Maud Petyt

• General Notes
  • @NI770@
    Maud Petyt was born at Bolton Woods near Bradford in 1886. She was the daughter of James Petyt (1853-1931), a wool buyer and his second wife Alice Jubb (1856-1906).
    James was born at Hazlewood near Bolton Abbey and was the son of Henry Petyt, shoemaker
    
    Maud was a very talented musician, being an excellent pianist and possessing an exceptional contralto voice. She was so obsessed with music that she even persuaded her father to give their house at 68 Bolton Hall Road, Bradford the name of Rossini Mount.
    It is not known whether Maud appeared on the professional stage during her time in Bradford but it can safely be assumed that she was involved with local amateur groups in the town.
    
    In 1910 Maud married Arthur Rawstron (1891-1916) at Bradford Register Office, later that year she gave birth, at Buck House Farm, Baildon, to a son, Leslie Petyt Rawstron.
    
    At the time of his marriage Arthur was employed as a clerk at a wool mill, he later became a cashier at Charleston Combing Co. Ltd., Bradford.
    With the outbreak of war in 1914 Arthur enlisted in the Ist Battalion Seafor th Highlanders and was killed in action in Iraq. He has no known grave. At the time of his death Maud was living at Mexborough Road, Bolton Woods, Bradford.
    
    In 1919 Maud was married at Bolton Abbey to Cuthbert Paul Beadon. Paul, as he was known, was the son of the Rev. William Beadon, a Wesleyan minister. He had served as a commissioned officer in the RFC during the war and at the time of his marriage he was still serving with what was by then the RAF. Paul was to re-enlist in the RAF during the Second World War. It was after Maud's marriage to Paul that she left Yorkshire.
    
    At some stage after the end of WWI she and Paul lived in Dar-es-Salaam, it is thought that Paul was involved with an airfield there. When they returned to England they settled in London and it is then that Maud made most of her professional appearances. She sang with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, appeared in Ivor Novello's 'Glamorous Nights' (she was said to have been understudy to Gertrude Lawrence) and appeared as a soloist in many concerts such as those staged by the League of British Artists. In one such concert in 1922, using the stage name Joan Bethune, she appeared at The Queen's Hall and sang two pieces, 'Love is a Slave' and the aria by Rossini 'Una Voce Poco Fa'.
    At some stage during the late 1920s Maud was persuaded that she had a great musical career in front of her. A concert was arranged at the Albert Hall, she was given the name of 'Gloriana Britanicus' and the event was advertised all over London. With a name like that she was doomed to failure and the concert was not the successs he had hoped for.
    She was able to get small parts for a number of years but she was never to be the leading lady.
    
    Maud and Paul lived at various addresses in London, they had a flat in Reg ent Park, not far from the one lived in by Mrs. Simpson and later one in Cumberland Mews. They were bombed out of this last flat in 1943/44 and they then bought a large house in Amherst Road, Ealing Broadway
    
    Leslie, Maud's son from her first marriage was also interested in the stage He trained as an actor and stuntsman. He was the understudy to Robert Donat in 'The 39 Steps' and he did all the dangerous parts like falling fr om trains. Like his mother he was never a great success although he did get quite a lot of work appearing in public information films. He also worked as a male model and often appeared on the front of Paton and Baldwin 's knitting patterns.
    
    Maud was a very glamorous figure and after the war when the stage work had dried up she could often be seen modelling clothes in the large Lond on hotels. Eventually the cost of living in London became prohibitive and they bought a house at Seaton near Plymouth. At first Maud was unhappy cut off from all her friends in London until she discovered the church community in Downderry, a nearby village. She played the organ in the church until 1972 and was involved with the church council serving on the c ommittee from 1963 to 1965.
    
    Maud died on 23rd January 1974 and Paul died two years later.

Click here for details of Maud's family with Arthur Rawstron

Click here for details of Maud's family with Cuthbert Paul Beadon

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