‘Mrs. Burrell of Newcastle on Tyne’ has featured in a number of Pressphotoman posts during the past year.
Henrietta Theonie Burrell (1860-1934) is best known for her series of portraits of the British violin prodigy Miss Marie Hall (1884-1956).
They were taken in 1903 at the start of her rise to international fame and were published as postcards by the Rotary Photographic Company of London.
Following contact with her family, a photograph emerged of Mrs. Burrell, known as Theonie, together with her dog Judy.
However, other examples of Mrs. Burrell’s work in the photographic medium have been reluctant to show themselves … until now.
Copyright records held by the National Archives revealed that, alongside her Marie Hall portraits (COPY 1/460/372-374), she lodged another form with a different subject in late-December 1904.
According to its description, COPY 1/481/107 features a ‘Photograph of Mr. Philip Cunningham – front face.’
During a recent research visit, I successfully located the form together with its attached photograph.
Each form is preserved within a clear sleeve so obtaining a photograph without any reflections is nigh on impossible as the image below demonstrates.
Despite this, the quality of the portrait Mrs Burrell produced is evident.
Her sitter’s identity slowly emerged via a number of newspaper articles.
They revealed that ‘Philip Cunningham’ (or Cuningham’ as it is sometimes spelt) was the stage name of Philip Harold Boosey (1865-1928).
The family business was music publishing, but the lure of the stage proved irresisitible and he made his theatrical debut in 1885 as a walk-on alongside Sir Henry Irving in a London production of Faust.
By the time ‘Mr. Philip Cunningham’ appeared in front of Mrs. Burrell’s camera, he was a household name.
The exact circumstances of the sitting aren’t known, but the dating of Mrs. Burrell’s copyright form points to a touring production of ‘The Eternal City’ staged at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle in which he appeared.
Based on the novel by Hall Caine, the play portrayed what the Newcastle Daily Chronicle (17th May 1904) described as “pictures of Italian politics and Pontifical procedure.”
The reviewer went on: “If the mounting of the play is excellent, it can be said most unreservedly that the acting is upon an equally high level.”
There was particular praise for “Mr. Philip Cunningham as the Radical orator David Rossi.”
Given the success she enjoyed with her postcard portraits of Marie Hall, it seems likely that Mrs. Burrell pursued the same commercial model, but this time with a different London publisher, John Beagles & Co.
The resulting postcard of the actor is certainly a striking image and would have been popular with fans clamouring for his autograph at stage doors across the country.
Unlike her Marie Hall postcards though, the credit ‘Mrs. Burrell, Newcastle on Tyne’ was nowhere to be seen on either the image nor its verso.
As to the roundel version attached by Mrs. Burrell to her copyright form, it suggests that she may have produced a similar print for her sitter, perhaps for his private use.
Though he may be a largely forgotten name these days, Mr. Philip Cunningham as portrayed by Mrs. Burrell of Newcastle on Tyne captures a stage star at the peak of his powers in a rare surviving example of her photography.
Pressphotoman 
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