T. C. Conlon

'T. C. Conlon', the author of The Angelus Bell, was primarily an actor; in fact he acted in The Angelus Bell's first performance, at the Prince of Wales, Salford, on 8 March 1915, as did his wife Ella Thornton. Over the next few years Ella inserted a number of notices, called theatrical cards, in The Stage, mentioning the roles she was playing and describing herself as Mrs. T. C. Conlon. Several such notices also gave details of Conlon's military career: his enlistment into the army (The Stage, 27 May 1915); his rank as Lce.-Corporal, 25th Battalion, Manchester Regiment (14 October 1915); his rank as Sergt., 69th Training Reserve Battalion, Ripon (4 January 1917); his being in the Middlesex War Hospital (2 August 1917); and his being at the Pioneer School of Instruction, Reading (15 November 1917). One notice gave his regimental number 49059 which in the WW1 medal roll index card viewed on Ancestry.co.uk was that of Sergt. Thomas J. (not C.) Conlon of the Manchester Regiment and the Machine Gun Corps (he was awarded the Victory Medal). In February 1926 several newspapers reported that Conlon and Ella Thornton had married in 1914 and that in 1922 Conlon left her for another actress, Mabel Evelyn. Ella Thornton successfully sued Mabel Evelyn for slander for saying that she and Conlon had never been legally married. (The marriage of Thomas J Conlon and Ella Thorburn, not Thornton, was registered at Chorlton, Lancashire in April-June 1914.) The combination of Conlon's first names Thomas J. and the name of his lover in 1922, Mabel Evelyn, makes it possible to identify 'T. C. Conlon' as Thomas Joseph Conlon who, as recorded in the National Probate Calendar, was also known as Terence Conlin, lived at 34 Great Queen Street, London WC2 and died on 16 March 1965 at the Homoeopathic Hospital, London WC1. Administration of his estate (£5) was granted at London on 8 April 1965 to Mabel Evelyn Conlin, widow. The death of Thomas J Conlon aged 77 (so, if accurate, born 1887/1888) was registered at Holborn in January-March 1965. Meanwhile, The Stage, 20 December 1956, carried a notice that Ella Thornton had died peacefully at her home in Manchester on 7 December 1956, aged 87. Her death was registered under the name Ella Conlon at Barton, Lancashire.

Performances associated with T. C. Conlon