The ‘Queen of the Music Halls’ and the Irish jockey

The ‘Queen of the Music Halls’

and the Irish jockey

Marie Lloyd was a superstar and one of the highest paid entertainers of her day. Immodestly she called herself ‘The Queen of The Music Halls’ but she had a point: she commanded huge appearance fees, had a string of hit songs to her name, including The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery, Oh Mr Porter!, Don’t Dilly Dall On The Way and A Little Of What You Fancy Does You Good. She performed all over the world, appeared in films, lined up at Royal Variety Performances, and was still treading the boards shortly before her premature death in 1922. It is estimated over 100,000 people turned out for her lavish funeral. T S Eliot wrote a eulogy for the church service.

Marie was born Maria Victoria Wood in 1870 --nobody knows why she changed her name, but it’s thought she believed it sounded more ‘classy’ --in Hoxton in London’s East End the eldest of nine children. At an early age she demonstrated a precocious stage craft with a fine voice while appearing in a concert party that toured mission halls all over London denouncing the evils of drink. (Ironically drink had a part in her downfall and that of her third husband, the Irish Epsom Derby winning jockey Bernard Dillon). Bernard Dillon was Marie’s junior by 18 years, having been born near Tralee in 1887. He learned to ride on the family farm and his hard-taskmaster father soon spotted his talent. At 14 he went to England to join the successful stable of W B Purifoy near Salisbury. A year later as an apprentice jockey he won his first race.

Over the following years, apart from the Epsom Derby in 1910, he won a number of prestigious races including The Two Thousand Guineas (twice), The Thousand Guineas, The Jockey Club Stakes, (twice), the Cesarewitch, The Coronation Cup, The Eclipse Stakes, the Grand Prix de Paris, The Cambridgeshire and the Liverpool Cup. He was also associated with one of the most brilliant fillies of all time, Pretty Polly, who won 22 of her 24 races and to this day a race is run in her memory every year at Newmarket. Undoubtedly, he was one of the most successful jockeys of the early Edwardian period and his celebrity status was confirmed when he was characterised by society painter Sir Leslie Ward (‘Spy’) in Vanity Fair

John Low traces the stormy relationship between Irish jockey Bernard Dillon and arguably the most celebrated entertainer of the late Victorian and early 20th century era, Marie Lloyd.

Marie Lloyd – from humble beginnings in the East End she became an international superstar, successfully touring Australia, South Africa and the US.

Bernard Dillon aboard one of the most brilliant fillies of all time, Pretty Polly.

as well as being featured in one of the popular packs of cigarette cards.

Husband number one

While Dillon was still an infant Marie was marrying her first husband who was five years her senior. The marriage failed after a few years, but they had a daughter Marie junior.

If Marie’s private life had suffered, her career was going from strength to strength. She was indeed The Queen of the Musical and in the early 1890’s she took on a new challenge playing pantomime in Drury Lane with another musical legend of the day Dan Leno. The performances were a triumph and were supported by her loyal fan-base. But she couldn’t wait to be get back to the halls. And she was soon again giving her loyal followers what they wanted and loved -- her hugely popular songs, loaded with barely disguised innuendo, saucy introductory ‘patter’ and suggestive dance routines. Unsurprisingly she was never far from controversy and clashed regularly with ‘purity’ movements who attempted to oppose the renewals of her musical licences. Her attitude was summed up perfectly in a newspaper interview: ‘They don’t pay their shillings and sixpences at a music hall to hear The Salvation Army. If I was to try to sing highly moral songs, they would fire ginger beer bottles and beer mugs at me. I can’t help it if people want to turn and twist my meanings’.

Bernard Dillon’s celebrity status was confirmed when he was featured in packs of cigarette cards. Marie Lloyd and Bernard Dillon in fancy dress.

