Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Vaughan, Kate
VAUGHAN, KATE (1852?–1903), actress and dancer, whose real name was Catherine Candelon, born in London, was elder daughter of a musician who played in the orchestra of the Grecian Theatre, City Road. After receiving some preliminary training in the dancing academy conducted by old Mrs. Conquest of that theatre, she took finishing lessons from John D'Auban, and, in association with her sister Susie, made her debut of dancer as one of the Sisters Vaughan at the Metropolitan music-hall in 1870. Early in 1872 she sustained a small part at the Royal Court Theatre in 'In Re Becca,' a travesty of Andrew Halliday's recent Drury Lane drama. In Dec. 1874 she danced the bolero delightfully at Drury Lane in Matthison's opera bouffe, 'Ten of 'em.' At the same house, in the Christmas of 1875, she sustained the leading character of Zemira in Blanchard's pantomime of 'Beauty' and the Beast,' displaying abilities as a burlesque actress of an arch and refined type.
A notable seven years' association with the Gaiety began on 26 Aug. 1876, when she appeared as Maritana in Byron's extravaganza 'Little Don Caesar.' Thenceforth she formed, with Nellie Farren [q. v. Suppl. II], Edward Terry, and E. W. Royce, one of a quartette which delighted the town in a long succession of merry burlesques by Byron, Burnand and Reece. Her last performance at the Gaiety was as Lili in Burnand's burlesque drama, 'Blue Beard' (12 March 1883). In the summer of 1885 she danced at Her Majesty's in the spectacular ballet 'Excelsior,' and, although only appearing for two minutes nightly, proved a great attraction. Subsequently from reasons of health she abandoned dancing for old comedy, in which she showed unsuspected capacity. At the Gaiety on John Parry's farewell benefit (7 Feb. 1877) she had already appeared as First Niece in 'The Critic' In 1886 she organised the Vaughan-Conway comedy company in conjunction with H. B. Conway, and made a successful tour of the provinces. Dissolving the partnership in 1887, she began a season of management at the Opera Comique on 5 Feb., appearing there as Lydia Languish in 'The Rivals,' and subsequently as Miss Hardcastle to the Young Marlow of Mr. Forbes Robertson, and as Peg Woffington in 'Masks and Faces' to the Triplet of James Fernandez. The chief success of the season (which terminated on 29 April) was the revival of 'The School for Scandal,’ in which she made an admirable Lady Teazle. In a later provincial tour she delighted country playgoers by her rendering of Peggy in 'The Country Girl,' and of the title-character in Hermann Vezin's 'The Little Viscount.' At Terry's Theatre on 30 April 1894 she returned to burlesque as Kitty Seabrook in Branscombe's extravaganza, 'King Kodak,' but her old magic had departed. In 1896, after a testimonial performance at the Gaiety, she went to Australia for her health. In the summer of 1898 she had a short season at Terry's Theatre in her old-comedy characterisations. In 1902 failing health necessitated a visit to South Africa, but a theatrical tour which she opened at Cape Town proved unsuccessful. She died at Johannesburg on 21 Feb. 1903.
Miss Vaughan married on 3 June 1884, as his second wife. Colonel the Hon. Frederick Arthur Wellesley, third son of the first Earl Cowley. Her husband divorced her in 1897. A water-colour drawing of her as Morgiana in 'The Forty Thieves,' by Jack, was shown at the Victorian Era Exhibition in 1897.
In point of grace, magnetism, and spirituality, Kate Vaughan was the greatest English dancer of her century. She owed little to early training and much to innate refinement and an exquisite sense of rhythm. Ignoring the conventions of stage traditions, she inaugurated the new school of skirt-dancing. A woman of varied accomplishments, she was a capable actress in old comedy.
[John Hollingshead's Gaiety Chronicles (portrait), 1898; The Theatre Mag., May 1881 (portrait); Dramatic Notes, 1887-8; Dramatic Peerage, 1891; Era, 21 April 1894; Gaston Vuillier and Joseph Grego's History of Dancing, 1908; Daily Telegraph. 24 Feb. 1903.]