Everything about Hannah Chaplin totally explained
Hannah Chaplin (
11 August 1865—
August 28,
1928) was the mother of
Charlie Chaplin. She was born
Hannah Harriett Hill in Camden Street,
Walworth,
London. She became a
Music Hall entertainer and used the stage name 'Lily Harley'.
She married Charles Spencer Chaplin (born
18 March 1863 at 22 Orcus Street,
Marylebone,
London died
9 May 1901 at
St Thomas Hospital,
Lambeth,
London), a fellow Music Hall entertainer, on
22 June 1885. That same year Sydney Chaplin was born Sydney John Hill, on
16 March, in
Cape Town,
South Africa died on
16 April 1965 in
Nice,
France - followed by his brother Charles four years later, in 1889.
She gave birth to George
Wheeler Dryden on
August 31,
1892 in London, son of music hall entertainer
Leo Dryden. George was therefore the half brother of Charles and Sydney Chaplin. As a result of her
adulterous relationship with Dryden, Hannah and Charles Chaplin, Sr separated soon after George's birth. Hannah became responsible for taking care of Charlie and his older brother Sydney, as George went to live with his father.
It was when Hannah's voice failed during a performance at 'The Canteen', an
Army theatre at
Aldershot in
Hampshire in January 1894, that the young Charlie Chaplin, at the age of five, got his first taste of performing, when he went on as an unplanned replacement for his mother.
(External Link
). This event was portrayed in the 1992 film
Chaplin.
She became increasingly mentally ill and had a breakdown in
1895. In June 1896, Hannah, with her two sons Charles and Sydney, entered
Lambeth Workhouse. Within a few weeks the boys were sent to Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children.
(External Link)
In 1898 Hannah had a mental breakdown, and Charles and Sydney went to live for a time with Charles Sr. and his mistress. Young Charles first appears with the Lancashire Lads. From May 1903 to September 1912 Hannah was in the
Cane Hill Lunatic Asylum in
Surrey. Charlie later wrote about a visit to see her there in 1912:
"It was a depressing day, for she wasn't well. She had just got over an obstreperous phase of singing hymns, and had been confined to a padded room. The nurse had warned us of this beforehand. Sydney saw her, but I hadn't the courage, so I waited. He came back upset, and said that she'd been given shock treatment of icy cold showers and that her face was quite blue. That made us decide to put her into a private institution - we could afford it now."
The brothers took Hannah out of Cane Hill and put her into Peckham House, a private asylum, but she was returned to Cane Hill Asylum in May 1915 when they defaulted on the 30
shillings a week payment.
(External Link) The Chaplin brothers brought her to
California in 1921 where she was watched after until her death.
Her granddaughter,
Geraldine Chaplin, portrayed her in the 1992 film
Chaplin.
Further Information
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