Her mother, Mary Ann Hodges, the daughter of a mercantile clerk, had previously been married to a sign writer who had died in an accident.

[6] While taking part in an Irish sketch Shamus O'Brien in the early 1880s, she fell for her stage partner Charles Chaplin Sr, attracted by his charm and good looks.

In 1885, she gave birth to Sydney, Hawkes' son, and soon returned to the stage, performing at the Royal Music Hall in the northern French city of Le Havre.

[7] While there is little record of performances by Charles in the mid-1880s, Hannah Chaplin appeared in Bristol and Dublin in 1885, and in Belfast, Glasgow, Peckham, Aberdeen and Dundee in 1886.

Press notices referred to her as "the refined and talented artist Lily Harley" who had been "a most brilliant hit at Gaity and Star, Glasgow, four and five turns every night and heaps of flowers".

On 31 August 1892, her third son, Wheeler Dryden was born and for a time the family seems to have lived comfortably in West Square, Southwark.

[8] In the early 1890s, it appears that Chaplin spent time with her sister Kate, also a music hall artist, known on stage as Kitty Fairdale.

[5] Hannah Chaplin appears to have joined the Vaudeville corps de ballet at London's Empire Theatre for a time, possibly to nurse her voice.

Charlie Chaplin's biography and other sources report that she was frequently in good spirits, entertaining the children with performances of her earlier stage acts or devising stories herself in the pantomime style.

By the time he was 21, Charlie had earned enough from his performances to travel to the United States where, by 1921, he had become fabulously wealthy by virtue of being one of the film industry's highest-grossing stars.

There, her sons ensured Hannah Chaplin received round-the-clock care in the new home they had found for her in the San Fernando Valley, California.