Groves family

[1] Its descendants include actors of the Victorian stage, the British Music Hall, Broadway theatre and motion pictures.

Bigg began her acting career playing children’s roles[1] in London’s West End in 1830,[1] appearing in Peter Bell the Wagonner at the Royal Cobourg Theatre (today The Old Vic)[1] and in the title role of Tom Thumb at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

[1] She married Groves in 1841 and together they toured the provinces, acting, producing and devising shows over the next two decades, simultaneously raising a family of ten children while travelling and working in theatres across Britain and Ireland.

[2] He is noted for his stage performances alongside Sir John Hare in A Pair of Spectacles (Garrick Theatre).

Played in Romeo and Juliet, The Hunchback, and Hamlet at Sadler’s Wells in 1874-5 and in pantomime at the Crystal Palace in 1889.

Lizzie performed throughout the provinces in Victorian comedy and burlesque (often alongside her sister Pattie),[4] and in pantomime at the Covent Garden Theatre (today the Royal Opera House).

[7] On 26 December 1900, Hicks died of starvation in a London workhouse,[7] estranged from Pattie for over ten years.

Their daughter Madeline Hicks (1881—1961), an actress with the London Comedy Company,[8] married George Richards in Rangoon in 1904,[8] and subsequently worked in theatres across British India.

In addition to achieving success as an actor in the legitimate theatres, Walter also wrote, produced and starred in his own comedy sketches which toured the British music halls.

[15] This prominence faded as she reached adulthood, and she played minor character parts in provincial roles until her death in 1898.