Ursula St. George

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Ursula St. George
A young smiling white woman, standing, wearing a light-colored dress with buttons down the front of the bodice and a ruffled neckline.
Ursula St. George, in an autographed photo from 1912.
Born
Ursula Edith Kate Mackarness

(1895-10-22)October 22, 1895
Staten Island, New York, US
Died1979(1979-00-00) (aged 83–84)
Chichester, West Sussex, England
Other namesUrsula Mackarness Cull, U. E. K. Cull (after marriage in 1913)
OccupationsActress, art collector
SpouseAnders Eric Knös Cull (d. 1968)
RelativesJames Planché (great-grandfather); Matilda Anne Mackarness (grandmother); George Bellew (son-in-law)

Ursula St. George (October 22, 1895 – 1979),[1] born Ursula Edith Kate Mackarness, was an American actress as a teenager. Later in life, known as U. E. K. Cull, she collected art and ancient Chinese artifacts with her banker husband in London.

Early life

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Ursula Edith Kate Mackarness was born on Staten Island. Her English-born father Charles Mackarness[2] was a grandson of dramatist James Planché and son of novelist Matilda Anne Mackarness; he was a magazine editor, sculptor, and dog breeder.[3][4] Her mother was an actress, and toured with young Ursula as a chaperone.[5][6] John Mackarness and George Mackarness, both bishops, were her father's uncles; politician Frederick Coleridge Mackarness and sportsman Charles Coleridge Mackarness were his cousins.

Career

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St. George appeared in The Blue Bird (1911),[7] and was best known in the title role in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, which she performed across the United States and Canada in a Klaw and Erlanger production, 1911 and 1912.[8][9][10] She was sixteen years old for much of the run of the show.[11] "Miss St. George holds her audience in the delicious spell of her girlishness and ingenuous beauty," raved a Texas critic.[12]

She and her husband were art collectors, and had a particularly valuable collection of ancient Chinese artifacts. In 1927, Australian artist James Peter Quinn painted her portrait.[13] In 1972, she donated a pair of ancient Chinese bronze vessels to the British Museum, with enough money to build a case for them.[14][15] Other Cull collection items were auctioned by Sotheby's in the 1960s,[16] and she sold seven paintings by James Peter Quinn in 1975.[17] Further objects from their collection were bequeathed to the British Museum in 1979.[18]

Personal life

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Ursula Mackarness married London banker Anders Eric Knos Cull in 1913, in London.[2][19] They had six children and lived at Warfield House in Bracknell, Berkshire.[20] The Culls' grandson Eric Brodnax was a member of the equestrian team representing the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[21]

Ursula Mackarness Cull was widowed in 1968,[22] and still alive in 1972.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Death record". FreeBMD. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
  2. ^ a b "New York Girl to Wed Dog Fancier". The Alaska Daily Empire. 1913-09-17. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Anthony, Walter (1912-03-03). "Give the Children a Chance Says Little Ursula St. George". The San Francisco Call. p. 47. Retrieved 2020-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Purely Personal". Fourth Estate: 7. September 1, 1900.
  5. ^ "Rebecca". The Daily Missoulian. May 6, 1912. p. 3. Retrieved September 5, 2020 – via Chronicling America.
  6. ^ "Ursula St. George". San Antonio Light. January 7, 1912. p. 26. Retrieved September 6, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  7. ^ Hines, Dixie; Hanaford, Harry Prescott (1914). Who's who in Music and Drama. H.P. Hanaford. p. 399.
  8. ^ Eberle, Frank; Denmark, Harry Van (December 1911). "Rebecca is Coming". The Texas Magazine. 5: 58.
  9. ^ "A Scene from "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"". Seattle Theatre History. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  10. ^ "'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm', a Great Play, is Here Tonight". Bakersfield Californian. March 20, 1912. Retrieved September 5, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  11. ^ "This Leading Lady is 16". Tacoma Times. April 26, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved September 6, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  12. ^ "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm at the Prince". The Houston Post. 1912-01-09. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Art in London". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 1927-06-18. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-09-06 – via Trove.
  14. ^ a b "Rare Urns for Museum". The Guardian. 1972-08-16. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Rawson, Jessica (1972). "Two Chinese Bronze Ritual Vessels (British Museum)". The Burlington Magazine. 114 (837): 870–873. ISSN 0007-6287. JSTOR 877157.
  16. ^ "Front Matter: May Sales". The Burlington Magazine. 106 (734): xii. 1964. ISSN 0007-6287. JSTOR 874206.
  17. ^ "AUSTRALIAN ROYAL PORTRAIT PAINTER'S CAREER ENDS WITH WAXWORKS IMAGE". Australian Financial Review. 1989-07-27. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  18. ^ "Mrs. U. E. K. Cull; 14 Related Objects". British Museum. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  19. ^ "Miss U. E. K. Mackarness to Wed". The New York Times. September 4, 1913. p. 4. Retrieved September 6, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  20. ^ "Weds in July Rites". The Daily Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland). 1959-07-18. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-09-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Leigh Culver, Eric Brodnax". The New York Times. 1997-05-11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  22. ^ "Deaths". The Times. May 7, 1968. p. 18. Retrieved September 6, 2020.