Laura Cowie

When the father died in 1900, following a sudden heart attack, the remaining family moved to Aberdeen, where they lived with two of Laura's cousins and earned some money by taking in two female students as boarders.

So Anna took her daughter as well as her son Alexander to London, where Laura gained a place at the Academy of Dramatic Arts (later RADA) which had been founded in 1904.

The academy's founder, theatre director Herbert Beerbohm Tree, saw great potential in Laura Cowie, but convinced her that she would make a better actress than a dancer.

While Anna Cowie took a flat in Hampstead, Laura shared an apartment in Great Smith Street with her brother Alexander, who had found a good job in the automobile industry.

Laura Cowie played alongside famous actors like Sir John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Mrs Patrick Campbell or George Fawcett.