ACTRESSES AS WORKING WOMEN 38

SOCIOECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF THE THEATRE Stedman Jones estimated that in 1851, ‘86 per cent of London employers employed less than ten men each In fact there were only twelve factories recorded as employing more than 300 men, and the majority of these, significantly, were engaged in textiles and engineering’.28 In 1860, E.T.Smith claimed that during pantomime season Drury Lane employed nearly 400 people, Her Majesty’s over 300, and the Alhambra about 300, so that a single theatrical lessee retained 1000 employees in three houses.29 A few years later, the skilled labourers of a single theatre could rival this sum Michael Booth writes: At Christmas time the size of the Drury Lane company, including all staff of whatever description, would be at least double the number employed at any other time of the year except during the autumn drama Even in 1865, in the preHarris years, it was estimated that the total theatre staff for Little King Pipkin was nearly 900, including 200 children, 60 in the ballet, 48 seamstresses and wardrobe ladies, 45 dressers, and 17 gasmen.30 The orchestra, front of house, carpenters, stagehands, firemen, propertymen, actors, prompters, callboys, cleaners, and management are also included in the 900 In 1891, the Alhambra’s Oriella ballet employed between eighty and a hundred women—and this was only one turn on a long bill.31 The geographical mecca of most performers was London, or more precisely the West End, though there are notable exceptions Regional loyalty resulting from familial and financial entrenchment kept Mrs Baker in Kent; the anachronistic performance style and material of booth theatres were unsuited to Victorian London, and some performers (particularly actresses from the middle classes) preferred not to be seen by London Society.32 Establishment in a London theatre in any performing capacity did not necessarily result in the professional (and hence domestic) stability that it implies; London was the chief market of hiring for the lucrative provincial summer tours and long overseas tours of months or years duration for which performers forfeited the stability of a permanent residence London engagements could be the most secure for those in the lowest ranks, particularly dancers and choristers, who could find employment in houses specializing year-round in an appropriate type of entertainment (e.g the Crystal Palace, Alhambra, Empire, and 21