Grace Fields

Dame Gracie Fields was born Grace Stansfield on 9 January 1898 in Rochdale, Lancashire, and died on 27 September 1979. She worked as a British actress, singer, and comedian, appearing in cinema and music hall. During the 1930s, she ranked among Britain’s top ten film stars, and in 1937 she was reportedly the highest paid film star in the world. Fans called her “Our Gracie” and “the Lancashire Lass,” and she kept her strong Lancashire accent throughout her life. In 1938 she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ), and in 1979 she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

Fields was born over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale. Her father was Frederick Stansfield and her mother Sarah Jane “Jenny” Stansfield, née Bamford. Her great-grandfather, William Stansfield, came from Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, and was descended from the Stansfield family of Stansfield, Yorkshire. She first appeared on stage as a child in 1905, joining children’s repertory groups such as Haley’s Garden of Girls and Clara Coverdale’s Nine Dainty Dots. Her sisters Edith and Betty, and brother Tommy, also performed, but Gracie became the most successful. She made her professional variety debut at the Rochdale Hippodrome in 1910, soon leaving her half-time job in a local cotton mill. Early newspaper clippings show her performing in Todmorden, Milnrow, Burnley, and Blackpool; a Burnley paper called her “The Girl with the Double Voice.”

She met comedian and impresario Archie Pitt while working in Percy Hall’s touring show *Yes, I Think So*. Pitt gave her champagne on her 18th birthday and wrote in an autograph book that he would make her a star. He managed her career, and they began a relationship, marrying in 1923 at Clapham Register Office. Their first revue together, *It’s A Bargain!*, was written by Pitt in 1915, and they toured Britain until 1931. From 1918 to 1924, they appeared in *Mr Tower of London*, which brought Fields to the West End for the first time. Later shows with Pitt included *The Show’s The Thing* and *Walk This Way*. Pitt was the brother of Bert Aza, founder of the Aza Agency, which represented many entertainers, including Stanley Holloway, introduced to Aza by Fields, and Betty Driver, discovered by Archie.