On another occasion, according to legend, when the ‘watch committees’ objected to her song ‘I sit among the cabbages and peas’ with its obvious reference to urinating she changed the lyrics and sang instead ‘I sit among the cabbages and leeks’. was unstoppable and international– she successfully toured Australia, South Africa and the US. Despite her success as one of the brightest stars in the entertainment world she never forgot the comparatively badly paid supporting acts of which she had once been one. In 1907 she gave her full support for a performers’ strike. She told a rally : ‘We (the stars) can dictate our own terms. We are fighting not for ourselves but for the poorer members of the profession, earning thirty shillings a week. For this they have to do double turns. These poor things have been compelled to submit to unfair terms of employment and I mean to back them up in whatever steps are taken’. The strike was successful, but many theatre managers did not forget Marie’s involvement and banned her from their premises.

In 1906 Marie married again, this time to singer Alec Hurley. The marriage only lasted four years and there were stories

Marie Lloyd’s funeral was attended by an estimated crowd of 100,00, with 12 cars full of flowers.

that after drunken sessions Hurley regularly beat her. But there were other claims that the marriage failed because Marie had met – some accounts record at her daughter’s wedding – Jockey Dillon and had started a relationship with him. Their tumultuous love affair was liberally fuelled by drink.

Refused entry

Dillon accompanied Marie on a welldocumented trip to the US in 1913. At this point he had lost his jockey’s licence for gambling (jockeys were not permitted back horses) and drunken behaviour. On arrival in New York Marie was asked by an immigration official: ‘Is this man your husband?’. After Marie admitted that Dillon was not her husband they were ordered to return to the liner as ‘undesirables’. Dillon was charged with ‘moral turpitude’ for travelling with a woman not his wife. After protracted legal negotiations they had to agree not to cohabit during Marie’s nine-month tour of US vaudeville theatres where she was earning more than 1500 dollars a week.(Nearly 50,000 dollars in today’s money). In the middle of the tour Marie heard that Alec Hurley had died, and she promptly married Dillon.

By the time they returned to Britain World War 1 had been declared and Marie signed up to entertain the troops and workers in armament factories. Dillon joined the army but typically he was always in trouble through drinking and going AWOL. In 1917 he was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment for assaulting his wife and she even caught him in bed with another woman. In another drunken stupor he was arrested for attacking her father. The Lloyd/Dillon marriage was truly fertile fodder for the tabloids of the day.

For such a fundamentally decent, muchloved human being Marie certainly drew the short straw in her personal life, having married three abusive parasitic drunkards.

After years of being physically attacked by him it seems likely Marie gave Dillon his marching orders in 1920. At this stage she was in decline, drinking heavily and her voice getting weaker. She could no longer perform for two hours as she had done for many years in her prime. During a performance in October 1922 at The Empire Theatre, Edmonton, London she began staggering around the stage. The audience thought it was part of the act. She was rushed back to her house in Golders Green about eight miles away. She lapsed in and out of consciousness for three days and died on 7th October. She was 52.

It is estimated 100,000 attended the funeral at Hampstead which included 12 cars full of flowers. She was buried in Hampstead Cemetery with both her parents to be joined by her daughter Marie Junior who died in 1967.

Dillon outlived Marie by nearly 20 years. His last job was as a hotel porter. He died in May 1941.

In the 1970s Barbara Windsor and Bee Gee Maurice Gibb starred in Sing a Rude Song, a musical about Marie Lloyd and Bernard Dillon.

Seanad100: the centenary year of Seanad Éireann

In 2022 we mark the centenary of Seanad Éireann, the Upper House of Ireland’s Parliament.

Since its fi rst meeting in Leinster House on 11 December 1922, the Seanad has refl ected a broad range of views. Our centenary programme aimed to capture this diversity of perspectives, causes and changes to Irish life that Senators used their offi ce to champion. The programme included a series of exhibitions, lectures, a TV documentary, themed tours of Leinster House, Culture Night events and student debates in collaboration with Comhairle na nÓg to highlight the contribution the Seanad has made since 1922, ahead of a 100th Anniversary Ceremonial Sitting in December. The series of exhibitions included themes such as: ‘Minority voices, major changes’, ‘Women in the Seanad’, and ‘Northern voices’. You can explore these exhibitions and more on the dedicated Seanad100 webpage.

