Addison was born in
Liverpool in 1849, the younger daughter of Edward Phillips Addison, a comedian; the actress
Fanny Addison was her sister. She first appeared on stage at the Liverpool Amphitheatre. On 13 May 1865 she appeared with her father at the New
Theatre Royal, Bath in a special benefit performance under the patronage of the
Bath and County Club. Her London debut was in October 1866 at the
St James's Theatre, as Lady Frances Touchwood in ''
The Belle's Stratagem by Hannah Cowley. Later that year she created the role of Adina in the musical burlesque Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack'', by
W. S. Gilbert, at the
St James's Theatre. She later joined the company of the
New Royalty Theatre, and in February 1868 appeared in
Daddy Grey by
Andrew Halliday, as Jessie Bell, the central figure of the play.
The Prince of Wales's Theatre Later the same year she joined the company of
Squire Bancroft and his wife
Marie Wilton at the
Prince of Wales's Theatre and appeared in a revival of
Society, by
T. W. Robertson, as Maud Hetherington. In January 1869 at the same theatre she played Bella in the first production of Robertson's
School. A reviewer in
The Daily Telegraph (25 January 1869) wrote that Addison "in showing the good qualities of the pupil-teacher revealed some rare excellencies. ... There was not the slightest exaggeration in the display of her emotion, and the exquisite love scene in the third act, so full of purity and tenderness, owed much of its effect to the discreetly subdued style in which it was acted by Miss Addison and
Mr. H. J. Montague." In October 1875, at the
Haymarket Theatre, she took the role of Ethel Grainger in
Married in Haste by H. J. Byron. A reviewer in
The Athenaeum (9 October 1875) wrote: "So concentrated and intense was the manner in which she displayed feeling, without going outside the bounds of social custom, that a high position might reasonably be predicted for her as an exponent of realistic drama." From 1888 she played Ruth Rolt in two long runs of
Sweet Lavender by
Arthur Wing Pinero at
Terry's Theatre. In 1910 she appeared in the film
The Blue Bird (based on
the play by Maurice Maeterlinck) as the Fairy Bérylune, a role she had played on stage during a long-running production. Addison died on 13 June 1914, aged 64, during the run of
Bernard Shaw's
Pygmalion in which she was playing Mrs Eynsford-Hill. ==References==