailed for Australia in early 1866 in an attempt to revive his career and was lost in the wreck of the steamship London on January 11.