Ada Ferrar

Ada Ferrar (1 June 1864 – 8 January 1951) was a British actress whose career spanned the late Victorian and Edwardian eras and extended to Broadway appearances in the early twentieth century. Born Ada Janet Bishop in St Pancras, London, she was the daughter of Mary S. Bishop and Charles R. Bishop, a managing clerk to a firm of solicitors. She was the eldest of three sisters who all pursued acting careers; Beatrice Ferrar (1875–1958) and Jessie Ferrar, also known as Marion Bishop (1879–1950), followed her onto the stage. Parental resistance initially met her ambitions, though her eventual success helped pave the way for her younger sisters.

Ferrar's first stage appearance came in 1883, when she sang in the chorus of Claudian. She subsequently gained experience touring with the Vaughan-Conway Company before joining F. R. Benson's 1888 season at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she took on a range of demanding roles including Gertrude in Hamlet, Lady Touchwood in The Belle's Stratagem, Margherita in Andrea, Hermia and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet.

Her London work during the early 1890s included appearances at the Adelphi Theatre, where she played Geraldine in The Green Bushes, or, A Hundred Years Ago and Creusa in The Bride of Love in 1890, the latter production also marking the London debut of her sister Beatrice. In 1891 she returned to the Adelphi as Ethel Kingston in The English Rose, and the magazine Theatre commended her performance as Alida in The Streets of London by Dion Boucicault at the Royal Adelphi Theatre that same year. She also appeared as Violet Lovelace in They Were Married at the Strand Theatre in 1892. In April 1891 she married Walter Shaw Sparrow, at that time a Welsh actor who later became a writer on art and architecture.

Ferrar rejoined Benson for his 1892–93 season at Stratford-upon-Avon, playing Olivia in Twelfth Night, Mrs. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew, Timandra in Timon of Athens, Calpurnia in Julius Caesar, and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1894 she took the role of Orlando in an all-female production of As You Like It, and in 1896–97 she was Ancaria in Wilson Barrett's The Sign of the Cross at the Lyric Theatre, a performance that was particularly well received.

From 1896 to 1899 Ferrar toured Australia and New Zealand with a company assembled for George Musgrove and J. C. Williamson. During that extended tour she played Josephine in A Royal Divorce, Princess Flavia in The Prisoner of Zenda, and Mercia in The Sign of the Cross alongside Julius Knight, returning to England in September 1899.

Back in Britain, she rejoined Benson's company to play Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe Theatre and Gertrude in Hamlet at the Lyceum Theatre in 1900. Her Broadway career began that same year, running through 1903. In November 1900 she opened as the Duchess of Strood in the comedy The Gay Lord Quex opposite John Hare at the Criterion Theatre in New York. She also appeared on Broadway in The Marriage of Kitty, which she had toured in 1903 opposite Marie Tempest, including a run at the Prince's Theatre in Bristol.

In May 1902 Ferrar played Mrs. Llewellyn in The Finding of Nancy at the St. James's Theatre opposite Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Mabel Beardsley, and later that year took the role of Mrs. Dudley in Secret and Confidential at the Comedy Theatre. For Benson's 1903 Stratford season she appeared in a wide range of productions, including Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hermione in The Winter's Tale, Gertrude in Hamlet, Katharine in The Taming of the Shrew, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice, Constance Neville in She Stoops to Conquer, and Lady Sneerwell in The School for Scandal.

Her subsequent career brought further varied engagements. She toured as Ben Greet's leading lady, playing Viola in Twelfth Night, Peg Woffington in Masks and Faces, Dora in Diplomacy, and Rosamund in Sowing the Wind. With Otho Stuart she played Fédora, Dulcie in The Masqueraders, Mrs. Horton in Dr. Bill, and Bazilide in For the Crown. In 1905 she appeared as Athena opposite Gertrude Kingston as Helen in The Trojan Women at the Royal Court Theatre, and she toured as the Duchess of Strood in The Gay Lord Quex opposite John Hare again in 1907–08. She played Goneril in King Lear at the Haymarket Theatre in 1909 and repeated the role opposite Norman McKinnel at His Majesty's Theatre in 1910.

Ferrar appeared in Pinero's Preserving Mr. Panmure opposite Lilian Braithwaite and Arthur Playfair at the Comedy Theatre from 1910 to 1911, and played Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez in Charley's Aunt at the Prince of Wales's Theatre from 1913 to 1914. She was Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Old Vic from 1914 to 1915. In 1917 she toured the provinces as Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez in Charley's Aunt for the Brandon Thomas Company in a cast that included a young Leslie Howard as Jack Chesney. She returned to the same role at the Prince of Wales's Theatre from 1920 to 1921, before appearing as Mrs. Gilfillian in Pinero's Sweet Lavender opposite Lilian Braithwaite at the Ambassadors Theatre from 1922 to 1923. Her final noted stage appearance came in 1926, when she played Miss Trafalgar Gower in Trelawny of the Wells at the Globe Theatre.

Following her husband's death in 1940, Ferrar was left £287 6s in his will and was awarded a £100 Civil List pension under the Civil List Act 1837 in recognition of Walter Shaw Sparrow's writings on art and architecture. By the time of the 1939 Register for England and Wales she was listed as a housewife. She died on 8 January 1951 at the Tuquor House Nursing Home in Kew, Surrey, at the age of 86, leaving an estate valued at £920 2s 11d.