Psyche Altham
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Psyche Isabel Joan Altham (1912 - 2 January 1945) was a British dancer, actress and racing driver.
Biography[edit]
Altham was born in 1912, the only daughter of Captain Edward Altham, a Royal Naval officer and his first wife Fiorella Cecil (née Willis). The family lived in London..[1] She began dancing as a child, performing shows for her relatives at her aunt’s house Shelton New Hall in Norfolk, where she spent most of her childhood.[2]
One of her first reviewed appearances was in two “pastoral plays” put on by the Cambridge Players in August 1928. She was sixteen at the time. In the second piece, “As if Fell Upon a Day,” she performed as “Princess Camilla” and was part of the finale.[3]
She was a principal dancer with the Grosvenor House Cabaret, London for a time in the 1930s. On 25th December 1932 she participated in the dance entertainment at Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone, that included “The Cygnes Four” cabaret troupe and the ballet dancer Anton Dolin.[4]
In 1933, probably while in a relationship with racing driver Whitney Straight, she participated briefly in competitive car racing.[5] In the same year she also was supposed to appear at the Oxford Playhouse in Oscar Wilde’s “Salome”, but the vice-chancellor of Oxford banned the performance.[6].
In June 1934, she appeared in Frances Gregory’s “Precipice” at the Savoy Theatre. The play combined ballet and drama in a tale of a male dancer in love with a widow. The main role was played by Anton Dolin.[7][8]
After her marriage to George Berkeley Sheffield, son of Sir Berkeley Digby George Sheffield on 3 October 1935[9] she was less active on the stage although she did not retire completely.[9]
In 1937, she demonstrated her tap-dancing ability at the Sevenoaks Repertory Theatre, opening “Squibs and Crackers” with a dance number to “Tap Those Blues Away” by Nancy Job. The show was in aid of the Sevenoaks and District Nursing Association.[10]
During the Second World War she served in the Mechanised Transport Corps, reaching the rank of Commandant.[9]
She died 2 January 1945.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Captain Edward Altham". The Peerage. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ↑ "Life at Shelford New Hall - Little Shelford History". www.littleshelfordhistory.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
- ↑ "The Cambridge Players". Bury Free Press: 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Record Christmas at Leas Cliff Hall". Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald: 11 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Williams, Richard (2020). A Race With Love and Death. Simon & Schuster. Search this book on
- ↑ Chapman, Don (2008). Oxford Playhouse: High and Low Drama in a University City. University of Hertfordshire Press. Search this book on
- ↑ "Precipice". The Stage. 1934 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "'Precipice' by Frances Gregory". University of Birmingham - Cadbury Research Library - Theatre Collection. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Psyche Isabel Joan Altham". The Peerage. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ↑ "Squibs and Crackers". Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser. 1937.
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