Nellie Stewart
[2] Towards the end of 1880, she received an offer to play the principal boy in Sinbad the Sailor at Melbourne, which she accepted, and the pantomime had great success, running for 14 weeks and earning Stewart some recognition.
As principal boy in the following Christmas pantomime, Stewart was careless when climbing the beanstalk, fell and broke her arm, had it set in the theatre, and completed the part.
On 26 January 1884, Stewart married Richard Goldsbrough Row – "a girl's mad act" she called it in later years, for she discovered at once that she did not really care for her husband.
Among her principal parts in the next three years were Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Phyllis in Iolanthe, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, the title role in Princess Ida and Clairette in La fille de Madame Angot.
In 1887 she retired from the stage for 12 months and went to London with Musgrove, returning to Australia in January 1888 to play in Dorothy, with the composer, Alfred Cellier, conducting.
In March 1888 she sang Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust at Melbourne for 24 consecutive nights, an extraordinary feat, but it was probably the beginning of the overstraining of her voice, which some years later she was to lose altogether.
She retired for two additional years, during which time she gave birth to a daughter, Nancye Doris Stewart (1893–1973), the child of her lover Musgrove,[10] before returning to Australia.
Stewart returned to the stage at Christmas 1899 as principal boy in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane pantomime, The Forty Thieves.
It was intended to work over to New York, but the 1906 San Francisco earthquake compelled the company to abandon the tour, all the scenery for the repertoire season having been destroyed.
She also made her sole film in 1911, reprising her stage success as the title character in Sweet Nell of Old Drury for director Raymond Longford.
[14] In January 1916 she was deeply depressed by grief over the death of George Musgrove, until she was persuaded by Hugh Donald McIntosh to take up work again in a condensed version of Sweet Nell at the Tivoli Theatre.
Two months after Stewart's death, in August 1931,Columbia presented the Mitchell Library, in whose collection they now reside, with engraved silver canisters containing the original recordings.
Beautiful in face and figure, full of vivacity, a natural actress, she had also an excellent soprano voice which she lost in middle life probably from over-working it.
She had great versatility, and after being for many years at the head of her profession in Australia in light opera, she was able, after the loss of her voice, to take leading parts in non-musical comedy and drama.
Her autobiography displays a woman of charming character, kindly, appreciative of the good work of others, and free from the petty jealousies often associated with stage life.
[17] After a further series of services attended by more crowds, her ashes were placed in the family grave at Boroondara General Cemetery in suburban Kew on 27 June 1931.
"Nellie Stewart bangles" became a popular fashion accessory for young Australian and New Zealand women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1886, as a token of thanks for her support of a fund to commemorate the death of General Gordon of Khartoum, Stewart was presented with 25 gold sovereigns.
[22] From 1933, the "Nellie Stewart Memorial Cup" was given as a prize in Junior Theatre League drama contests for the best performance of an Australian-written play.