Speaking at the launch of the fi rst exhibition, the Cathaoirleach, Senator Mark Daly explained that the exhibitions, “…perfectly sums up the role Seanad Éireann has played and continues to play in Irish life. Over the last century the Seanad has been a platform for those who have championed and advocated for marginal and minority voices and in many cases leading to what became major changes in our society.”.

Minority Voices, Major Changes: an exhibition

More than 830 individuals have taken their seat in Seanad Éireann since 1922. Collectively they’ve represented a broad church. The selection of 26 senators for this exhibition shines a spotlight on some of those changemakers and the causes they championed.

Northern Voices: an exhibition

Northern voices in the Seanad, both nationalist and unionist, have been vital in ensuring representative and inclusive debate since the sitting of the First Seanad, while also providing insights and understanding not always available elsewhere. This exhibition of 26 former Members highlights the role played by the Seanad and the Senators as a platform for such voices.

Women in the Seanad: an exhibition

The exhibition highlights the lives and work of women senators who have championed minority issues since the fi rst sitting of the Seanad in 1922. Learn more about 26 of these senators and the causes they advocated.

Seanad Éireann Ceremonial Sitting

You can view the ceremonial sitting on the Oireachtas TV Channel on Monday, 12th December. You will also be able to view on social media and on the the Houses of the Oireachtas website – www.oireachtas.ie.

Stay tuned. Oireachtas TV is available throughout Ireland on: Saorview Channel 22

Virgin Media Channel 207 Sky Channel 517 eir Vision Channel 504

Vodafone Channels 201

The History Of Bridge (Part 1)

The eighteen and nineteenth century belonged to Whist, the twentieth and twenty first century to Bridge - but where did Bridge come from, and why did it take over?

Whist evolved into Bridge Whist, then Auction Bridge and finally into Contract Bridge.

Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of trump or ruff. It takes its name from the original 17th-century meaning of whist (Irish expression: “hauld your whisht”) meaning shh, quiet, silent.

Whist differs from Contract Bridge in four significant ways:

1. In Whist there is no bidding: the dealer turns over the last card dealt to himself and that becomes the trump suit.

2. In Whist there is always a trump suit: there is no option to play in No Trump.

3. In Whist there is no dummy.

4. In Whist the scoring is very simple and rudimentary in comparison to Contract Bridge scoring.

At the end of the 19th century Whist was superseded by Bridge Whist. Bridge Whist introduced the following innovations: 1. The dealer chose the trump suit or NT or he could pass the choice over to his partner. Only the dealer and his partner may bid. 2. However there were no levels of bidding: all bids remain at the one level. 3. Dummy becomes a feature of the game. 4. The scoring became similar to Rubber Bridge with below and above the line scoring.

Around 1910 Auction Bridge became popular, introducing these changes: 1. Allow all four players to participate in the bidding; previously only the dealer and his partner had been permitted to bid. 2. Game bonuses and slam bonuses are awarded without the need to bid them. For example, if one player ended the bidding with 2H and won 10 tricks then his side was awarded the game bonus. Consequently the players kept the level of bidding as low as possible: no incentive to risk bidding higher. During the bidding process, modern Contract Bridge players are asking themselves three questions: 1. “Do we have enough good stuff to outbid the opponents?” 2. “Do we have enough good stuff to bid game?” 3. “Do we have enough good stuff to bid slam?”. At Auction Bridge only the first question was relevant. The reason for this is that playing Auction one does not need to bid game/slam in order to be awarded the game/slam bonus: all declarer needed to do was to win the required number of tricks.

Auction bridge players realised that rarely does one wish to double a low level contract for penalties. Auction Bridge books described the takeout/ informatory/informative double alongside the penalty/business double. The problem was telling them apart. Sound familiar? At one point a new bid was introduced called the “challenge bid”

or simply “challenge”. Its purpose was to avoid the confusion generated by double having two contradictory meanings. Challenge was intended to replace the takeout double. For some reason this change - which is not without merit - has not survived.

To be continued in the next issue.

For a fuller account of the history of bridge I recommend Bumblepuppy Days by Julian Laderman, a retired applied mathematics professor.