Fred Vokes

Their father, Frederick Strafford Thwaites Vokes (1816–1890), was a theatrical costumier and wigmaker[3] who owned a shop at 19 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.

[4][10][11] They made their Paris debut in August 1870 at the Théâtre du Châtelet where they were an immediate success, but with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War it became unsafe to remain and they left the city with just a few hours notice.

[12] Back in London he appeared with the rest of the Vokes Family in Tom Thumb the Great; or, Harlequin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in their début performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in Christmas 1871.

[4][10][11] For about ten years (with the exception of 1873, when they were touring abroad) they were regulars in the annual Christmas pantomime at Drury Lane, including Humpty Dumpty (1868); Beauty and the Beast!

Not being the draw they had once been, the Vokes Family discovered the pantomime was in debt and refused to drop their salaries which F. B. Chatterton the manager could not meet, and the production closed owing £36,000 in February 1879 putting all involved out of work.

[17] Of his appearance and that of his sisters in Tom Thumb at Drury Lane in 1871 the critic of The Times wrote: "The manner in which first the crown and then the wig of Mr Fred Vokes as King Arthur persisted in tumbling off while that monarch indulged in unusual gyrations excited tumultuous laughter, and if there could be anything funnier than Mr Fred Vokes’ 'split' dance it was his step dance, Lancashire clogs, Cornish reels, transatlantic walk-rounds, cellar flaps and breakdowns, college hornpipes and Irish jigs.

All the Misses Vokes (Victoria, Jessie and Rosina), fascinated in their attire, ravishing as to their back hair and amazing in their agility, were fully equal to the occasion.

As a result, the marriage proved to be a difficult one, with Bella Vokes beginning divorce proceedings against him in January 1888 because of his alleged adultery with an Edith Appleby in 1884 at their home, Burleigh House on Loudon Road in St John's Wood, and with Alice Aynsley Cook at various places in 1887 and 1888.

Bella Vokes alleged that in July 1881 in New York Fred Vokes "struck her with a large lobster he was carrying and knocked her about and abused her with foul language and threatened to cut her throat" while at the Queen's Hotel in Toronto "he struck [her] in the face two severe blows and spat in her face and abused her causing her great pain and suffering she being then pregnant with child."

He in turn stated that his wife had committed adultery with a John Wynot, Ashley MacEvoy, a Mr Benson, Samuel Adams, Cyril Ponsonby and other persons known to him.