Robert Loraine

Robert Bilcliffe Loraine was born on 14 January 1876 in New Brighton, England, the son of Henry Loraine and Edith Kingsley, born Mary Ellen Bayliss. A British stage actor, actor-manager, soldier, and pioneer aviator, Loraine built a career that spanned London's West End and Broadway from 1901 to 1935. His first stage appearance came in the English provinces in 1889, and he went on to establish himself as a performer equally at home in serious drama and lighter theatrical fare.

Loraine's stage work brought him into close association with the plays of George Bernard Shaw. He introduced Shaw's Man and Superman to Broadway in 1905, and later assumed the role of John Tanner at the Royal Court Theatre, taking over from Harley Granville Barker during the play's fourth run. His range extended to the works of William Shakespeare and August Strindberg, earning him critical recognition across multiple dramatic traditions. His Broadway credits included Lucrece, Domino, The Devil Passes, The Father, and Canaries Sometimes Sing, among other productions. During his military service in the First World War, Loraine did not entirely set aside his theatrical interests; he organized a drama society within his squadron that staged the premiere performance of Shaw's O'Flaherty V.C. at Treizeenes, Belgium.

In 1909, Loraine took up aviation, beginning his flight training at the Bleriot school in Pau, France, before transitioning to the Farman biplane. In September 1910, he completed what is credited as the first aeroplane flight from England to Ireland, though he came down in the sea approximately 200 feet from the Irish shore. That same month, piloting one of two Bristol Boxkites during British Army manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain, he transmitted the first radio signals ever sent from an aeroplane in Britain. His personal diary is cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as the earliest written use of the word joystick to describe aircraft stick controls.

Loraine's military service began with volunteer duty in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1901. During the First World War he flew with the Royal Flying Corps, holding the rank of lieutenant in the Special Reserve before being appointed flight commander with the rank of captain on 15 September 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross for shooting down an Albatross biplane on 26 October 1915, cited for conspicuous gallantry and skill. He was promoted to major on 24 April 1916 to command a squadron, and on 13 February 1917 was appointed wing commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel, receiving the Distinguished Service Order that year for distinguished service in the field. He commanded No. 40 Squadron, was twice seriously wounded, and relinquished his Royal Air Force commission on 11 December 1918 due to ill-health resulting from his wounds, retaining the honorary rank of major.

Loraine married Julie Opp on 7 November 1897, and following their divorce he wed Winifred Lydia, daughter of Sir Thomas Strangman, in 1921. His best man at the 1921 wedding was Air-Commodore Duncan le Geyt Pitcher, a former RFC colleague who had overseen RFC radio control weapons and developed the first powered drone aircraft. Loraine and Winifred had three daughters. He appeared in several films, including Bentley's Conscience in 1922, S.O.S. in 1928, Birds of Prey in 1930, and Outcast Lady, Marie Galante, and Father Brown, Detective, all in 1934. Loraine returned from New York aboard the SS Normandie, arriving in Plymouth on 14 October 1935. He had been engaged to play Ebenezer Scrooge in a Christmas broadcast but was admitted to hospital and died on 23 December 1935 in London. His life is the subject of Lanayre D. Liggera's biography The Life of Robert Loraine: The Stage, the Sky, and George Bernard Shaw, published in 2013.