Marie Litton

In the late 1870s, Litton managed the theatre at the Royal Aquarium, where she had some of her biggest acting successes, including as Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal (1877), Lydia Languish in The Rivals (1878), Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer and Rosalind in As You Like It (both in 1879).

[2] In 1868 she made her London stage debut at the Princess's Theatre as the title character in The Trial of Effie Deans, a play by Dion Boucicault, adapted from Sir Walter Scott's novel The Heart of Midlothian.

[4] She also produced there a revival of Gilbert's Great Expectations in 1877,[7] the farce Fun in a Fog and Family Honour by Frank Marshall (both in 1878),[8] The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar and The Poor Gentleman (1879).

Litton also briefly managed the new Theatre Royal in Glasgow, Scotland and also toured the north with her Imperial company, but returned to the Drury Lane in 1881, playing Eve de Malvoisie in the melodrama Youth by Augustus Harris and Paul John Meritt.

In 1882, she played the female lead in Son of the Soil and Daisy Bret in Herman Merivale's The Cynic, among other works, and created the role of Vere Herbert in Moths, an adaptation by Henry Hamilton of Ouida's novel of the same name, at the Globe Theatre, her last major success.

[4] An obituary in The Era noted her generosity with aid, advice and friendly help to others in the theatrical profession and commented: "Her vivacity and versatility were associated with a refinement and intelligence commanding not only the admiration of playgoers, but the esteem and respect of all acquainted with her in private life.