Dan Leno - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1883, Leno met Sarah Lydia Reynolds (1866–1942), a young dancer and comedy singer from Birmingham, while both were appearing at King Ohmy's Circus of Varieties, Rochdale. The daughter of a stage carpenter, Lydia, as she was known professionally, was already an accomplished actress as a teenager: of her performance in Sinbad the Sailor in 1881, one critic wrote that she "played Zorlida very well for a young artiste. She is well known at this theatre and with proper training will prove a very clever actress." She and Leno married in 1884 in a discreet ceremony at St. George's Church, in Hulme, Manchester, soon after the birth of their first daughter, Georgina. A second child died in infancy, and John was born in 1888. Their three youngest children – Ernest (b. 1889), Sidney (b. 1891) and May (b. 1896) – all followed their father onto the stage. Sidney later performed as Dan Leno, Jr. Upon the retirement of his parents, Leno supported them financially until their deaths.

Leno owned 2 acres (8,100 m2) of land at the back of his house in Clapham Park, and was self-sufficient, producing cabbages, potatoes, poultry, butter and eggs. He would also send these as gifts to friends and family at Christmas. In 1898, Leno and his family moved to 56 Akerman Road, Lambeth, where they lived for several years. A blue plaque was erected there in 1962 by the London County Council.