George A. Street

George Alfred Street (his full name is confirmed by newspaper reports of his first wife’s tragic death in 1928 and by reports of his own death in The Stage in 1956) was born in in 1868/69 according to reports of his death, on 6 March 1871 according to the 1939 Register, or in 1872/73 according to the 1911 census return. He claimed, according to the Aberdeen Press and Journal, 6 February 1917, that ‘he was a native of Montreal, and that he had fought in the Cuban rebellion, had been a member of Roosevelt’s Roughriders, and had taken part in the South African war’. He acted in short sketches and playlets as part of a larger variety bill. The 1911 census return shows George Street, aged 38, with ‘USA citizen’ shown under ‘place of birth’, an actor and sketch producer, living at 82 Doddington Grove, Kennington, London with his wife (sic) Harriet, aged 26 and born in Bowdon, Cheshire, a music hall artiste. The return was completed to show that they had been married for under one year. However, George and Harriet did not marry until 1919. The marriage of George A Street and Harriet L O’Neill was registered at Lambeth in October-December 1919. Newspaper reports of the death of George’s wife in 1928 confirm that her first name was indeed Harriet and George was quoted as saying that she was born Taylor but had previously married an O’Neill who had died. She had appeared with George on variety bills under her stage name Madge Clifton. George and Harriet fell on hard times and opened a theatrical shop in a provincial town. Harriet apparently accepted an offer to tour Australia and China but, unknown to George, in fact settled in Ashanti, Ghana, for two years with a Dr. Benjamin Knowles. Knowles was convicted in Ghana of her murder by shooting in 1928 and sentenced to hang but this was commuted to life imprisonment and in 1929 his conviction was overturned on appeal. Street meanwhile had continued to perform, notably as the cattle thief Mardo in a piece he wrote entitled The Cattle Thief; by August 1919 George had already played Mardo over a thousand times (Derry Journal, 1 August 1919). He also presented a spectacular scenic novelty, The Kaiser’s Dream, depicting the bombardment and destruction of Berlin; and he gave impressions of Napoleon, Marshall Joffre, General Botha, Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. In 1929 George married again. The Stage, 13 February 1930 carried a notice of the marriage ‘on November 6, 1929, at Southampton, by registrar, [of] Geo A Street (late proprietor, “Cattle Thief” company) to Stella E. Ray, widow of the late Fred Bentley’. This last was the stage name of William Elisha Lindley Faulkner; he and Stella had both performed in Five Days Leave (Belfast Telegraph, Monday 28 July 1919). The 1939 Register shows that Geo A Street, born 6 March 1871, a scenic artist, and Stella were living in Bristol. George died in 1956. The Stage, 14 June 1956 published a death notice: ‘Street, George Alfred (Late “Cattle Thief” Co.) very dearly loved husband of Stella Ray, died May 30th, 1956, Weston-super-Mare, aged 87 years, after a long illness patiently borne’. A week later The Stage published his obituary: ‘George Alfred Street who died in Weston-super-Mare on May 30, at the age of 87, had a long and colourful career. Born in Montreal, he left at 14 to become a cowboy in Wyoming, and four years later was a crackshot in the Buffalo Bill Show. Later he toured this country in a cowboy show and joined the Tex Rickard Show at Wembley Stadium. He is survived by his wife, Stella Ray, formerly his leading lady in “The Cattle Thief”’. Stella's death was registered at Norwich in January-March 1973.