Ophelia Powell – A Victorian music hall star and “Lady of Colour”.
By John D Ellis.
For over a decade in the second half of the nineteenth century, Ophelia Powell was a music hall star. A serio-comic vocalist, who
used comedy to explore serious issues, she was billed as “a lady of colour”. According to Sam Beale, female serio-comics were
“…associated with gritty and witty portrayals of the lives of lower-class Victorians and frequently engaged in ironic
representations of ‘acceptable’ versions of female behaviour in performances”.(1) They provided a “…commentary on the social
conditions of the Victorian poor…” particularly “…the lives, opinions and problems of working-class women”.(2) Beale suggests
that they “pre-empted modern stand-up techniques”, with acts involving jokes, singing and improvised audience participation.(3)
Inevitably, they became adroit at dealing with hecklers. One female serio-comic, Bessie Bellwood (1856-1896), was particularly
adept at dealing with problematic audience members, telling one “Don’t open your mouth so wide. You’ll cut your throat with
your collar”.(4)
Ophelia Powell shared the same billing with performers, both Black and White, whose acts were described as either “negr*es” or
“n*ggers”. (This format of transcription is being used to avoid causing offence, but also to not sanitise contemporary language).
Some were comedians, others were vocalists or minstrels. Nothing is known as to how Ophelia Powell, a female ‘of colour’,
navigated the world she inhabited. However, all bar one of the contemporary newspaper reports identified, appear to
distinguish her favourably from other performers ‘of colour’ (or those pretending to be so). Whilst performing in Norwich at ‘The
Forester’s Gala’ in June 1868, a report by The Norfolk Chronicle and Norwich Gazette revealed the casual racism of the time, and
something of the prejudice faced by Ophelia Powell: “There was comic, serio and serio comic “talent”, and among the vocal
performers were some n*ggers, one of whom was styled by courtesy, “a lady of colour” named Miss Ophelia Powell”.(5) The
Norfolk Chronicle… was clearly ‘kicking back’ at the racial/ethnic and social class identity (i.e. “Lady”) given to Ophelia Powell.
The only part of Ophelia Powell’s act that is known is a minstrel song originating from the USA in the 1850s: “She’s black, but
dat’s (that’s) no matter”.(6)
My Di-nah, dear me, she’s as beautiful quite, as a star that shines calmly at close of the night.
A voice like a Syren, a foot like a Fay, she’s just such a gal you don’t meet every day.
Spoken: But she’s black, she’s so very black.
I know she is, but what of that, you’d love to look at her, I’d have her just the way she is – she’s black but that’s no matter.
I know she is, but what of that, you’d love, could you look at her, I’d have her just the way she is – she’s black but that’s no
matter.
She’s black, but that’s no matter. She’s black, but that’s no matter.
I’d have her just the way she is – she’s black but that’s no matter.
She’s black, but that’s no matter. She’s black, but that’s no matter.
She lives on the bank of a bright flowing stream,
In a cabin that might have been built in a dream,
Surrounded by roses and woodbines and leaves,
That twine and climb lovingly up to the eaves.
Spoken: But she’s black, she’s so very black.
If ever I marry this dark colour’d maid,
You’ll believe in the truth of what I have said;
I love her because her complexion will keep,
And they say that beauty is only skin deep.
Spoken: But she’s black, she’s so very black.(7)
In the second half of the twentieth century, Black comedians such as Charlie Williams and Lenny Henry frequently used comedy
about their ‘colour’ at their own expense in order to survive and succeed. They were criticised for it both at the time and after. It
is highly likely, considering the lyrics of “She’s black, but dat’s (that’s) no matter”, that Ophelia Powell used the same stratagem
and for the same reasons.
