Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies (1891–1992) made her acting debut in 1911 as a singing fairy in Herbert Beerbohm Tree's A Midsummer Night's Dream at His Majesty's Theatre, London. Her career spanned more than seven decades, and in the late 1980s with the approach of her centenary, she was the subject of several television and radio programmes. In these broadcasts her lifelong love of Shakespeare was evident, and references were made to her performances alongside many theatrical luminaries of the twentieth century, including John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans and Peter Hall. However, in the process of sifting through Ffrangcon-Davies's personal archive, which includes more than 2,000 letters plus numerous press cuttings and photographs, it became clear that her Shakespearian work, which had been so clearly highlighted in the 1980s broadcasts, was a surprisingly small, albeit important, part of her career when taken as a whole – totalling just thirteen of over one hundred different roles on stage (see Table 1.1 for a full list of her stage roles). In addition, those obituary writers who hailed her as one of the most important actresses of the twentieth century were compelled to source their information from a listing in Who's Who in the Theatre because many published histories failed to mention her. This actress, retrospectively mythologized as an influential Shakespearian, had apparently been omitted from written theatre history. This absence, echoed in her ‘strange omission’ from the honours list until her hundred and first year, demands investigation.