Janette Steer (3 July 1863 – 24 November 1947) was an actress, playwright, theatrical manager, and suffragist based in London.
Early life Born Janet Gertrude Trevor Steer in Calcutta, India, 3 July 1863, she was the youngest daughter of Charles Steer (1811–1888) who served in the Indian Civil Service, and his Irish-born second wife Janet Ann Wetherall (1820–1889).
Career Janette Steer began acting as an amateur, with her sister, Mrs. Mackintosh. An early reviewer described the two in 1886: "Mrs. Mackintosh is tall and stout; Miss Steer is tall and thin. Mrs. Mackintosh has a good deal of hard voice; Miss Steer has very little voice at all. Mrs. Mackintosh has some faint glimmerings of histrionic ability; Miss Steer at present has none. They were cheered by their friends, and received bouquets.""'The Fool's Revenge' at the Opera Comique" Vanity Fair (10 July 1886): 18. However, it was Steer who continued in the profession."Theatre Gossip" The Sketch (9 May 1900): 131.
In 1900, Steer became manager of the Comedy Theatre."Miss Janette Steer, the New Manageress of the Comedy Theatre" Sketch (16 May 1900): 155. She accepted the role because, as she explained, "I hate having to play parts I don't like, and now I can choose what I please."Kerry Powell, "Victorian Theatre: Power and the Politics of Gender" in Juliet John, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Literary Culture (Oxford University Press 2016): 681. That year, she appeared in a set of four short works, including W. S. Gilbert's Comedy and Tragedy, Alicia Ramsey's Isla the Chosen, and scenes from Romeo and Juliet (she played Romeo) and Hamlet (she played Hamlet)."Theatrical Gossip: Miss Janette Steer" The Sketch (1 August 1900): 81. Steer provoked widely publicized threats of legal action from W. S. Gilbert,"Mr. Gilbert is Angry; Miss Steer Has Ideas of Her Own and He Wants Her Enjoined" New York Times (23 June 1900)."Gilbert-Steer Spat Goes On" Chicago Daily Tribune (17 June 1900): 10. when Gilbert was upset by her interpretation of Galatea, at odds with his conception of the character,Gail Marshall, Actresses on the Victorian Stage: Feminine Performance and the Galatea Myth (Cambridge University Press 1998): 57. in a 1900 revival of his Pygmalion and Galatea.Hesketh Pearson, Gilbert and Sullivan: A Biography (House of Stratus 2015): 12. Michael Ainger, Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography (Oxford University Press 2002): 382. A court refused to grant an injunction against Steer in the matter."Janette Steer Victorious" New York Times (30 June 1900): 6."Dramatist Gilbert Refused Injunction" Washington Post (30 June 1900): 4.
Other acting appearances by Steer included the shows Robinson Crusoe (1886, with her sister Mrs. Mackintosh),"Robinson Crusoe" Dramatic Notes (December 1886): 133. Idols of the Heart (1891, a play she wrote and acted in),"New Plays Produced in London" The Dramatic Yearbook for 1891 (Trischler 1892): 181. An American Bride (1892),"An American Bride" The Theatre (1 June 1892): 311. Gudgeons (1893),"Gudgeons" The Theatre (1 December 1893): 342. The Silent Battle (1892-1893), A Bunch of Violets (1894), John-a-Dreams (1894), The Seats of the Mighty (1897), Settled Out of Court (1897),J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1890-1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 116, 146, 187, etc. The Liars (1897),"The Liars" Plays by Henry Arthur Jones (Cambridge University Press 1982): 163. Kenyon's Widow (1900), The Sin of a Life (1901), The Queen's Double (1901), A Pageant of Great Women (1909-1910),J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 16, 22, 28, 54, 75, 495. Edith (1912, produced by the Women Writers' Suffrage League), Honourable Women (1913), and The Sphinx (1914, another suffrage play, which she also wrote), The End of Silence (1915, a wartime fundraiser for the RSPCA), and The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1917, a wartime fundraiser for Scottish Women's Hospitals).J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013).
Plays written by Steer included The Cloven Foot (1890), Idols of the Heart (1890), All Sorts and Conditions of Men (1902), Geraldine Wants to Know (1911), and The Sphinx (1914)."SAPDD Biographies" How the Vote was Won. Steer was a member of the Actresses' Franchise LeagueKatherine E. Kelly, "The Actresses' Franchise League Prepares For War: Feminist Theatre in Camouflage" Theatre Survey 35(1)(May 1994): 121-137. and wrote an essay "The Suffrage Movement and the Salvation of the Race" for a 1912 suffrage publication."Actresses", How the Vote was Won.
Personal life Steer lived in England, including Addison Avenue, west London in 1921.1921 Census of England & Wales She died on 24 November 1947 in Goring, Oxfordshire.
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