1915 - 1918

The first thing to happen in 1915 was something of a departure for Gwen: she appeared in a play by A. W. Pinero, Sweet Lavender, presented by Mr R Johnston Wilson, who was normally to be found conducting orchestras, not presenting amateur dramatics.  In this particular production there was an orchestra which Franz Moeller conducted as they provided music to pass the time between scenes and acts.  Johnston Wilson played Dick Phenyl, a barrister, and Gwen played Minnie Gilfillian, in love with a dashing young American, Horace Bream, played by Mr Gordon Diver.   Despite complications Minnie and Horace win the day and all ends happily.  There were several advertisements and advance press publicity given to the play which ran for two nights, Friday and Saturday, 8th and 9th January 1915.  With two performances given, there were also two reviews in the press, and a few others besides!  It was, of course, considered a great success and raised £80 14s. 5d. for the East London War Distress Fund.

On Friday, 4th June 1915, there was a reception hosted by The Mayor and Mayoress of East London in the City Hall in honour of The Governor and Viscontess Buxton.  The Governor was, of course, the representative of the British monarch in the Union of South Africa and The Viscount Buxton took up office in September 1914.  Gwen was one of the performers during the evening, singing Who'll Come a Maying?

Gwen's diary seemed to be less full as 1915 progressed, and there is a gap of two months before her next performance which was at a Grand Sacred and Patriotic Concert on Sunday, 15th August 1915.  She performed Mélisande in the Wood, with proceeds from the concert, as usual, going to the East London War Distress Fund.

It was a further three months before Gwen's next engagement on Saturday, 20th November 1915, which took the form of a Grand Display of Fancy Dancing.  The clue to the decrease in public engagements lies in the press notice which I have posted directly under the programme: "Miss Gwen Watson will make her last appearance on an East London platform (under that name)", because, as we will soon discover, she was about to get married to Arthur Francis Hoole (known as "Frank").  The Grand Display of Fancy Dancing was in aid of the South African Ambulance and Red Cross Funds, but echoes of the ongoing horrific war in Europe are still to be found in at least one item, sung by Miss Duncan, Your King and Country Need You. Gwen, however, sang A Perfect Day which included a solo violin played by Mr W. Fairbairn.  In the review we see that Miss Gwen Watson (and the other musical performers) "proved invaluable" in relieving the possibility of any tedium resulting from many dances strung together.  "Miss Gwen Watson's robust and rich voice dealt admirably with the song ... and was deservedly encored.  One is sorry to record that Saturday night's appearance is likely to be the last in which Miss Watson will sing for us."  This did not quite mark the absolute end of Gwen's career as a singer, however: there were more appearances still to come.  But clearly married life with Frank Hoole was going to give her different priorities.

A few days after the Grand Display of Fancy Dancing, Gwen received a letter, dated 25th November 1915, from the Seamen's Institute thanking her for all the work she had done for them over the years and wishing her every happiness in her new married life.  It continues by saying that they also wished "to convey to you their  hearty appreciation for all your kindness in times past, in delighting the sailors with your music and song."

The married couple settled in Stutterheim, and on 8th December 1915 The East London Daily Dispatch recorded in its Stutterheim Notes, "We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Arthur Hoole to our midst, she will be an acquisition to musical circles here."  They also note with some pleasure, "The new train service is a great boon.  We now get the "Dispatch" daily instead of three times a week."  The line had been opened in 1878 and the increase in frequency of services to Stutterheim must have reflected significant growth.  Nevertheless, for Gwen it must have been quite a change, from being at the centre of musical life in a bustling city to a relatively rural backwaters.  Not surprisingly, then, we find in the next item below (undated) a review of a concert which took place in East London not long after the marriage: "ranks were well strengthened by Mrs. Hoole (Miss Gwen Watson), lately of the Port."   Gwen performed I Did Not Know and Mélisande in the Wood, for which she "was the recipient of an exquisite bouquet and the whole concert was another unqualified success."

On Wednesday, 19th January 1916, in St Barnabas Church, Stutterheim, there was a performance of Caleb Simper's The Rolling Seasons, and, although there is no mention on the programme, it is safe to assume that Gwen was one of the soloists.  Although the cantata was of a religious bent, the evening ended with God Save the King, which would have been inappropriate in a purely religious service.  Simper was a church organist and also a hugely popular composer whose anthem sales by the early 1920s were estimated to have exceeded five million.

On Saturday, 5th August 1916, Bro. Arthur F. Hoole was installed as Master of the Harmony Lodge of the Masons in Stutterheim.  On Monday, 21st August 1916, the East London Daily Dispatch recorded various details of the meeting, and of particular interest to us was the fact that there was a musical programme included in the evening, during which Mrs Hoole sang A Perky Day.  Just over a month later, on 14th September 1916, Francis Harold Hoole, her first son, was born.

Later that year Gwen was again on the concert platform at a Patriotic Concert held in Döhne a few miles north of Stutterheim.  Historically there can be confusion between the two towns, as the origninal name of Stutterheim was changed to Döhne, and later changed back again to Stutterheim in 1857.  Döhne was reserved for what is now a small agricultural research station.  Gwen performed two items, The Valley of Laughter and one of her old favourites, Mélisande in the Wood.  She was also probably to be found in the two tableaux performed by The Company: For England and Empire and Britain and her Allies.  At least in their second item they would not have offended the Scots, Irish and Welsh.

On New Year's Day, 1917, there was a Trades and Fancy Dress Procession in East London in aid of the European and East African Comforts Funds. As reported in the Daily Dispatch on 2nd January, there were many events during the afternoon, and of particular interest to the young Hoole family was the Baby Show in which one of the competitors was Francis Harold Hoole.  It appears he had his good looks even as a baby, as he won the Prettiest Baby category at 3½ months old, a fact proudly annotated in the margin below by his mother. 

The next item took place on 20th September, but no year is given.  It is headed Come!  Look!  See! and Laugh Away Depression and probably took place in 1918.  As the programme refers to Mrs. Hoole performing, it must have been after their marriage; it could not have been 1916 because of Harold's birth a few days earlier; and it is unlikely to have been 1917 as Gwen was then expecting her second child, Stella, who was born on 19th October 1917.  Although Gwen did perform about a month before Harold's birth, that was at a private function, the induction of her husband as Master of Harmony Lodge, as we have seen.  So I would suggest 1918 for this programme, which consisted of a few musical items and two one-act plays.  It was all calculated to dispel what must have been pretty widespread despair at the mounting death toll of the Great War as it carried on seemingly interminably through its fourth year.  The programme does not reveal what song Gwen sang; of the two plays the first, The Bathroom Door by Gertrude E. Jennings, achieved some popularity after its first season in London's Victoria Palace Theatre on 10th January 1916; I can find no other references to the second play, Matrimonial Complications.

The tide finally began to turn and Armistice Day was 11th November 1918 when the guns finally fell silent and celebrations began.  The item below is undated, but this seems the most appropriate place for it!

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