1
Reference to Ophelia Ann Powell first occurs in the Bradford Observer in January 1857, when, whilst employed as a servant-girl
at the Turk’s Head beer house in Southgate, Bradford, she witnessed a robbery:
A YOUTHFUL BURGLAR STOPPED IN HIS CAREER.- At the Borough Court on Monday, a well-dressed youth, who gave his name as
John Jones, and his age 19, was charged first with entering the Ivy Hotel, Barkerend, with burglarious instruments, for an
unlawful purpose; and next with stealing the sum of £12 10s from the Turk’s Head beer-house. In Southgate, which he entered in
a like manner. The prisoner was supposed to have come from Birmingham and had been remanded from Friday. Between eight
and nine o’clock on Thursday evening, Mr Thomas Stephenson, son of the landlady of the Ivy Hotel, heard footsteps in the
staircase, and knowing no person ought to be there, he hastened into the staircase to ascertain who was there. Encountering the
prisoner upon one of the landing, he knocked him down, and then removed him to the bar, and there required him to turn out his
pockets. Three skeleton keys dropped from him on to the floor as he entered the bar, and a quantity of lucifer matches were
found upon him. He was given into the custody of P.C. Smith. There was £60 in a drawer in one of the upper rooms, and his
detection, no doubt, fortunately saved it. The prisoner gave an address in York Street, Leeds, as a place where he had been
lodging, and ongoing there on Friday afternoon, Burniston found a dark lantern and a jemmy, which he found concealed beneath
some bedding on which the prisoner had been sleeping some nights previously. But the prisoner was identified as the person who
stole a cash box containing £12 10s, belonging to Mr Richard Farmery, from a bedroom in his house, the Turk’s Head beer-house
in Southgate, at about six o’clock, on the evening of the 20th. The servant girl, named Ophelia Ann Powell (a person of colour),
on passing the staircase door, observed that it was slightly ajar, and proceeded to close it, but at the moment she did so, the
prisoner rushed out of the staircase, knocked her down, and ran out at the door, and along the street. He had the cash box under
his arm, and as she arose and ran into the street, he looked round to stare at her as he ran off. She had a good opportunity of
noticing his features and general appearance and could swear to him positively. Mr Farmery had a few minutes previously taken
change from the cash box, which was on the table in the bedroom, and had afterwards locked the door; but the lock had been
picked, the door was open, and the cash box was missing. Mr Northwood appeared for the prisoner, and set up an alibi, but it
failed. A young man, named Joseph Fieldhouse, stated that the prisoner was drinking at the Red House beer-shop, York Street,
Leeds, from two o’clock till eleven o’clock at night on the 20th; but although he stated that he had been asked to come and speak
as to the 20th, yet nothing has ever been said till that morning about any charge of robbery on the 20th, which would be preferred
against the prisoner. He was committed for trial at the sessions.(8)
Whilst the Bradford Observer referred to Ophelia Powell as “a person of colour”, several other newspapers, (when repeating the
story), referred to her as “a coloured Maroon girl”.(9) Famously, the Maroons were the descendants of escaped enslaved people
in Jamaica, although how such a personal and specific detail was known, or if instead it was an embellishment (based on her
‘fight’ as opposed to ‘freeze’ or ‘flight’ response), or conjecture is unknown. However, an Ophelia Powell was baptised at the
parish of Westmoreland, Cornwall County, Jamaica in February 1839, and was therefore (if baptised shortly after birth) of the
correct age to be described as a “girl” in 1857.(10) If the Ophelia Powell baptised in Jamaica in 1839 came to be employed as a
servant-girl in Victorian Bradford, then it is likely that it was linked to Mr Richard Farmery, the proprietor of the Turk’s Head.
(The name the ‘Turk’s Head’ itself being synonymous with the orientalisation of the Middle East, Africa, Islam and ‘people of
colour’).
A biography of Jenny Hill, a White serio-comic actress, recounts how as a child she was indentured to a Bradford “…publican for
12 months. She and a companion had to get up with the lark in order to scrub floors, polish pewter and beer bottles until the
performance for the early afternoon drinkers began at noon. Often they had no breakfast. After the evening performance was
over the artistes had to stay up all the time a patron might buy them a glass of wine. She was even expected to make and bottle
ginger beer”.(11) In return, Jenny Hill was given the opportunity to perform both at the Turk’s Head, “a well-known and wellaccustomed tavern and music hall” and other local venues.(12) Jenny Hill was indentured at the Turk’s Head between 1862 and
1865, and it is possible that Ophelia Powell was her predecessor.
