Luton History: The Madame of Luton High Road

‘Madame Daniels’ was an intriguing character, with an unusual life. She specialised in made-to-measure whalebone corsets, working from her shop at 59 High Town Road in Luton between the wars. She regularly advertised in the Luton News.

This lady had a link to the mass entertainment of her day, via her brother Henry, who went by the stage name Harry Rich, one half of a popular music hall performance duo. I am fairly certain his sister Madame Daniels made and maintained their costumes while on tour, a conclusion drawn from some of the intriguing facts about her life.

Madame Daniels was born Alice Maud Tresadern in 1867 Bethnal Green, her father Henry Senior was a Gilder in London. This ancient profession used gold paint to add final touches to buildings or sculptures, a short-lived career due to failing eyesight, as was the case with poor Henry.

Alice appears to have entered in and out of relationships; she married Joseph Ames, a cabinet maker, in 1885 in London, aged just 18. However after producing two daughters she apparently abandons the family. She turns up 16 years later in Clerkenwell with Henry Daniels, a printer, from whom she would eventually take her name. (Quite why she added ‘Madame’ remains a mystery, a desire for a more theatrical title perhaps).

Alice’s mercurial nature is already in evidence; at this time she is presenting herself as being married to Henry Daniels, even though she is not. Wedding banns announcing the marriage were read in 1909, which list Alice as a widow. This patent untruth must be why the marriage never actually took place, suggesting someone found out that Alice was still married to the very much still alive Joseph!

Poor Joseph himself meanwhile, is struggling as a single parent. Their eldest Elsie is adopted and raised by her grandparents; the younger sister went ‘into service’, becoming a live-in maid. Joseph himself died penniless in the workhouse in 1914.

You would have thought this would be the ideal time to remarry, but in fact Alice once again deserts her second relationship with Henry in 1915, and moves to Luton alone. Alice’s chaotic lifestyle is perhaps not surprising considering her father was unpredictable with his relationships. Both his partners either left or he did; he also died in the workhouse.

Alice had several older brothers, one in particular, Henry, was a comedian, which is even stated on his marriage certificate. His stage name was Harry Rich, one half of popular music hall comedy duo Rich and Rich (who somewhat confusingly, were unrelated.)

Charlie and Harry Rich formed the duo around 1895, the same year of Alice’s first marriage. Rich and Rich became best known for a comedic production of Mother Goose. I can't help but guess that Madame Daniels’ corsets played some part. Her brother always played the title role, and as a man must have required some bespoke corsetry…

One can imagine Alice being attracted to the theatrical lifestyle of her flamboyant sibling growing up, while she has regretted marrying young. My theory is that her missing years between 1891 and 1911, after walking out on her family, but before reappearing with Henry Daniels, suggest she was living it up on tour with her brother, in the prime of her youth.

Rich and Rich toured all over the country, but sadly the curtain comes down on these itinerant years when Henry becomes ill and dies suddenly in 1915, aged just 45. It is perhaps no coincidence that this is the same year Alice (now firmly Madame Daniels) moves to Luton to start her own corsetry business. With her brother passing, her livelihood disappeared, and she had to start over on her own.

Madame Daniels’ shop was a Luton staple right up to the 1940s. Intriguingly, records show she ran it with her daughter Elsie, the eldest from her first marriage, presumably having made peace with her mother over her childhood abandonment.

Madame Daniels died in 1953, aged the age of 83, and her stories of touring Victorian music halls as a young woman died with her.

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