Clara Jecks

Clara Marie Jecks was born in St Luke's, London,^[1] the daughter of Charles Jecks and Harriet Martha Coveney. Her father was an actor and theatrical manager, and her mother was an actress.^[2][3][4] She began appearing on the stage from a very early age, and was trained for a career in entertainment.^[5]

Jecks specialised in soubrette and boy roles, saying "I am never so really happy as when acting a lad."^[4] She made her first professional appearance on the London stage in 1873, in the show Kissi Kissi.^[6] She toured with her mother in the Comedy Opera Company in 1878 in several roles, in The Sorcerer, Trial by Jury, and Breaking the Spell. Other of her many stage appearances included Formosa (1877), Maid of Croissey (1880),^[7] The Sleepwalker (1893), The Black Domino (1893),^[8] The Middy Ashore, The Member for Slocum, Stage Struck, Santa Claus, Gentleman Joe (1895),^[9] A Merry Madcap (1896), Cinderella (1893-1894),^[10] Harlequinade and Justice Nell (1900),^[11] and her final London appearance, in The Critic (1911).^{[3][2][12][13]}