Robins, Elizabeth, 1862-1952

Elizabeth Robins' long, active life (1862-1952) took her in many directions. Robins was American born and reared, but her multiple careers in acting, writing and the women's suffragist movement gave her the opportunity to travel widely and meet several important personalities. In addition to keeping various written records of her experiences, Robins kept photographic documentation of her performances, travels and acquaintances.

English actress and author, also known as Mrs. George Richmond Parks; pseudonym C. E. Raimond.

Elizabeth Robins had an abiding interest in her heritage. The close and intricate network of family relationships that formed her earliest environment evidently molded her character as an actress, novelist and woman of independent means. She kept records documenting her family, education (especially of women), religion, and business enterprise in the nineteenth century. The Robins family also served as models for plots and characters in the novels of Elizabeth Robins.

Elizabeth Robins' long, active life (1862-1952) took her in many directions. She was an actress, playwright, novelist and feminist. American born and reared, Robins spent most of her adult life living and working in England. Her professional acting career began in 1880 in New York City and encompassed leading roles with the James O'Neill Company, the Boston Museum Company, and the Booth-Barrett Company. She traveled extensively in her lifetime; she visited her father at the mining camps of Summit, Colorado, journeyed to the Klondyke where her brother Raymond Robins had gone in search of gold and visited Raymond Robins and his wife, Margaret Dreier Robins, in Florida. Robins often incorporated her travel experiences into her literary works, enhancing her success as a writer. Her invovlement in the women's suffrage movement led to her active participation in the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), the Actresses' Franchise League, and the Women Writers' Suffrage League. As a result of her devotion to the suffrage movement she came into contact with such notable personalities as Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst.

Elizabeth Robins' long, active life (1862-1952) took her in many directions. She was an actress, playwright, prolific novelist and suffragist. American born and reared, Robins spent most of her adult life living and working in England. Her professional acting career began in 1880 in New York City and encompassed leading roles with the James O'Neill Company, the Boston Museum Company, and the Booth-Barrett Company.

In 1888 Robins traveled to England where she established herself as a serious actress and eventually became involved in producing and directing plays. She was a major force in the campaign for Ibsen, whose dramas of social realism revolutionized the international stage and brought to Robins an awareness of women's role in society. During the 1890s Robins embarked on a new career as a writer. In 1900 Robins traveled to Alaska and the diary she kept during that journey is a rare account by a woman of the turbulent gold rush days. Robins concluded her acting career in 1902 and thereafter devoted more time to writing and to her growing interest in issues of women's equality. Her interest in feminism continued well into the 1920s. In 1908 Robins met Octavia Wilberforce who became her lifelong companion. Wilberforce studied medicine and became a doctor with a special interest in health matters relating to women and children. In 1927 Robins, along with Wilberforce and Dr. Marjorie Hubert, converted her country home in England, Backsettown, into a restplace for overworked women. Elizabeth Robins died in England on May 8, 1952, in her ninetieth year.

Robins, Elizabeth. (married name: Mrs. George Richmond Parks; pseud. C.E. Raimond) ca. 1865-1952. American actress and author. Played principally in Ibsen.

Wrote: Below the salt (1896) The open question (1898) The magnetic north (1904) A dark lantern (1905) Come and find me (1908) The mills of the Gods (1908) and others. Also suffragist works. [New Century Cyclopedia of Names]