Violet Englefield

Violet Englefield (born Maud Violet Englefield, 1881; died 22 March 1946) was a British actress and singer who performed in musical theatre on London's West End and on Broadway during the first two decades of the twentieth century. She was born in Hounslow, the daughter of Joel Englefield (1846–1912), an army bandmaster, and Ellen Cashel Cross (née Bevan). All of the Englefield children received training as musicians. In 1904, Englefield had a son, Juan Englefield, with the actor Harry Chart; the child's subsequent fate is unknown.

Her British stage career began in the late nineteenth century. In 1899 she appeared in Dick Whittington at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, where a violin solo she performed was noted as a prominent feature of the production. In 1906 she played the Prince in the pantomime Cinderella at the King's Theatre, Edinburgh, and that same year took on the role of Millie Mostyn in The Girl Behind the Counter at Wyndham's Theatre, a run that continued into 1907. In 1909 she played the lead role of Bess Moore in The Bad Girl of the Family at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, followed by a Christmas season of the same production at the Aldwych Theatre.

In 1913, Englefield married Jerrard Grant Allen (1878–1964), a theatrical agent and manager and the son of the science writer and novelist Grant Allen. The couple had a son, Reginald "Reggie" Grant Allen (1910–1985). Facing significant debt, Englefield and her husband departed Liverpool for New York in 1916 with the intention of settling there permanently. Their son did not follow until early 1917. By 1920 the family was residing at 119 East 82nd Street in New York, and by 1930 they had relocated to Norwalk, Connecticut, by which time both Englefield and her husband had become registered United States citizens.

Her Broadway career spanned 1918 to 1925. She made her Broadway debut playing Gussie Pope in the musical Fancy Free in 1918, the same year she appeared in The Passing Show of 1918 at the Winter Garden Theatre. She returned to the Winter Garden Theatre for The Passing Show of 1921, in which she performed as part of the Rigoletto Quartette during its 1920–21 run. Her final Broadway appearance came in 1925, when she played Mrs. Horridge in the revue Sky High, which ran at the Winter Garden Theatre before transferring to the Casino Theatre. Englefield retired from the stage following that production.

In approximately 1939, Englefield and her husband retired to Lake Worth, Florida. She died in March 1946 in West Palm Beach, Florida.