Non-pu postcard - “Dainty Novels” series - Lillah McCarthy
Lila (Lillah) Emma McCarthy (Lillah, Lady Keeble OBE) (22 September 1875 – 15 April 1960) was an English actress and theatrical manager.
She was born in Cheltenham on 22 September 1875, the seventh of eight children of Jonadab McCarthy and Emma (née Price).
In 1906, McCarthy appeared in Man and Superman opposite Harley Granville Barker. They married in the play and then in real life on 24 April 1906. The period 1907-1913 was a successful one for McCarthy.
With the advent of war, McCarthy and her husband sailed to the United States in December 1914 where they had several successes. But for their marriage it was a disaster – Granville Barker met and fell in love with a wealthy, married American. Inevitably, this led to divorce in 1917–18.
In 1918 McCarthy met Frederick Keeble, FRS at the Stoke Poges golf club, where they were both members. They married on 27 March 1920 in London. Later that year, McCarthy was appointed OBE for her “services in connection with the organisation of matinées and the collection of funds for the Queen Mary Fund in aid of the Star and Garter Hospital.” They settled in Boars Hill, near Oxford. Frederick Keeble was knighted by King George V in 1922.
McCarthy's last appearance on the London stage was in Iphigenia in Tauris at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 1932. She died at her home in London on 15 April 1960.