Laura Leycester

Laura Leycester was the stage and pen name of Laura Leycester Malam who was born on 4 July 1870 (according to IMDb; her birth was registered in July-September 1870) in Tunbridge Wells, Kent (according to the 1871-1911 census returns). She married (1) in 1894 Ashton Pearce Ashbee, an actor who died in 1898; and (2) in 1899 Hugh Bedwell, a solicitor who died in 1914. Laura is shown as an actress, and as an actress and authoress, on the 1901 and 1911 census returns respectively. Newspapers in the British Newspaper Archive record her as an actress from the end of 1892. Allardyce Nicoll, ‘English Drama 1900-1930’, lists Laura Leycester as the author of ‘The Power of the Idol’ (1908), ‘Who Was The Woman?’ (1909), ‘The Payment’ (1911), ‘After The Trial’ (1918), ‘The Five Wishes’ (1921), ‘The Moonshine Laundry’ (1923), ‘The Rising Generation’ (with Wyn Weaver, 1923) and ‘The White Camellia’ (1928). The last two were published; and ‘The Rising Generation’ was still being performed by amateur groups in the early 1960s. Laura Leycester Bedwell of 29 Gloucester Street, Belgravia, London died on 21 February 1942 at St Stephen’s Hospital, Chelsea. The Stage, 26 February 1942 reported, ‘We regret to record the death of Laura Leycester, who passed away peacefully on Saturday. As a dramatist she collaborated with Wyn Weaver. They wrote together “The Rising Generation” (Shaftesbury, Garrick, and Wyndham’s), “The White Camellia” (Daly’s), and “Meet Mrs. Annesley”’.