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Rosie Boote (1878 – 17 August 1958) was an Irish Gaiety Girl who became the Marchioness of Headfort when she married in 1901.
Peeresses of the Stage, by Cranstoun Metcalfe (1913) states that "Rose Boote was born in Tipperary, the daughter of the late Charles Boote, a man of independent means".Cranstoun Metcalfe, Peeresses of the Stage (London:Andrew Melrose, 1913), p. 219 Boote's entry in The Catholic Who's Who for 1952 also gives her father's name as Charles Boote and says she was educated at the Ursuline Convent in Thurles, County Tipperary.Francis Cowley Burnand, The Catholic Who's Who & Yearbook, Vol. 35 (1952), p. 201: "HEADFORT, Rose Marchioness of; Rose Taylour; d. of Charles Boote; Educ: Ursuline Convent, Thurles"
In the 1881 census, a three-year-old Rose Boote was living in Luton, the only child of Charles Boote, a comedian from Nottingham, and his wife Annie, a straw hat maker. Mother and daughter were reported to have been born in Luton. 1881 United Kingdom census, 3 April 1881, 8, Queen Square, Luton, Bedfordshire, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 15 February 2023 Charles Chamberlain Boote had married Annie Hassall in Luton in 1879."Charles Chamberlain Boote" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837–1915: "Registration Quarter: Apr-May-Jun 1879; Registration District: Luton; Volume: 3b; Page: 661" In his My Life and Times, Compton Mackenzie reports that "In 1880 Marie Hassall had married Charles Boote, who had deserted a puritan home in Nottingham to go on the stage."Compton Mackenzie, My Life and Times, Vol. 3 (1963), p. 255 A study of the Compton Comedy Company records that "Marie Hassall, an Irish Catholic actress", was left with a three-year-old daughter when her husband Charles Boote was killed by a star trap while playing Harlequin.Lou Warwick, The Mackenzies Called Compton: The Story of the Compton Comedy Company (1977) The death of Charles Chamberlain Boote is recorded at Nottingham in 1885."Charles Chamberlain Boote" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837—1915: "Age: 33; Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep 1885; Registration Place: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire; Volume: 7b; Page: 131"
At the time of the 1901 census, which took place on 31 March 1901, Boote was staying at the Metropole Hotel in Folkestone with the Marquess of Headfort. She stated her age as 23, her occupation as actress, and her place of birth as Newcastle, Northumberland.1901 United Kingdom census, Metropole Hotel, West Cliff, Folkestone, Kent, 31 March 1901, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 15 February 2023
The autobiography of Faith Compton Mackenzie (1878–1960), As Much as I Dare (1938) recalls that "...the most notable person in the company was the handsome Marie Hassall, mother of Rosie Boote, now Marchioness of Headfort."Faith Compton Mackenzie, As Much as I Dare (1938), p. 192 Compton Mackenzie remembered her playing "Mrs Malaprop, Mrs Candour, Mrs Hardcastle, etc."
On 11 April 1901, at Saltwood Registry Office, near Folkestone, Kent, Rosie Boote married Geoffrey Taylour, 4th Marquess of Headfort, against his family's wishes and causing an international sensation. "Young Lord Headford Headed Right for It" Los Angeles Times (February 27, 1901): 3. "London's Newest Sensation" Washington Post (February 24, 1901): 3. "Tremendous efforts were made to prevent the marriage by all Lord Headfort's relatives and friends," noted a 1903 summary of the event; even the King attempted to discourage the match. "London Social Sensation" New York Times (August 2, 1903): 4. Lord Headfort resigned his military commission to marry Miss Boote, and converted to Roman Catholicism soon after they wed.Eimear Walsh, "Scandal in High Society" National Library of Ireland blog (July 18, 2011). Theirs was one of the first weddings in a trend of Gaiety Girls marrying titled husbands, and Rosie Boote's acceptance into society set a template for how the rest could be received. "Actresses Who Married Into the Nobility" New York Times (August 12, 1906): SM7. "A Gaiety Dancer Weds Mr. Aspinall" New York Times (September 8, 1907): C1.
Portraits of the Marquess and Marchioness by artist Sir William Orpen were auctioned by Sotheby's in London in 2012.
Career and marriage
Irish theatre manager George Edwardes moved chorus girl Rosie Boote to London in 1896, to appear in The Runaway Girl. She was especially popular in The Messenger Boy.
Later life
Lady Headfort had two sons and a daughter, and lived primarily at the family house in County Meath. "Lord Headfort's Wife from Stage" Washington Post (March 3, 1908): 6. "Ex-Gaiety Girl Conquers Irish" Los Angeles Times (February 19, 1906): I17. She attended three kings' coronations at Westminster Abbey.Michael Parsons, "The Irish Couple Who Scandalised London Society" Irish Times (January 14, 2012). She was widowed in 1943 and died in 1958, aged 80 years, in London. "Gaiety Girl, First to Wed a Peer, Dies" Chicago Daily Tribune (August 19, 1958): A8.
See also
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