History

Harriet Linwood’s rise through the ranks was a combination of skill and connections. She is primarily remembered as the long-term mistress of the married Earl of Banstead, himself the eldest son and heir of the 3rd Marquess of Athelington. Athelington was a patron and donor to the Royal Opera House, so it was through him that Linwood was able to exert influence.

A notable example of such influence was during the 1894 revival of The Devil to Pay for Marta Draeger. Linwood was cast as Yelva, the Comtesse’s chambermaid, but succeeded in having management pressure William Thompson to replace the Act 1 Pas de Trois (which was danced by Yelva, Yvan and a female sujet) with a Pas de Deux for herself as Yelva and Yvan. This change started a chain reaction that resulted in Sarah Nicholson’s rôle being expanded with the Pas Villageois in Act 2 and a Pas Seul in Act 3, but not without several tantrums on Nicholson’s part.

1896 saw a revival of The Buccaneers, in which Nicholson needed a cover. Lucia Rinaldi seemed the favourite of the critics to do so, having received good reviews when she covered Nicholson for the rôle of Swanilda in the revival of Coppelia the previous year. However, due to backstage machinations, the cover instead went to Linwood. To add insult to injury, Linwood was also cast as the second danseuse rôle of Isabel in William Thompson’s final ballet The Swords of Toledo, whereas Rinaldi was cast in an unnamed rôle that danced a variation in the first act Grand Pas d’Action. 

1897 saw Linwood rise further, dancing Agnès in The Beauty of Ghent and the prominent rôle of Gulnare in The Corsair, culminating with her promotion to première at the end of the season. 

Though Linwood was not considered by the critics to be ungifted (as contemporary reviews seem to indicate that she danced well enough to satisfy the audience), the critics also acknowledged Rinaldi’s longer tenure and stronger onstage gravitas. Rinaldi retired from the stage in 1898, and it was widely rumoured that this was due to her dissatisfaction with her career trajectory and Linwood’s rise. 

While it would be difficult to say that Linwood only succeeded due to her protector, as she seems to have been quite able to hold her own onstage, one is forced to wonder whether without one it would have been she who would have remained a sujet and Rinaldi that would have been elevated to première.

Additionally, there is some debate as to exactly when Linwood met Banstead. It is widely agreed that by early 1891, Banstead and Linwood’s relationship was more or less known to those at Covent Garden, but the exact timing of their meeting is still a matter of conjecture. This timeline is further complicated by the fact that Linwood was promoted to sujet just before the 1890 season.

Some scholars claim that Linwood had been Banstead’s mistress from as early as 1890 or even 1889, thereby attributing her promotion to his influence. However, it is more widely agreed that Banstead was not much involved in her promotion to sujet and that she met him after her promotion, during the 1890 season. The latter interpretation is supported by her roles leading up to 1890: Monya (one of Myrtha’s attendants) in Giselle in 1888, an alternate for one of the demi-sujet dryades in The Fairy of the Forest in 1888, The Spirit of Sloth in the Pas de Sept Péchés Capitaux and in Faust in 1889, and both La Française in the Pas de Cinq and one of the coryphées in the Pas des Éventails in The Corsair in 1889. Additionally, in 1890 Thompson cast Linwood as the Cook in his new ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, allowing her to appear in one scene and dance a variation. Since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland had been in the works since early 1889, it would seem likely that Thompson already had the intention of promoting Linwood to sujet.

Linwood retired as première in 1906, where The Buccaneers was revived for her benefit. 

A story that is widely circulated nowadays is that in the 1890 revival of The Wayward Daughter (where Linwood was cast in the Pas de Quatre as one of Lise’s friends), she slipped and fell onstage, drawing Banstead’s attention to her. While this incident is not completely verifiable (as Covent Garden did not record falls and other mishaps unless they caused injury or notable disruption) it could plausibly be true. As such, most scholars agree that Linwood met Banstead after she became a sujet, not before, though the specifics of how they met is still a matter of scholarly debate.

Rôles

• The Cook in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1890)
• Aglaé in Pygmalion (1893)
• Caroline in The Fairies’ Goddaughter (1893)
• Yelva in The Devil to Pay (1894)
• Prayer in Coppelia (1895)
• Effie in The Sylph (1895*)
• Isabel in The Swords of Toledo (1896)
• Jovita in The Buccaneers (1896)
• Gulnare in The Corsair (1897)
• Agnès in The Beauty of Ghent (1897)
• Giselle in Giselle (1898)
• Galatée in Pygmalion (1899)
• Lise in The Wayward Daughter (1899)
• Naïla in Naïla (1900*)
• Mazourka in The Devil to Pay (1900)
• Ondine in Ondine (1901)
• Esmeralda in Esmeralda (1901)
• Léonor in The Swords of Toledo (1902)
• The Peri/Léïla in The Peri (1903)
• Yedda in Yedda (1904*)
• Justine in The Two Peasant Girls (1905)
• Sylvia in Sylvia (1906)

Created rôle in new ballet

First London revival, new production*