Fonds MG 21 - de Wilton family fonds

Sussex Gerard de Wilton, (1869-1939), was a career cavalry officer, attaining the rank of captain in the Royal Scots Greys. About 1895, he married Edith Juliet Hughenden-Holloway (1871-1955), who had been a Home Nurse in India (1887-1888). They had one child, Edith Doreen de Wilton (1898-1968). After his retirement, the family immigrated to the Hill End district near Red Deer, Alberta in 1903. In 1907 they homesteaded at Hardisty, Alberta. In 1915, Sussex and his wife returned to England. The following year Edith (Mrs. de Wilton) was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel in the Women's Volunteer Corps, which later became the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. By 1918, she was the principal at the Agricultural Tractor Section School at Barrow Green. Edith Doreen de Wilton was born in Ropley, Hampshire, England, on 25th March 1898 to Sussex Gerald de Wilton, (1869-1939) and Edith Juliette Hughenden-Holloway (1871-1955). Just after her seventeenth birthday, Edith married Herbert Warren Cluff of Hardisty, but the marriage was very short lived. In the summer of 1915, she left Alberta and took the stage name Olive de Wilton and joined several touring companies which played in Eastern Canada and in New York State. She was the common law spouse of William Henry Pratt (Boris Karloff) from 1915 to 1919. They were not able to make the marriage "legal' because of the de Wilton's short lived liaison with Cluff. In 1919, she returned to England and became a minor player and business manager with several acting companies. By 1925, Olive had married fellow actor Richard Meadows-White (ca. 1905-1973) and they had one child: Rosalind Edith Charlotte Meadows-White (1929-?). They founded the Northern Repertory Theatre (1925-1929), which collapsed after the couple separated. Between 1939 and 1951, Olive moved between Canada and England to teach drama as well as to direct and act in several plays. In 1952 Olive moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she was involved in Montreal Repertory Theatre, acted on local English radio and television, and wrote for the National Film Board. By 1966, Olive had taken up residence in Lacombe, Alberta. She died in 1968 in Lacombe and is buried in the local cemetery.

Edith Doreen de Wilton was born in Ropley, Hampshire, England, on 25th March 1898 to Sussex Gerald de Wilton, (1869-1939) and Edith Juliette Hughenden-Holloway (1871-1955). Just after her seventeenth birthday, Edith married Herbert Warren Cluff of Hardisty, but the marriage was very short lived. In the summer of 1915, she left Alberta and took the stage name Olive de Wilton and joined several touring companies which played in Eastern Canada and in New York State. She was the common law spouse of William Henry Pratt (Boris Karloff) from 1915 to 1919. They were not able to make the marriage "legal' because of the de Wilton's short lived liaison with Cluff. In 1919, she returned to England and became a minor player and business manager with several acting companies. By 1925, Olive had married fellow actor Richard Meadows-White (ca. 1905-1973) and they had one child: Rosalind Edith Charlotte Meadows-White (1929-?). They founded the Northern Repertory Theatre (1925-1929), which collapsed after the couple separated. Between 1939 and 1951, Olive moved between Canada and England to teach drama as well as to direct and act in several plays. In 1952 Olive moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she was involved in Montreal Repertory Theatre, acted on local English radio and television, and wrote for the National Film Board. By 1966, Olive had taken up residence in Lacombe, Alberta. She died in 1968 in Lacombe and is buried in the local cemetery.