In July 1864 Ophelia Powell was at the Britannia Music Hall, Glasgow, billed as “Miss Ophelia Powell, the ‘Coloured’ Serio-Comic
Vocalist, and a host of Novelties”.(13) In September 1864, Ophelia Powell was in Aberdeen at the Bon-Accord Music Hall: “Miss
Ophelia Powell (serio-comic) a lady of colour, received great applause on Monday night…”(14) Newspapers held in the archives
of findmypast.co.uk facilitate identifying where and when Ophelia Powell performed: In 1865 she appeared at Dundee and
Sunderland. The following year, she was again at Dundee. In 1867 she appeared at Birmingham and Aldershot. In the latter,
whilst appearing at the Victory Music Hall, Ophelia Powell was a victim of crime – as she had been in Bradford in 1857.(15) Once
again, when confronted, she chose ‘fight’ over ‘freeze’ or ‘flight’: Whilst returning from the Victory to her lodgings at No.12
Hilley Terrace, she dropped her purse only for it to be whisked away by two opportunistic female thieves.(16) Ophelia Powell,
accompanied by a friend, pursued the miscreants to the nearby Pavilion Cricket Ground, confronted them, retrieved her purse
and then summoned the police.(17)
In 1868 Ophelia Powell was very busy; appearing at Liverpool, Birmingham, Norwich, Canterbury and Nottingham. Towards the
end of the year she returned to West Yorkshire, performing at Halifax, billed as “MISS O. POWELL, a Lady of Colour, Ballad
Vocalist”.(18) In 1869 Ophelia Powell appeared at Cheltenham and Sheffield, and the following year at Gloucester and
Manchester. In 1871 she returned to Yorkshire – appearing at Rotherham.
2
In 1872 Ophelia Powell was in Ireland appearing at the Garrison Music Hall, when The Era (6 October 1872), noted her
attendance as a mourner at the funeral of a Miss Louisa Sampson (known professionally as Daly), a sentimental vocalist who had
died of consumption (TB) and was subsequently interred at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin.(19) In 1874 Ophelia Powell
appeared at The Parrot Hotel Music Hall in Newport (South Wales), where she was billed as “…the only real Coloured Lady SerioComic of the British Stage”.(20) In 1875 Ophelia Powell appeared at Wednesbury, Staffordshire.
Her last known performance was at the Star Music Hall (late the White Horse), Bettell Lane, Stourbridge in January 1876. She
was billed as “Miss OPHELIA POWELL, the far-famed Serio and Sentimental Vocalist”.(21) (The Star Music Hall is now called The
Maverick).(22) Thereafter no reference has been found to Ophelia Powell in parish registers, newspapers, census returns or in
the registers for births, marriages and deaths. By the late 1870s she had been performing for over twenty years in an industry
that was becoming increasingly crowded with serio-comics.(23) By 1876, the venues in which Ophelia Powell was performing
were much smaller than the ones she had appeared at earlier in her career. With that in mind, it is possible that she decided to
‘face the final curtain’ (professionally speaking) and retire, relocate – or both. The fact that she cannot subsequently be
identified in Britain suggests that she probably left the country – perhaps returning to Jamaica.
3
References.
1)Beale, Sam. “Funny and disturbing: women’s serio-comic performances on the Victorian music hall”.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2040610X.2022.2091734#abstract
2)Ibid.
3)Ibid.
4)Ibid.
5)The Norfolk Chronicle and Norwich Gazette, 6 June 1868. findmypast.co.uk
6)Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine People’s Journal, 10 September 1864. findmypast.co.uk
7)digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/94726404
8)Bradford Observer, 15 January 1857. findmypast.co.uk
9)Northern Daily Times, 14 January 1857. findmypast.co.uk
10)Jamaica Births & Baptisms 1752-1920. FHL: 1291713. Ref: Item 2 v 5 p 128 Westmoreland. ancestry.co.uk
11)https://bradfordunconsideredtrifles.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/the-vital-spark-the-harsh-master/
12)Ibid.
13)Glasgow Sentinel, 2 July 1864. findmypast.co.uk
14)Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine People’s Journal, 10 September 1864. findmypast.co.uk
15)The Victory Music Hall was also known as the Apollo Theatre. It was built in 1859 and demolished in 1899.
16)Sheldrake’s Aldershot and Sandhurst Military Gazette, 25 May 1867. findmypast.co.uk
17)Ibid.
18)The Halifax Guardian, 14 November 1868. findmypast.co.uk
19)The Era, 6 October 1872. findmypast.co.uk
20)South Wales Weekly Telegram and Evening Telegram, 4 September 1874. findmypast.co.uk
21)The Advertiser for Brierly-Hill, Stourbridge, Dudley and Kidderminster, 1 January 1876.
22)www.pressreader.com/uk/black-country-bugle/20240417/281599540543061
23)Beale, Sam. “Funny and disturbing: women’s serio-comic performances on the Victorian music hall”.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2040610X.2022.2091734#abstract
4