George Willoughby Dowse was born in around 1869 at
Southsea,
Hampshire, England, the son of Henry James Dowse and Rosa (
née Stevens). He may have been educated at
Christ's Hospital. George Willoughby was a member of the Charles Arnold theatrical company when he married actress Alice Jackson who adopted the professional name Ada Willoughby. He later, and with her consent, toured South Africa but while there received a postcard informing him that she no longer wanted to live with him. He later came in contact with her in
Melbourne, when she was living with another man and he sued her for divorce.
Willoughby–Geach Company Late in 1901 Willoughby and Edwin Geach formed a company (took over from Charles Arnold Company?) which toured Australia with a string of
George Howells Broadhurst comedies:
The Wrong Mr. Wright,
Why Smith Left Home and
What Happened To Jones Tragedy struck when two actresses, Sallie Booth and Ada Lee, died of
bubonic plague on 27 and 28 February 1902 while staying at the Criterion Hotel,
Pitt Street, Sydney. In 1902 George, together with Thomas William Broadhurst and George Howells Broadhurst, who owned the rights to the play
The Wrong Mr. Wright sought to prevent Henry Bloomfield, director of the Ada Willoughby Company, from playing a version of this play. The suit failed on the grounds that Willoughby had failed to prove that Charles Arnold was able to assign his rights to the play. This was around the same time as George had applied for a divorce from his wife, whose stage name was Ada Willoughby. In 1903 he successfully sought an injunction to prevent Robert Henry Nichols, of the Henry Dramatic Company, from playing a farce (adapted from
Jane) with an almost identical title. By 1904 Willoughby and Geach had taken over Sydney's Palace Theatre, with Adam Cowan (died 20 September 1908), Geach's trusted friend, as manager. Sidney Wilner and Walter Vincent's
Stranger in a Strange Land was added to their repertoire in 1904, at the end of which year the company disbanded. Stars of the Willoughby – Geach company included
Roxy Barton, Ethel Appleton, Hardinge Maltby, Tom Cannam, Frank Denton, George Leopold, Grace Gale and Miss Roland Watts Phillips.
Willoughby–Ward Company He next formed an actor-management partnership with
Hugh Joseph Ward and toured Australia and New Zealand with the ever-popular Broadhurst farces and "The Man from Mexico" (by Henry A. Du Souchet), the play in which
Willie Collier, under the
JC Williamson's banner and with the young
John Barrymore in the cast, had failed.
George Marlow Limited In 1912 George was appointed managing director of George Marlow Limited, owners of the
Princess's Theatre, Melbourne, and lessees of the
Adelphi, Sydney and
King's Theatre, Fremantle but with George Thomas Eaton, and Arthur Bernard Davies sought an injunction to prevent
George Marlow (born Joseph Marks) from interfering with the operation of the company. In October 1913 Willoughby, Davies and Eaton bought out George Marlow's stake in the Adelphi and Princess theatres. But the war intervened and box office prices had to be reduced. In 1915 Willoughby and Co. were forced to sell their holdings back to Barlow and his backers, the Fuller brothers. ==Film career==