Elsa May Sinclair

Elsa May was my grandmother - and a singer. She was in the very first performance of J M Barrie's Peter Pan. She recorded many Gilbert and Sullivan shows that she performed in and I have her on 78 and CD. It was an amazing treat to discover the CD - exactly 100 years after she sang.

Elsa May married Philip Neville Freme Sheppard, my grandfather. Now I had heard that she was a 'disgrace' - in other words she had been married before (divorced? widowed?) and for a gentleman to marry a theatrical performer! I don't think the aunts (Minnie and Bobo - who must have been Philip's sisters) approved at all.

Now I knew nothing about the first marriage, and indeed I am sure the Sheppard family were not interested either, but then, out of the blue, I got an email. From the descendants of Elsa's first husband. So, I have a distant cousin in Australia to whom Elsa May Sinclair is great grandmother, as well as being my grandmother.

My 'new cousin' told me all about it:

"Elsie May Sinclair married Achilles Sapountzakis on 11/5/1908

They had a child Peter Gilbert Dwight Sapountzakis born 27/3/1909 (My Grandfather)(Don't ask me how to pronounce name Greek I think)

By 1911 Elsie was living with her widowed mother Emily,her son Peter and her brother John Morris Sinclair at Whittingstall Rd Fulham,Elsie stating she was a professional singer.

Elsie must of separated with her husband Achilles by 1911

Elsie married Philip Neville Fream Sheppard on 19/6/1917, on their marriage certificate it says Elsie was a widow living at Curzon School House and Philip was a gentleman living at 27 London Rd,Neath, South Wales.Also on marriage certificate her name is Elsie May Sapountzakis.(A widow I wonder or did Achilles take off and went back to Greece,no records of him in England only marriage certificate to Elsie.Achilles was 21 and Elsie 29 when they married.

I am also wondering why Elsie would name her child Peter Gilbert Dwight, a Sheppard family name, when she was married to Achilles Sapountzakis, only she knows, and something I would like to know.

Peter Gilbert Dwight Sapountzakis took the name of Sheppard at some time,as he left the Port of London in 1925 and came to Australia under the name of Sheppard. He was only 16."

My mother knows about 'Uncle Peter' - Peter was in fact my father's half-brother, not his uncle, but there would have been quite an age difference. Somewhere my mother has a photo of Anthony (my dad) and Peter (his half brother) on a beach playing cricket. She is going to try and find it.

Now the interesting thing is I have Elsa's nose (not her exact one of course, but mine looks like hers). I wonder if my Aussie cousin has too?

Oh - and did I mention I'm a singer too? My dad was as well; he played trumpet too.

But back to Elsa/Elsie. She had two children by Philip, my father and his sister, Angela. And she had one son - we assume from Achilles. Sally said the Aunts didn't like that Peter took the Sheppard name - but I sort of feel that although they sent Peter to Australia at the age of 16 (he went to work on a passion fruit farm that failed) I think it looks like Philip took him on when he took on Elsa, which is admirable in those very uptight Edwardian times.

Sally says my dad talked about not knowing what happened to Uncle Peter - being sad that he lost touch. I wonder if they looked alike at all? My brother looks like my dad, for sure.

I have, somewhere, letters from J M Barrie to Elsa. She was looking for more work, and he had nothing for her, but it was nicely written I seem to remember. I'll see if I can find them and scan them in for here.

The photos I have of her show her as a pretty lady, but the thing I never realised until I got the CD and there was a picture of her and the cast of HMS Pinafore on the cover, is that she was not very tall.

I don't know where she is buried, but I guess I could find out. I would imagine in Bath, where the family lived. My father is buried in Bath, in the cemetary in Horseshoe Lane. I was only 13 when he died so I didn't go to the graveside. When in 1981 my husband and I visited Bath as part of our honeymoon, we visited the cemetary. I'd never ever been there. We looked over the huge cemetary - no maps, no guide, no idea where my father was. My husband said 'follow me'. He walked down, turned left, then up a small path. 'Here he is'. He said. He led me straight to him. No - neither of us have the slightest idea how he managed it!

More family history

I don't know a lot about the family, mostly because all the people who could tell the stories have passed on. But I can tell what I know - and I'm doing this because folks have started to contact me who want more information on the family.

That's great! I am going to try and get the family trees scanned - if I could make them available as an on line resource I am sure it would be very helpful to researchers.

Meanwhile - here's where I sit in the world:

My father, Philipa Anthony Sheppard, married (don't know who first time round) and then married my mother (picture above - 3 friends, then 'Bones' Long, Sally's father, then Sally, then Anthony, then Peeps, then Peeps' Mother - Granny Arthur). He had one sister, Angela, who had one son, Nick.

So my family was Mum, Dad, Auntie Angela, Cousin Nick and my brother, Phil. When I was very small there were Lance and Emmie - I will have to track them down in the family history book, can't quite work out where they came from. Cousins? Second cousins? Not sure.

My father's parents were Elsa May Sinclair and Philip Neville Freme Sheppard. I know there was some controversy over Philip marrying a singer/actress (can you imagine? An Edwardian gentleman marrying a stage performer?!) but also some mention of her being divorced as well. I don't know who she was married to first time round either.

And I don't know if the first marriages - my father's or my grandmother's - had any offspring.

If you think that's starting to get complicated - my mother's side of the family is even more complex with two sets of step parents: Charles Keller, from a German family and an amazing history, but all I have left is a 1st world war Military Dress Sword; and Primrose (Mary) Long - known as 'Peeps'. She was one of the founding members of the Church of Scientology but she got fed up with Ron L Hubbard and left. I have her scientology bracelet - weird what hierlooms get handed down, eh? A sword and a bracelet. Sounds like a bad fantasy book plot coming up, eh?

Enough! There is a reason for this post which, I hope, I will be able to elicudate on further in the near future. Meanwhile if you want to contact me about the Sheppard family history, you can email me at

cjcauston at yahoo dot co dot uk